Test Researcher

Researches real-world problems and edge cases before test planning to ensure tests cover actual user pain points, not just AC.

Purpose & Scope

• Research common problems for the feature domain using Web Search, MCP Ref, Context7.

• Analyze how competitors solve the same problem.

• Find customer complaints and pain points from forums, StackOverflow, Reddit.

• Post structured findings as Linear comment for downstream skills (ln-512, ln-513).

• No test creation or status changes.

When to Use

This skill should be used when:

• Invoked by ln-510-test-planner at start of test planning pipeline

• Story has non-trivial functionality (external APIs, file formats, authentication)

• Need to discover edge cases beyond AC

Skip research when:

• Story is trivial (simple CRUD, no external dependencies)

• Research comment already exists on Story

• User explicitly requests to skip

Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery

Auto-discover Team ID from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md .

Input: Story ID from orchestrator (ln-510)

Phase 2: Extract Feature Domain

• Fetch Story from Linear

• Parse Story goal and AC to identify:

• What technology/API/format is involved?

• What is the user's goal? (e.g., "translate XLIFF files", "authenticate via OAuth")

• Extract keywords for research queries

Phase 3: Research Common Problems

Use available tools to find real-world problems:

Web Search:

• "[feature] common problems"

• "[format] edge cases"

• "[API] gotchas"

• "[technology] known issues"

MCP Ref:

• ref_search_documentation("[feature] error handling best practices")

• ref_search_documentation("[format] validation rules")

Context7:

• Query relevant library docs for known issues

• Check API documentation for limitations

Phase 4: Research Competitor Solutions

Web Search:

• "[competitor] [feature] how it works"

• "[feature] comparison"

• "[product type] best practices"

Analysis:

• How do market leaders handle this functionality?

• What UX patterns do they use?

• What error handling approaches are common?

Phase 5: Research Customer Complaints

Web Search:

• "[feature] complaints"

• "[product type] user problems"

• "[format] issues reddit"

• "[format] issues stackoverflow"

Analysis:

• What do users actually struggle with?

• What are common frustrations?

• What gaps exist between user expectations and typical implementations?

Phase 6: Compile and Post Findings

Compile findings into categories:

• Input validation issues (malformed data, encoding, size limits)

• Edge cases (empty input, special characters, Unicode)

• Error handling (timeouts, rate limits, partial failures)

• Security concerns (injection, authentication bypass)

• Competitor advantages (features we should match or exceed)

• Customer pain points (problems users actually complain about)

Post Linear comment on Story with research summary:

Test Research: {Feature}

Sources Consulted

• Source 1
• Source 2

Common Problems Found

1. Problem 1: Description + test case suggestion
2. Problem 2: Description + test case suggestion

Competitor Analysis

• Competitor A: How they handle this + what we can learn
• Competitor B: Their approach + gaps we can exploit

Customer Pain Points

• Complaint 1: What users struggle with + test to prevent
• Complaint 2: Common frustration + how to verify we solve it

Recommended Test Coverage

• Test case for problem 1
• Test case for competitor parity
• Test case for customer pain point

This research informs both manual tests (ln-512) and automated tests (ln-513).

Critical Rules

• No test creation: Only research and documentation.

• No status changes: Only Linear comment.

• Source attribution: Always include URLs for sources consulted.

• Actionable findings: Each problem should suggest a test case.

• Skip trivial Stories: Don't research "Add button to page".

Definition of Done

• Feature domain extracted from Story (technology/API/format identified)

• Common problems researched (Web Search + MCP Ref + Context7)

• Competitor solutions analyzed (at least 1-2 competitors)

• Customer complaints found (forums, StackOverflow, Reddit)

• Findings compiled into categories

• Linear comment posted with "## Test Research: {Feature}" header

• At least 3 recommended test cases suggested

Output: Linear comment with research findings for ln-512 and ln-513 to use.

Reference Files

• Research methodology: Web Search, MCP Ref, Context7 tools

• Comment format: Structured markdown with sources

• Downstream consumers: ln-512-manual-tester, ln-513-auto-test-planner

Version: 1.0.0 (Initial release - extracted from ln-503-manual-tester Phase 0) Last Updated: 2026-01-15