New Research Idea

Create a research idea file with proper frontmatter and register it in the index.

Finding the workspace root

The workspace root contains CLAUDE.md alongside projects/, pipelines/, ideas/, research/. If the current directory is inside a project or pipeline, search upward to find the root. Use $ROOT for all paths below.

Step 1: Gather information

Ask the user (if not already provided):

1. Title — descriptive name for the idea
2. Rank — A (high priority), B (medium), C (low), or null (unranked)
3. Tags — 2-3 topic tags (check existing tags in $ROOT/ideas/index.md for consistency)
4. Content — the idea itself (can be brief)

Optionally ask:

• Related project — if connected to an existing project under projects/
• Related ideas — if it connects to existing ideas (check $ROOT/ideas/index.md)

Step 2: Create the idea file

Derive a slug from the title (lowercase, hyphens, e.g., optimal-appeals-system.md).

Write $ROOT/ideas/<slug>.md:

---
title: <Title>
rank: <A/B/C or null>
status: idea
tags: [<tag1>, <tag2>]
related_project: <projects/xxx or null>
last_updated: <today's date>
---

<Content — the idea description, motivation, possible approaches, etc.>

Step 3: Update the index

Add a row to the appropriate table in $ROOT/ideas/index.md:

• Ranked ideas table (if rank is A, B, or C) — insert in rank order, then alphabetically within rank:

  | <rank> | [<title>](<slug>.md) | idea | <tag1>, <tag2> |

• Unranked ideas table (if rank is null):

  | [<title>](<slug>.md) | idea | <tag1>, <tag2> |

Step 4: Suggest connections

After creating the idea, briefly check:

• $ROOT/ideas/index.md for related existing ideas (by tag overlap or topic)
• $ROOT/research/meta/research_map.md for connections to existing projects
• Mention any connections to the user but don't modify other files.

Promotion to a folder (proto-project structure)

New ideas always start as flat <slug>.md files. When an idea accumulates more than its description — literature notes, evaluation documents, design notes, lit search artifacts — promote it to a folder. The promoted layout is:

ideas/<slug>/
  summary.md       ← was <slug>.md, with frontmatter
  synthesis.md     ← literature read, if any
  evaluation.md    ← assessment as policy/theory
  todo.md          ← next steps, decision rule, time budget
  design.md        ← detailed design notes
  paper.tex        ← paper sketch once idea has crystallized
  references.bib   ← bibliography for paper.tex
  literature/      ← lit search artifacts (queries.json, candidates.json, etc.)
  source/          ← exploratory analysis scripts (optional; see below)
  build/           ← outputs of those scripts (optional; see below)

Exploratory source/ and build/ in an idea folder

An idea folder may carry source/ and build/ subdirectories to hold exploratory analysis run before the idea is promoted to a proper project — the point is to probe feasibility (does the data support the design? is there a sample? is the effect visible?) without paying the cost of a full projects/<slug>/ scaffold.

This is a sanctioned sandbox, deliberately lighter than the project docs contract:

• The doc-contract linter (check_docs.py) does not scan inside idea folders — find_repos only walks projects/* and pipelines/*, and lint_ideas only checks flat ideas/*.md frontmatter. So the source/X.py → build/X.ext bijection, required docs, and merge-validate= rules are not enforced here. Keep the folder tidy by convention, not by hook.
• Still follow the light habits that make the work legible: mirror source/X.py → build/X.<ext>, keep a short INTENT line at the top of each script (Inline Audit Trail), and read only cleaned pipeline outputs (pipelines/*/build/), never raw data.
• When an idea graduates to projects/<slug>/, the exploratory source//build/ is the seed of the real project tree — move and re-home it under the full docs contract at that point.

Record what the exploration found in summary.md (or a findings.md in the folder) so the conclusion survives even if the scratch scripts are later pruned.

To promote a flat idea to a folder:

1. Create ideas/<slug>/
2. Move <slug>.md → <slug>/summary.md
3. Move any related material (e.g., from ideas/literature/<slug>/) into the new folder
4. Update the index link from <slug>.md to <slug>/summary.md
5. Update any internal links inside summary.md that referenced the old paths

The /idea skill itself only creates flat files. Promotion is a manual step taken when an idea has clearly outgrown a single document.

Gotchas

• Use existing tags where possible. Check $ROOT/ideas/index.md for the tag vocabulary already in use before inventing new tags.
• The slug should match the title closely — look at existing files for the naming convention (e.g., effects-of-courts-on-corruption.md).
• Status is always idea for new ideas. Other values (exploring, shelved, project) are set later.
• For small notes that don't warrant their own file, suggest adding to an existing topic collection in $ROOT/ideas/topics/ instead.
• If the idea is clearly connected to an existing idea, mention it but don't merge them.
• If the user is recording an idea that already has substantial content (literature notes, evaluation, etc.), consider creating it directly as a folder instead of a flat file.