SKILL.md

@@ -209,6 +209,13 @@ the only design input. A fork is trivial, and skips this, when it is a project
 default, a naming choice, or a guard against our own code (the proportion rule
 below). When unsure, run the pass.
 
+**Research is always kept.** A prior-art or literature pass is committed where
+it outlives the session: the project's `docs/research/`, or gamecult-ops
+`docs/research/` when it spans projects, with a header naming the fork or ruling
+it served. Self commits it before putting the fork. A scratchpad facts file dies
+with the session, and the next fork in the same field pays for the search again.
+Operator, 2026-10-09: "Research should always be kept".
+
 Put the open questions to the operator together, from the open-questions recipe,
 each with its options, recommendation, and what depends on the answer. This
 holds in a catch-up briefing too: read the options and context from the

references/briefs.md

@@ -584,7 +584,9 @@ Dispatch: `subagent_type: eyes`, model Sonnet.
 
 ```
 Write findings to <scratchpad>/<agent>/<name>.md and return a
-short summary. Budget at most 40 calls: transcripts by script, never whole
+short summary. For a prior-art or literature pass, Self commits that file to
+<repo>/docs/research/<topic>.md before the fork goes to the operator (SKILL.md
+step 2, "Research is always kept"); write it to be read there. Budget at most 40 calls: transcripts by script, never whole
 reads, waits only through `tools/wait-on.sh`, writes only under
 `<scratchpad>/<agent>/`, Python as `py -3`, and fetches batched in parallel. You read the campaign's mind with query and view only, through
 the Rehydrate block (recipes: <as needed>); you never admit.

references/changelog.md

@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@
 
 Record each change to the skill together with the evidence that motivated it.
 
+## 2026-10-09: research is always kept
+
+Self, session `self-2026-10-09-eureka`.
+
+Evidence. An Eyes prior-art pass on multi-persona minds (for `eureka-body:ruling:persona-per-mind`) wrote its facts to the session scratchpad, as the Eyes template said. Self offered to keep it; the operator answered: "Research should always be kept". It was committed as gamecult-ops `docs/research/multi-persona-prior-art.md` (2cb9d04).
+
+What changed. `SKILL.md` step 2 gains "Research is always kept": a prior-art or literature pass is committed to `docs/research/` before the fork is put. The Eyes brief template says so.
+
 ## 2026-10-08: overlap before fanning out, and a writable pins mount
 
 Self, re-entry pass `self-2026-10-08b`, on proposals from Life.