The New Medium — Investigate Workflow

Zone 1 — Choose Your Mode

Sprint

1–4 hours · No setup · Solo

Cold-starting on an unfamiliar codebase. Pre-sprint research. Quick orientation before a focused session.

Self-Audit

2–6 hours · Minimal setup · Solo

You built it. You want honest validation of what's actually there before the next phase.

PE Due Diligence

2–3 days · Full setup · Multi-repo

Formal deliverables for acquisition review, pre-investment assessment, or modernization audit.

Is this a formal client engagement? → PE DD
Did you build this yourself? → Self-Audit
Otherwise → Sprint

Zone 2 — Setup Requirements

What You Need to Start

Sprint

None. Paste SPRINT_PROMPT.md into a new session. Fill in [PROJECT_PATH] and [YOUR_QUESTION]. That's it.

Self-Audit

engagement.json in docs/ENGAGEMENTS/{ID}/. One repo entry, deliverable_type: self_audit. Optional but useful.

PE Due Diligence

Org URL or repo list. @new-medium/core-mcp installed. Run probe-org or probe-repos → auto-generates engagement.json.

Zone 3 — The Investigation Loop

The Core Investigation Pattern — same across all three modes

S

Scan

Agent reads repo structure, package files, entry points, migration history. Maps what it can confirm from the code.

I

Infer

Anything uncertain tagged [INFERRED]. Not suppressed — surfaced. Every [INFERRED] is a question for human validation.

A

Analyze

Load-bearing decisions. Compounding debt. What architectural bets were made? What gets worse over time?

O

Output

Writes artifacts to docs/ENGAGEMENTS/{ID}/. Sprint: one context doc. Self-audit: CONTRACT.md(s). PE: full deliverable set.

Footer Outputs

sprint-{date}.md — focused context bundle

CONTRACT.md per service — what it actually does

DEPENDENCY_MAP.md — cross-service connections

TECHNICAL_DD_REPORT.md — client-ready assessment

ASSUMPTIONS.md — [INFERRED] items for validation

Zone 4 — Handoff to Build

What investigation produces

The [INFERRED] tags become a validation checklist. Load-bearing decisions become signals. Gaps become backlog items.

The bridge

create-signal { type: 'observation',
content: '...',
source: 'investigation' }

create-opportunity →
list-backlog → promote-backlog
→ Epic