new-research
Skill173 starsChanged 17 days agoMITView on GitHub
Start a durable research / source note that captures what you read and found — fires on "start a research note", "capture these sources", "log my research". Part of the Agentsmith harness; scaffolds docs/research/<slug>.md so findings live in the repo, never in disposable memory (R9), and are never silently deleted.
In this repository11 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- autonomous-runSkill
- example-skillSkill
- grill-with-docsSkill
- handoffSkill
- harness-doctorSkill
- harness-helpSkill
- new-feedbackSkill
- verifySkill
- wayfinderSkill
- writing-rulesSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
2 rules. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈0
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
2
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 17
Run agentsmith new-research "topic name" — use .agentsmith/agentsmith on macOS/Linux or .agentsmith\\agentsmith.cmd on Windows when the …
- Very specific: line 23
If docs/research/<slug>.md already exists, STOP — append to it, never overwrite.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
New research note
Research belongs in the repo, traceable to sources, and is never silently deleted (R9). This scaffolds one note per topic.
When this fires
"start a research note" / "capture these sources" / beginning any multi-source investigation whose findings should outlive the session.
Fast path — if the Agentsmith CLI is available
Run agentsmith new-research "topic name" — use .agentsmith/agentsmith on macOS/Linux or
.agentsmith\\agentsmith.cmd on Windows when the command is not on PATH. It slugifies the title and writes
docs/research/<slug>.md from the template (it won't overwrite an existing file).
Fallback — no CLI
- slug = the topic lowercased, every run of non-alphanumeric characters →
-, ends trimmed. - If
docs/research/<slug>.mdalready exists, STOP — append to it, never overwrite. - Otherwise create it with a no-delete banner (obsolete → move to
docs/research/_archive/, R9) and these sections:- Question / scope
- Sources consulted — url or citation; what you actually opened, dated.
- Findings — each traceable to a source above; mark single-sourced / uncertain items.
- Open questions / what was NOT checked.
Report
Name the file created and remind the operator to commit it (R9 — research lives in git, not memory). Every finding you add later must cite a source already in the note.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

