> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex-labs.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Find and verify earlier research > Retrieve permitted prior work, follow its source references, and interpret gaps in the searched scope. This draft describes the intended Arc update. Prior-work search coverage and the available search configuration need release-build verification before publication. Use prior-work search to find a conversation, file, or artefact that can help with your current question. Verify the returned material at its source before treating it as evidence for a new conclusion. ## Before you begin You need access to the conversation and an offered tool that supports prior-work search. Results depend on your current source permissions, security clearance, the execution scope, and the audience receiving the response. An agent definition decides whether an agent searches prior work. Its chat adds no separate search control. In an ordinary Arc chat, use the tools offered by the selected configuration. Describing a scope in a message does not grant access to it. ## Find the relevant work 1. Identify the subject and the likely source: an earlier chat, a project file, a chat artefact, or permitted content in the workspace's scope. Include useful details such as a phrase, project, or period. 2. Ask the conversation to search within that intended scope. For example: > Have I discussed public transport disruption in Bristol before? Search prior work in the scope available to this conversation. Cite the matching conversation, message, file, or artefact version, and state the scope searched and any limitations you can identify. 3. Inspect the search outcome. An answer generated without a successful retrieval is not confirmation that earlier work was searched. 4. Follow a returned source reference. Check the original message, file, or artefact version, including the surrounding context and any uncertainty recorded there. 5. Ask a follow-up that distinguishes the earlier finding from a new inference. For example: > Which parts of the earlier plan are supported by its sources, and which were suggestions? Explain what still needs checking for this month's task. ## Intended search coverage The table describes the source categories in the specification, not a guarantee that every offered search tool indexes all of them. Check the tool's actual coverage and reported scope. Ordinary Arc chats do not acquire workspace-only search capabilities simply because you name a workspace in the request. | Source | What to inspect | | - | - | | Earlier chats and messages | The referenced conversation or message, its context, and the material supporting the answer. | | Project files | The source file and the available processed content. Missing or inaccessible content remains a limitation. | | Artefacts | The referenced version. An earlier result does not establish what a later version contains. | | Permitted workspace content | The named source within the allowed workspace scope and the evidence supporting the finding. | Search checks source access, security classification, and the receiving conversation's audience before returning content or metadata. A matching title, snippet, location, or reference receives the same protection as the source content. Opening a result requires a fresh access check. A result found earlier can become inaccessible if your permissions change. Finding an item grants no additional access and does not change its owner. ## If there are no results No results means that no match was found within the searched scope. It does not establish that the research never happened, that no relevant source exists, or that all of your prior work was searched. Check the subject wording, the intended source, and any reported limits. Try a more specific phrase or a different permitted scope where the available tools support it. If you know the original conversation or file, inspect it directly when you have access. Keep unavailable, incomplete, and unsearched material explicit in the answer. A failed search must not be presented as a successful search with no matches. ## Use a finding in the current conversation Ask for the source to be cited when using a retrieved finding. In a shared chat, the audience must be allowed to receive the result; one participant's private access does not make it shared material. Search does not add results to project memory or make model output project reference material automatically. Select output explicitly if you want to use it as project reference material. Search also does not attach an Arc artefact to a Vantage workspace; transfer is a separate operation. ## Check the result You should be able to identify the source, the searched scope, and the limits of the finding. Follow at least one material reference and keep unsupported conclusions separate from retrieved evidence. Continue with [Research a question in a chat](/arc/chats-and-research/research-a-question), or check the audience rules in [Share and co-write a chat](/arc/chats-and-research/share-and-co-write). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.