Research Library

Research Library

ZAO OS has 164+ research documents in the research/ directory of the repository. This page is your map — it tells you where to go based on what you're looking for.

All research lives in the repo at research/. Each document is a numbered directory with a README.md inside. The full index is at research/README.md.

---

Start Here

If you're new to ZAO OS and want to understand the project:

Doc	What It Covers
050 — The ZAO Complete Guide	Start here. Canonical project reference — what ZAO is, how it works, the full picture
051 — ZAO Whitepaper 2026	Whitepaper Draft 4.5 — vision, architecture, tokenomics, roadmap

---

By Topic

Architecture & Infrastructure

Research on how ZAO OS is built, deployment, and infrastructure decisions.

• Look for docs on: Next.js architecture, Supabase patterns, deployment, VPS setup, caching, rate limiting
• Key doc: 207 — VPS Agent Stack

Music & Streaming

Deep dives on music platform integrations, player architecture, and audio features.

• Look for docs on: Audius, Spotify, crossfade, binaural beats, Arweave music storage, scrobbling
• Start at the research README and search for "music"

Governance & Respect

Research on fractal governance, Snapshot, Nouns Builder, and the Respect game.

• Look for docs on: fractal process, Respect tokens, ZOUNZ, Snapshot integration, voting mechanisms

Farcaster & Social

Farcaster protocol, Neynar SDK, XMTP, cross-posting, and social features.

• Look for docs on: signers, frames, mini apps, XMTP MLS, Bluesky ATProto, Hive

AI & Agents

Research on AI agents, ElizaOS, OpenClaw, and agent architectures.

• Key docs: 202 — Multi-Agent Orchestration, 205 — Deployment Plan, 206 — Lobster AI Architecture

Web3 & NFTs

NFT galleries, minting, collecting, ENS, Hats Protocol, and token integrations.

• Look for docs on: NFT gallery, Alchemy webhooks, ENS subnames, Hats Protocol roles

Community & Vision

High-level thinking about community OS, creator economy, and platform vision.

• Key docs: 200 — Community OS AI Agents Platform Vision, 201 — AI Creator Economy Landscape

Tools & Skills

Documentation on Claude Code skills, MCP servers, and development tooling.

• Key docs: 154 — Skills Commands Master Reference, 209 — Claude Skills MCP Agent Toolkit

---

How Research Is Organized

Each research document follows this structure:

research/
├── NNN-topic-name/
│   └── README.md

Documents are numbered sequentially (001–209+). The number is just an ID, not a priority or reading order.

Finding What You Need

1. Browse the full index: research/README.md — organized by topic with one-line descriptions
2. Search the repo: Use GitHub's search to find research on specific topics
3. Ask in the app: The /zao-research skill can search the library and conduct new research