# Research briefs

Daily curated digests of interesting progress in AI **models**, **methods**,
**harness**, and **tooling**, filtered through axes A–D.

## Layout

```text
briefs/
├── README.md                 # this file
├── _template.md              # copy for each new day
└── YYYY/
    └── MM/
        └── YYYY-MM-DD.md     # one brief per calendar day (UTC or lab local — state in front matter)
```

Example path: `briefs/2026/07/2026-07-23.md`

## Cadence

| Mode | When |
| ---- | ---- |
| **Daily** | Preferred operating rhythm when the lab is active |
| **Skip empty days** | If there is no meaningful signal, either omit the file or write a short “no material delta” brief |
| **Weekly rollup** | Optional later; not required for foundation |

First operating mode is **manual** (human or agent drafts from the template). Automation is out of scope until the template is validated by at least one real brief.

## How to write a brief

1. Copy `briefs/_template.md` to `briefs/YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
2. Fill only sections with signal; leave others as `*(none)*` rather than inventing news.
3. Cite primary sources (papers, model cards, release notes, repos, pricing pages).
4. Flag **collection candidates** with enough metadata for inventory review.
5. Keep **lab implications** short and actionable (or omit).

## Design principles

See `INTENT.md` and `history/InitialExploration.md`:

- Signal over noise
- Actionable for the lab
- Price and access aware
- Reproducible sources
- Just-in-case bias for rare/high-leverage open weights

## Baseline vs daily

The **baseline field survey** is not a daily brief:

- `research/2026-07-24-baseline-field-survey.md`

Daily files under this tree are **deltas** from that baseline and prior dailies.
Playbook: `docs/daily-brief-playbook.md`. Sources: `docs/sources-allowlist.md`.

## Axes reminder

| Axis | Section in template |
| ---- | ------------------- |
| A | Frontier & commercial |
| B | Edge / local / open |
| C | Training & specialization |
| D | Harness & fleet |