# Research workflow

How research artifacts are collected, analyzed and turned into decisions — the pipeline that
feeds every architectural choice in viexp.

## Lifecycle

```
question → TMP/Research.md note (status: inbox)
        → sources collected (table filled)
        → findings summarized (status: in-progress)
        → synthesis article in articles/ (status: analyzed)
        → decision in decisions/ (ADR) + tasks/issues
        → archived (status: archived) once superseded
```

1. **Capture.** Any open question gets a `Research` note immediately (title = the question
   domain, e.g. `djvu-preview-options`). One question per note — small notes beat monoliths.
2. **Collect.** Every source goes into the sources table with a one-line takeaway.
   Screenshots and PDFs go to `attachments/`; paste links, not walls of copied text.
3. **Analyze.** Distill findings into bullets; mark `confidence: low|medium|high`.
   Open questions move to follow-up notes, not into the article.
4. **Synthesize.** Cross-note comparisons become `Article` notes (e.g. the file-manager
   comparison). The article states recommendations, not just facts.
5. **Decide.** Every recommendation that changes the architecture becomes an ADR
   (`Decision` template) — short, dated, linked back to the research notes.
6. **Act.** ADRs spawn `Task` notes → Gitea issues (see [[workflows/gitea-workflow|Gitea workflow]]).

## Weekly review (Friday, 15 min)

- Process all `status: inbox` notes: promote, merge or archive.
- Update ADRs whose status changed during the week.
- Check that every active sprint task has a linked issue and vice versa.

## Obsidian mechanics used

- **Templates** (`TMP/`) keep structure uniform; headings are predictable, so folding works.
- **Properties** (`type`, `status`, `tags`, `sprint`) power the tag pane and search, e.g.
  `["type": "research", "status": "inbox"]`.
- **Backlinks / graph** show which decisions depend on which research.
- **Attachments** are centralized in `docs/attachments/` (set in Obsidian settings).