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Paste your research question and context into an ordinary AI chat that accepts text, then paste the full prompt (appended below) as the next message. You do not need any terminal, account setup, or API key.

Inputs to include, in this order:

1. Question — one to three sentences in your own words.
2. Purpose — what you will do with the answer and who reads it.
3. Source rules — allowed sources, off-limits sources, any date or geography limit.
4. Budget — for example, "up to 8 sources, 45 minutes."
5. Known context — what you already checked, so it is not repeated.
6. Output you need — for example, a memo, a comparison table, or a list of options.

If a field is empty, the prompt asks the AI to flag it as a needed input instead of inventing one. Fill in what you have; the draft will name the gaps.

How to check the output: read the review list at the end of the draft. Each item should be marked pass or fail with a one-line reason, the stop rule should copy a countable limit from your budget, and the handback format should ask for a source for every claim.

Introduction

This is a drafting prompt. It produces a plan you can paste into a research agent, hand to a human assistant, or follow yourself. It does not browse, contact anyone, or send anything. Nothing in it is verified correct — it is a plan for you to approve and adjust.

Permissions and limits

The prompt only writes a handoff draft and a review list. It must not add sources, examples, dates, or numbers that were not in your inputs. It must not instruct anyone to contact people, post, purchase, or decide on your behalf. If your inputs are too vague for a bounded handoff, it should say which specific input is missing and stop there.

Keep private or sensitive details out of the chat unless you are comfortable with your provider's data handling. Source reviewed; runtime not tested.

FAQ

What if I do not know a budget? Leave it out. The draft should flag it as a needed input, since the stop rule depends on a countable limit.

Can I send the draft to an agent as-is? Read the review list first. Fix any failing checks, then approve it yourself.

Complete reusable prompt

Research Task Handoff: Scope, Sources, Stopping Rules

You are helping me write a research task handoff that I can paste into a research agent, give to a human assistant, or follow myself manually. The handoff must be specific enough that the person or tool doing the research knows what to look for, where to look, when to stop, and how to show its work.

Important: you are drafting a plan and a set of instructions. You are not performing the research, not browsing, not contacting anyone, and not sending anything. Do not invent sources, findings, dates, or quotes.

My inputs

I will paste the following, in this order. If any part is missing or thin, say so in your output rather than guessing.

1. Question: the research question in my own words (one to three sentences).
2. Purpose: what I will do with the answer and who will read it.
3. Source rules: which sources are allowed, which are off-limits, and any date range or geographic limit.
4. Budget: how many items or how much time is acceptable, e.g. "up to 8 sources, 45 minutes."
5. Known context: anything I already believe or have already checked, so it is not repeated.
6. Output I need: a memo, a comparison table, a list of options, etc.

Example of a filled input (fictional, for shape only):

• Question: Which two or three low-cost ways do small offices reduce paper waste?
• Purpose: a one-page internal note for a 12-person office; the office manager will decide.
• Source rules: allowed: government waste-reduction pages, university facilities pages, nonprofit guides, vendor documentation for cost figures; not allowed: forum posts, undated blog listicles, social media. Date range: 2022 or later.
• Budget: up to 6 sources, about 40 minutes.
• Known context: we already recycle paper; single-sided printing is the current default.
• Output: a short comparison with a rough cost range and one caveat per option.

What to produce

Write the handoff in these six sections, in this order, using short prose or simple bullets. Keep it compact enough to paste into one message.

1. Restated question and purpose — one or two sentences, in plain language, plus what decision or draft this will feed. If my question is too broad, propose one narrower version and mark it as a suggestion.
2. Scope and boundaries — what is in scope, what is out of scope, the allowed and disallowed source types from my inputs, and any date or geography limit. Call out topics that look adjacent but should not be included.
3. Source requirements — for each source the researcher should record: title, publisher, publication or last-updated date, link, and which allowed rule it satisfies. State plainly that a source without a verifiable date or publisher must be listed as unverified rather than silently used.
4. Method steps — a short numbered sequence the researcher follows: search, screen against the source rules, extract only claims that answer the question, note the exact supporting sentence or figure for each claim, then consolidate. Include one instruction that claims appearing in only one weak source must be labeled single-source, low confidence.
5. Stopping rules — when to stop. Use my budget. Stop when the budget is reached, when two additional searches return no new allowed source, or when further searching would require breaking a source rule. Add that the researcher must stop and report rather than widen scope on its own.
6. Handback format — the exact structure of the returned work: one-line answer at the top; then a table with columns Claim | Source (title, date) | Confidence | Note; then a short "open questions and gaps" list; then a "what I did not check" line. Ask for the total count of sources actually used.

Checks to run before I send it

After drafting, run this review on your own draft and report results as a short list, each marked pass or fail with a one-line reason:

1. Every claim in the handback format maps to a recorded source field — no uncited claims allowed.
2. The stopping rule names a concrete, countable limit taken from my inputs, not a vague "when enough."
3. Disallowed source types from my inputs appear verbatim in the boundaries section.
4. No source, finding, statistic, or date was invented in the draft.
5. The draft never instructs the researcher to contact people, post, purchase, or make a decision on my behalf.
6. If I left an input field empty, the draft flags it as a needed input instead of filling it in.

Boundaries

• You prepare one handoff draft and its review list. You do not execute the research or the plan.
• Do not add sources, examples, or numbers that were not in my inputs.
• Do not present the draft as verified correct; it is a plan for me to approve and adjust.
• If my inputs are too vague to write a bounded handoff, say what specific input is missing and stop there.

References and reuse

• ChatGPT release notes · Reviewed 2026-10-04

Original TokRepo prompt · CC BY 4.0. Reference documents retain their own rights.