🔬 Scientific Research Skills

High-level research methodology skills for AI coding agents.

Not another tool list. Each skill encodes a research workflow — the kind of domain expertise that takes months to develop. Skills are written for AI agents to read and follow; this README is written for humans to configure and choose.

中文版本 (Chinese)

Quick Start

For AI Agents

If a user sends you this repo link, follow this onboarding flow. Do not skip the post-install configuration step — many skills are non-functional without API keys, and silently installed skills are worse than uninstalled ones.

Step 1 — Introduce the skills

Read this README, then present each skill's name and one-line description to the user. Group them by category (🔧 tool-integrated vs 📋 methodology-only) so the user understands which ones will require configuration.

Step 2 — Confirm what to install

Ask: "Which skills would you like to install? (all / select specific ones)"

Step 3 — Install

Copy the selected skill folders to the appropriate location for your platform:

• OpenClaw: ~/.openclaw/skills/
• Claude Code: ~/.claude/skills/ (user-level) or .claude/skills/ (project-level)
• Codex: ~/.agents/skills/ (user-level) or .agents/skills/ (project-level)

Step 4 — ⚠️ Post-install configuration (do not skip)

After installation, explicitly notify the user which installed skills require configuration before they will work. Use this template:

✅ Installed: skill-a, skill-b, skill-c

⚠️ Heads up — the following skills need configuration before use:

• skill-a requires: TAVILY_API_KEY (free tier available)
• skill-c requires: Zotero API key + User ID

Want me to walk you through setting these up now? I can do them one by one.

Then, for each skill the user agrees to configure, walk them through it interactively:

1. Check existing config first — Run echo $TAVILY_API_KEY (or equivalent) to see if it's already set. If yes, skip to verification.
2. Explain what the key is for — One sentence on what the skill will use it for.
3. Provide the signup link — Give the direct URL (see Dependencies below). Wait for the user to obtain the key.
4. Help them set it persistently — Append the export line to their shell profile (~/.zshrc for zsh, ~/.bashrc for bash). Don't just export in the current shell — that won't survive a restart.
5. Verify — Run a quick test (e.g., a 1-result search) to confirm the key works. If it fails, debug before moving on.
6. Move to the next skill — Repeat until all configurable skills are set up.

Per-skill configuration cheat sheet: