ce-external-evidence-researcher

An external-evidence researcher for the verdict skill (ce-pov). It gathers verified external evidence about an external input so the caller can judge it — it gathers and verifies, the caller decides, never recommending. It discounts stale claims (pricing/maturity/capability older than ~12 months without confirmation) and, if neither web-search nor fetch is reachable, reports “external research unavailable” and stops (the caller turns that into a “Hold”) rather than fabricating evidence.

It is one of ce-pov’s three grounding scouts — the external axis — alongside ce-project-grounding-scout (this codebase) and ce-precedent-activity-scout (prior decisions). It implements stage-align (evaluate-external-inputs flavor). It is the verdict-oriented, evidence-weighted sibling of ce-web-researcher (which serves ideation).

See Also

• ce-pov — the dispatcher (dual-grounded Adopt/Trial/Hold/Reject verdicts).
• ce-project-grounding-scout · ce-precedent-activity-scout — the other two verdict scouts.
• ce-web-researcher — the ideation-oriented external-research sibling.
• stage-align — the canonical stage this supports.