feat: add user research workflow with skills, command, and agent

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
   "plugins": [
     {
       "name": "compound-engineering",
-      "description": "AI-powered development tools that get smarter with every use. Make each unit of engineering work easier than the last. Includes 29 specialized agents, 22 commands, and 19 skills.",
-      "version": "2.35.2",
+      "description": "AI-powered development tools that get smarter with every use. Make each unit of engineering work easier than the last. Includes 30 specialized agents, 23 commands, and 22 skills.",
+      "version": "2.36.0",
       "author": {
         "name": "Kieran Klaassen",
         "url": "https://github.com/kieranklaassen",

.gitignore

@@ -3,3 +3,8 @@
 node_modules/
 .codex/
 todos/
+.claude/settings.json
+
+# Research data - transcripts contain raw interview data with PII
+docs/research/transcripts/*
+!docs/research/transcripts/.gitkeep

docs/brainstorms/2026-02-13-user-research-workflow-integration-brainstorm.md

@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+---
+date: 2026-02-13
+topic: user-research-workflow-integration
+---
+
+# User Research Integration into Brainstorm & Plan Workflows
+
+## What We're Building
+
+Wire user research artifacts (personas, interview insights, opportunities) into the brainstorm and plan workflows so that product decisions are grounded in user evidence rather than assumptions.
+
+Today, `/workflows:research` produces structured artifacts in `docs/research/` (personas, interview snapshots, research plans) and the `user-research-analyst` agent knows how to search them — but nothing in brainstorm or plan actually calls it. The research workflow hands off to brainstorm, but brainstorm doesn't consume the output. This integration closes that gap.
+
+## Why This Approach
+
+We considered three scoping strategies:
+
+1. **All at once** — wire basics + deeper integrations + plan + work in a single pass. Rejected: too broad, hard to validate incrementally.
+2. **Brainstorm-only** — focus exclusively on brainstorm, defer plan. Rejected: the plan wiring is trivial and documented as a TODO already.
+3. **Phased approach** (chosen) — Phase 1 wires the basics into both brainstorm and plan. Phase 2 layers in deeper brainstorm integrations. This lets us ship value quickly and validate each layer before adding the next.
+
+## Key Decisions
+
+- **Phased delivery**: Phase 1 (basic wiring) then Phase 2 (deeper brainstorm integrations)
+- **Brainstorm + Plan first**: These are where research evidence has the highest leverage. Work workflow integration deferred.
+- **Parallel execution**: `user-research-analyst` runs in parallel with existing agents — no serial bottleneck added
+- **Graceful degradation**: When `docs/research/` is empty, the agent returns a note suggesting `/workflows:research` — no errors, no blocking
+
+## Phase 1: Basic Wiring
+
+### 1a. Wire `user-research-analyst` into Brainstorm Phase 1.1
+
+**Current state:** Brainstorm Phase 1.1 runs only `repo-research-analyst`.
+
+**Change:** Add `user-research-analyst` as a parallel agent in Phase 1.1. The brainstorm would run:
+
+```
+- Task repo-research-analyst("Understand existing patterns related to: <feature_description>")
+- Task user-research-analyst("Surface research relevant to: <feature_description>")
+```
+
+**What this unlocks:** Before the collaborative dialogue begins, the brainstormer knows which personas are relevant, what opportunities exist, and what pain points users have expressed. The "understand the idea" conversation becomes evidence-informed.
+
+**Output flow:** Present a brief summary of relevant research findings (personas, key insights, research gaps) before starting the collaborative dialogue in Phase 1.2. Even without the deeper Phase 2 integrations, this gives the user and the brainstorm process shared context from real user evidence.
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/brainstorm.md` — Phase 1.1
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/agents/research/user-research-analyst.md` — remove "to be wired in PR 2" note
+
+### 1b. Wire `user-research-analyst` into Plan Step 1
+
+**Current state:** Plan Step 1 runs `repo-research-analyst` + `learnings-researcher` in parallel.
+
+**Change:** Add `user-research-analyst` as a third parallel agent:
+
+```
+- Task repo-research-analyst(feature_description)
+- Task learnings-researcher(feature_description)
+- Task user-research-analyst(feature_description)
+```
+
+**Step 1.6 (Consolidate Research) update:** Add "User Research Findings" as a consolidation category alongside repo patterns and institutional learnings. Structure:
+
+- Relevant personas and their relationship to this feature
+- Key insights and quotes from interviews
+- Research gaps (areas where coverage is thin)
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/plan.md` — Step 1 and Step 1.6
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/agents/research/user-research-analyst.md` — remove "to be wired in PR 2" note
+
+## Phase 2: Deeper Brainstorm Integrations
+
+### 2a. Opportunity-Driven Brainstorm Initiation
+
+**When:** Brainstorm starts with no feature description or a vague one.
+
+**Behavior:** Check persona opportunity tables for unaddressed opportunities. Present them as starting points:
