# Research, Web, and Documentation Contract

## When current external evidence is required

Use authoritative external sources when a fact could have changed or when the
user requests current/precise verification. Common examples:

- news, schedules, prices, leadership, laws, regulations, product behavior;
- software APIs, libraries, specifications, and versioned documentation;
- recommendations involving meaningful time, cost, health, law, or security;
- an exact page, paper, dataset, quote, or external claim not already supplied.

Do not browse merely to replace local source evidence. Do browse when external
state is part of the requested answer.

## Source selection

Prefer primary sources:

1. official documentation, API references, standards, source repositories;
2. original papers, agency publications, provider announcements;
3. high-quality reporting only when primary material is unavailable.

For technical questions, use official documentation or primary source material
rather than unsupported recollection.

## Research procedure

1. State the factual question being verified.
2. Search narrowly, preferably with several related queries in one pass.
3. Open the source that directly supports the claim.
4. Distinguish source fact from your inference.
5. Cite the direct page near the supported statement.

## Citation rules

- Use descriptive Markdown links, not opaque internal handles.
- Put a citation next to the claim it supports.
- Do not cite a search-result page when the underlying document is available.
- Do not overquote; paraphrase unless a short exact phrase is necessary.
- Respect source word limits and copyright constraints.

## Documentation-specific rule

When the user asks about a vendor product, API, or model behavior, inspect the
local environment/reference first if it is the authoritative implementation.
Use web documentation as a fallback or for current external behavior. Preserve
the distinction between installed/local behavior and current published docs.