> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://atlas.rebuildingus.org/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Guided research starters > Selectable Atlas starting points for common civic research workflows in compatible MCP clients. ## Overview Some MCP clients can show Atlas-guided research starters as selectable commands. They help you begin with a clear civic research shape while keeping Atlas sources, trust signals, and coverage limits attached to the answer. Research starters do not create or modify Atlas data. They guide your assistant through read-only Atlas capabilities such as search, source inspection, place context, coverage analysis, and existing research-run lookup. Compatible clients may let Atlas ask for missing details before the starter runs. For example, Atlas can ask for a missing place, search query, actor, or research-run ID. When the client has candidate actors or completed runs, Atlas can show titled choices instead of asking you to paste an ID. ## Starting points | Starting point | What it helps with | What Atlas needs | Optional focus | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------ | | Research a place | Build a source-linked civic landscape for a place. | Place | Issue focus | | Find civic actors | Find people, organizations, initiatives, campaigns, or events for a topic. | Search topic | Place, issue focus | | Inspect a source trail | Verify what Atlas knows about one civic actor and where it came from. | Actor | Place | | Assess coverage gaps | Explain strong and weak Atlas coverage for a place or issue focus. | Place | Issue focus | | Create a research brief | Create a source-linked brief from an existing Atlas research run. | Research run | - | ## How to use them Open your MCP client's prompt or slash-command picker, choose an Atlas starter, and fill in the requested details. For example: ```text theme={null} Starter: Research a place place: Kansas City, MO issue_focus: housing and labor ``` The assistant can then ask Atlas for place context, matching actors, source inspection, and coverage gaps. Good answers should show where claims came from and distinguish weak Atlas coverage from evidence that civic work does not exist. ## Access Guided research starters follow the same requirements as Atlas MCP read access: * `discovery:read` OAuth scope * `api.mcp` workspace package capability * An active workspace selected during consent They do not start new research runs in this version, so they do not require `discovery:write` or long-running task support. ## Follow-up questions Follow-up questions for guided starters are read-only. If you decline or cancel a required detail, Atlas returns the normal missing-detail error. If you decline optional context, Atlas keeps the starter usable with the information already provided. See [Confirmations and follow-up questions](/docs/mcp/elicitation) for how Atlas handles clarification, decline, cancel, and unsupported clients. ## Related Connect an assistant to Atlas. Review what your assistant can ask Atlas to do.