+
+> "Your research has identified these opportunities:
+> 1. [Persona X] needs faster data export (high frequency, low satisfaction)
+> 2. [Persona Y] struggles with team collaboration features
+> 3. [Persona Z] wants better mobile support
+>
+> Would you like to explore one of these, or describe something else?"
+
+This flips brainstorming from "what should we build?" to "your users told you what they need."
+
+**Dependency:** Requires persona opportunity tables to be populated — the `persona-builder` skill must have run at least once via `/workflows:research personas`. When no personas exist, this step is skipped gracefully (same as Phase 1 graceful degradation).
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/brainstorm.md` — new Phase 0.5 between assessment and Phase 1
+- May need a lightweight "opportunity scanner" helper or extend `user-research-analyst` output
+
+### 2b. Research-Informed Question Generation
+
+**When:** After `user-research-analyst` surfaces findings in Phase 1.1, entering Phase 1.2 (Collaborative Dialogue).
+
+**Behavior:** Use research findings to shape questions. Instead of generic questions:
+
+- Generic: "Who are the users of this feature?"
+- Research-informed: "Your research shows two user types here — [Persona A] who uses this daily vs [Persona B] who uses it quarterly. Should we optimize for one or both?"
+
+- Generic: "What problem does this solve?"
+- Research-informed: "Interviews show users currently work around this by [workaround]. Should we replace that workaround entirely, or build alongside it?"
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/brainstorm.md` — Phase 1.2 guidelines
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md` — add "research-informed questioning" technique
+
+### 2c. Persona-Grounded Approach Evaluation
+
+**When:** Phase 2 (Explore Approaches), evaluating 2-3 approaches.
+
+**Behavior:** Evaluate each approach against relevant personas:
+
+> **Approach A: Simple Export Button**
+> - Serves [Persona X] well (matches their "quick export" workflow from interviews)
+> - Doesn't address [Persona Y]'s need for scheduled exports
+>
+> **Approach B: Export Configuration Panel**
+> - Addresses both [Persona X] and [Persona Y]
+> - Higher complexity; [Persona X] may find it slower than current workaround
+
+This makes trade-off discussions concrete and user-grounded instead of hypothetical.
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/brainstorm.md` — Phase 2 guidelines
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md` — add persona-grounded evaluation pattern
+
+### 2d. Research Evidence in Brainstorm Capture
+
+**When:** Phase 3 (Capture the Design), writing the brainstorm document.
+
+**Behavior:** Add a "Research Evidence" section to the brainstorm document template:
+
+```markdown
+## Research Evidence
+
+### Relevant Personas
+- **[Persona Name]** (confidence: high) — [one-line relevance]
+
+### Key Quotes
+- "[quote]" — participant NNN, on [topic]
+
+### Opportunities Addressed
+- [Opportunity from persona table] → addressed by [decision]
+
+### Research Gaps
+- [Areas where we're making assumptions without research backing]
+```
+
+This creates a traceable chain: research → brainstorm decisions → plan → implementation.
+
+**Files to modify:**
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/commands/workflows/brainstorm.md` — Phase 3 template
+- `plugins/compound-engineering/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md` — update design doc structure
+
+## Open Questions
+
+- **`deepen-plan` coverage: resolved.** `deepen-plan` explicitly runs ALL agents from ALL sources with no relevance filtering (Step 5 rule: "Do NOT filter agents by relevance - run them ALL"). So `user-research-analyst` will be picked up automatically — no changes needed there.
+- **Opportunity tracking:** Should we track which opportunities have been addressed across brainstorms? This was deferred (Tier 5) but could be lightweight metadata in the brainstorm YAML frontmatter.
+- **Research freshness:** Should we warn when persona data is stale (>90 days)? Deferred but low-effort to add.
+
+## Deferred Ideas (Future Phases)
+
+These were explored but deferred based on priority:
+
+| Idea | Tier | Reason Deferred |
+|------|------|----------------|
+| Persona-informed stakeholder analysis in plan | 3 | Plan wiring covers the basics; deeper integration later |
+| Research-backed acceptance criteria in plan | 3 | Valuable but complex; needs careful design |
+| Research gap detection warnings | 3 | Nice-to-have; basic wiring surfaces gaps naturally |
+| Persona context during work setup | 4 | Light touch; work executes plans that already have context |
+| Persona-driven test scenarios | 4 | Interesting but speculative; validate Phase 1-2 first |
+| Research-to-brainstorm handoff with context | 5 | Can be addressed when improving research workflow |
+| Brainstorm-to-research feedback loop | 5 | Closes the loop; depends on Phase 2 working well |
+| Opportunity tracking across workflows | 5 | Needs Phase 2a working first |
+| Research freshness indicators | 5 | Low-effort but low-priority |
+
+## Next Steps
+
+→ `/workflows:plan` for Phase 1 implementation (basic wiring into brainstorm + plan)
+→ Validate Phase 1 works with real research data before starting Phase 2