Analyze — Deep Investigation Mode

Investigate a problem or topic thoroughly. Gather context, analyze patterns, synthesize actionable recommendations — without making code changes.

Arguments

<problem or topic> — A description of what to investigate.

Hard Rules

• Read-only: You MUST NOT use Write, Edit, or NotebookEdit tools. Investigation only.
• Evidence-based: Every finding must reference specific files and line numbers.
• Structured output: Always produce the standard report format below.

Workflow

Step 1: Scope

Parse the user's description. Identify:

• Core question or problem
• Relevant domains (files, modules, systems)
• What "answered" looks like (exit criteria)

Step 2: Gather Context

Create a team for parallel investigation:

TeamCreate(team_name: "analyze-{topic-slug}", description: "Investigating {topic}")

Spawn workers:

• explore — codebase search for relevant files, patterns, dependencies
• oracle — strategic analysis once explore provides findings (only for complex topics)

Assign targeted search tasks to explore:

1. Find files related to the topic
2. Trace data flow or call chains
3. Identify patterns and conventions

Step 3: Analyze

Synthesize findings from workers. Look for:

• Root causes (not just symptoms)
• Patterns and anti-patterns
• Dependencies and coupling
• Risk areas
• Missing coverage (tests, docs, error handling)

Step 4: Report

Output a structured report:

## Summary
[2-3 sentence overview of findings]

## Key Findings
1. **[Finding]**: [Evidence with file:line references]
2. ...

## Analysis
[Detailed breakdown organized by theme/area]

## Recommendations
1. **[Action]** — [Why, effort estimate, risk level]
2. ...

## Files Examined
- `path/to/file.ts:42` — [what was found]

Step 5: Cleanup

TeamDelete(reason: "Analysis complete")

TeamDelete cleanup: If TeamDelete fails, fall back to: rm -rf ~/.claude/teams/{team-name} ~/.claude/tasks/{team-name}

When to Use

• Debugging a problem before fixing it
• Understanding unfamiliar code areas
• Evaluating architectural decisions
• Pre-refactoring analysis
• Incident investigation

When NOT to Use

• If you already know what to fix → use /work instead
• If you need to make changes → this is read-only
• For simple "where is X?" questions → just use Grep/Glob directly