Task Researcher

Overview

Task Researcher exists to separate research from implementation. Its own instructions forbid it from editing anything outside a single directory, so it can be handed a vague or open-ended question without risking changes to the actual codebase.

How it works

1. It analyzes the codebase, existing conventions and any relevant instructions files to understand how the project already solves similar problems.
2. For anything outside the repo, it uses documentation search and GitHub repository search to find authoritative examples, and cross-checks findings across more than one source before trusting them.
3. All output goes into .copilot-tracking/research/, using a dated filename and a fixed template with sections for research executed, key discoveries, complete code examples, and a recommended approach.
4. When it finds more than one viable approach, it documents the trade-offs of each, then asks the user to pick one instead of leaving every option in the final file.
5. Once a direction is chosen, it deletes the discarded alternatives from the research document, so what remains is a single, actionable plan ready to hand to an implementation agent.

Examples

"Research how we should add background job processing to this API and
compare it against what other services in this monorepo already use."

The agent writes .copilot-tracking/research/20260909-background-jobs-research.md with the comparison and its recommendation, without touching any application code.

Installation

You need VS Code with the GitHub Copilot extension.

1. Create the agents folder and download the file into your repo:

   mkdir -p .github/agents
   curl -o .github/agents/task-researcher.agent.md \
     https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/awesome-copilot/main/agents/task-researcher.agent.md
   

2. Reload VS Code, or open a new Copilot Chat; custom agents under .github/agents/ are picked up automatically.
3. Pick this agent from the mode picker in Copilot Chat and ask it a research question to confirm it writes findings to .copilot-tracking/research/ instead of editing code.