Research Skill Template

For skills that aggregate information from multiple sources.

---
name: {skill-name}
description: {Research X from multiple sources with synthesis}
argument-hint: "[topic] [--focus area] [--since date]"
allowed-tools: WebSearch, WebFetch, Read, Write
user-invocable: true
---

{Skill Name}

{Description of research domain and purpose.}

Arguments

Parse from $ARGUMENTS:

• topic: Required — What to research
• --focus: Optional — Narrow scope (default: all)
• --since: Optional — Date range (default: past 7 days)

State Files

Last Run

./findings/{skill-name}/.last-run

Format: YYYY-MM-DD

Covered Items

./findings/{skill-name}/.covered-items

Format: One URL/ID per line. Keep last 500.

Workflow

Phase 1: Setup

1. Read sources.md for search patterns
2. Read output-template.md for format
3. Parse arguments
4. Read .last-run — set date range
5. Read .covered-items — for deduplication

Phase 2: Research

Search patterns from sources.md:

{topic} {date_range}
site:{source1} {topic}
site:{source2} {topic}
"{topic}" best OR latest

Collect:

• {Data point 1}
• {Data point 2}
• {Data point 3}

Phase 3: Synthesis

1. Deduplicate within session
2. Filter against .covered-items
3. Rank by {criteria}
4. Categorize into sections

Phase 4: Generate Output

1. Load output-template.md
2. Fill sections with findings
3. Format per template

Phase 5: Save

Write output:

./findings/{skill-name}/{topic}-{date}.md

Update state:

./findings/{skill-name}/.last-run → today's date
./findings/{skill-name}/.covered-items → append new URLs

Output Requirements

• Source URLs for all items
• {Domain-specific format}
• Emojis for section headers
• Bullet points over paragraphs

Error Handling

• No results: Broaden search, try alternative terms
• Source unavailable: Log and continue with others
• Minimum not met: Expand date range, retry

Quality Checklist

• At least {N} sources cited
• No duplicate items
• All items have URLs
• State files updated