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Lesson 6.6 · 95 minutes

Operate, retire, and defend the research-skill capstone

Deliver a read-only research capability with evidence, versioning, a tested disable path, and no hidden operational debt.

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Skills, Tools, MCP and Browser Automation

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Draft lesson: awaiting independent technical and publication review; do not use it as production configuration guidance.

Editorial review pendingon version support under review

Action boundary

Before you act

Expected result
A reviewer can reproduce a cited read-only fixture result, observe blocked writes, disable the capability, and verify cleanup.
Failure mode
The capstone returns uncited claims, hides its authority, cannot be disabled, or leaves credentials/configuration behind after retirement.
Rollback
Disable and remove the capability, revoke its test access, archive redacted evidence, and return to the documented approved baseline.

Capstone brief — constrained release researcher

Build a read-only skill or bounded tool that accepts a topic and returns no more than three findings from one approved public source. Each finding must include a short claim, canonical URL, retrieval timestamp, and source identifier. It may not send a message, create an issue, modify a file, use a personal browser profile, or access a credential beyond a disposable test fixture.

Delivery pack

  1. Decision record: why this surface is smaller than the rejected alternatives.
  2. Contract: input limits, source allowlist, result schema, error statuses, and explicit sideEffects: [] invariant.
  3. Permission worksheet: artifact/version, requested authority, containment, owner, expiry, and revoke action.
  4. Fixture proof: success, invalid input, unavailable source, and blocked side-effect cases; include expected versus actual output.
  5. Operation note: run IDs, redacted logs, timeout/retry rule, freshness owner, and review date.
  6. Retirement proof: disable action, disconnect/revoke action, cleanup inventory, and a post-removal denial result.

Reviewer walkthrough

Ask the reviewer to submit a valid fixture query, a malformed query, and a request to publish a finding. The first must return cited structured evidence; the second must fail before invocation; the third must be blocked before any side effect. Then have the reviewer activate the kill switch and confirm a valid fixture query is denied. Finally, remove the test configuration and prove no test credential or active connection remains.

Rubric

Dimension Weight Resubmission condition
Narrow scope 30% More than one source class, unbounded input, or any undeclared write
Testability 25% Missing deterministic fixture or no observable failure status
Boundaries 25% Missing owner, confirmation, expiration, or tested disable path
Source and operation evidence 20% Uncited finding, secret in logs, or no retirement record

Final check

The goal is not to make the agent “more autonomous.” The goal is to make one capability legible enough that another operator can approve it, test it, pause it, investigate it, and remove it safely.

Changelog seed

When this lesson is approved for publication, the editor records the supported version/revision, reviewed source snapshots, video decision (if any), learner-facing changes, reviewer, next due date, and any migration action. Until that review is complete, this course remains a non-indexed draft and must not be presented as a production configuration guide.

Check your understanding

Knowledge check · tools

Pass mark 100% · Attempt 1 of 3 · Not passed

Which result proves that the read-only research capability can be retired safely?
Why this matters

Retirement needs an observable denial after authority and configuration are removed.

Evidence last verified 2026-07-30

Lesson checkpoint

Ready to move on?

Mark this lesson complete when you can apply its outcome without relying on the examples above.