--- name: research-tracker description: Manage autonomous AI research agents with SQLite-based state tracking. Use when spawning long-running research sub-agents, tracking multi-step investigations, coordinating agent handoffs, or monitoring background work. Triggers on: research projects, sub-agent coordination, autonomous investigation, progress tracking, agent oversight. ---

Research Tracker

CLI tool for managing autonomous research agents with append-only state, instruction queues, and oversight.

Prerequisites

brew tap 1645labs/tap
brew install julians-research-tracker

Or: go install github.com/1645labs/julians-research-tracker/cmd/research@latest

Quick Start

Start a research project

research init market-q1 --name "Q1 Market Analysis" --objective "Analyze competitor pricing and positioning"

As the research agent — log progress

export RESEARCH_SESSION_ID="$SESSION_KEY"  # Track which agent is writing

research log market-q1 STEP_BEGIN --step 1 --payload '{"task":"gather sources"}'
# ... do work ...
research log market-q1 STEP_COMPLETE --step 1
research heartbeat market-q1

Check status (from main session or heartbeat)

research status market-q1 --json
research context market-q1 --last 5  # Truncated context for prompts

Send instructions to running agent

research instruct market-q1 "Focus on enterprise segment" --priority URGENT
research stop-signal market-q1  # Request graceful stop

Agent checks for instructions

research pending market-q1 --json
research ack market-q1 --all  # Acknowledge after processing
research check-stop market-q1  # Exit 0 = stop, Exit 1 = continue

Commands Reference

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | init -o "..." | Create project with objective | | list [--status active\|done\|all] | List projects (includes needs_attention flag) | | show | Project details + recent events | | stop | Stop project, send STOP instruction | | archive | Archive completed project | | log [--step N] | Log event (STEP_BEGIN, CHECKPOINT, BLOCKED, etc.) | | heartbeat | Update alive timestamp | | block --reason "..." | Mark blocked, needs input | | complete | Mark done | | status [--json] | Current state summary | | context [--last N] | Truncated context for agent prompts | | instruct "text" | Send instruction | | pending | List unacked instructions | | ack [--all] | Acknowledge instructions | | check-stop | Exit code: 0=stop, 1=continue | | audit --verdict pass\|drift | Log audit result |

Event Types

STARTED, STEP_BEGIN, STEP_COMPLETE, CHECKPOINT, BLOCKED, UNBLOCKED, AUDIT_PASS, AUDIT_DRIFT, HEARTBEAT, DONE, STOPPED, TIMEOUT

Integration Pattern

Spawning a research agent

1. research init <project> --objective "..."
2. sessions_spawn with task including:
   - Project ID and objective
   - Instructions to use research CLI for state
   - Check stop signal before each step
   - Log progress with heartbeat
3. Heartbeat monitors: research list --json | check needs_attention
4. Send instructions via: research instruct <project> "..."

Agent loop (in spawned agent)

while research check-stop $PROJECT; [ $? -eq 1 ]; do
  research pending $PROJECT --json  # Check instructions
  research log $PROJECT STEP_BEGIN --step $STEP
  # ... do work ...
  research log $PROJECT STEP_COMPLETE --step $STEP
  research heartbeat $PROJECT
  STEP=$((STEP + 1))
done
research complete $PROJECT

Attention Detection

research list --json includes needs_attention: true when:

• Last event is BLOCKED
• Has unacked URGENT or STOP instructions
• Heartbeat stale (>5 min since last HEARTBEAT event)
• Last audit was AUDIT_DRIFT

Database

SQLite at ~/.config/research-tracker/research.db (WAL mode, append-only events).

Run research db migrate after install. Schema auto-migrates on first use.