Hypothesis Generation
spacering-net/codeg
Structured hypothesis formulation from observations. An agent skill from spacering-net/codeg.
Agent skill
Aer Topic Selection
by brycewang-stanford in brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills
A skill your agent uses when evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar, when routing between AER, AER:Insights, and the AEJ family, or when sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence…
Install Aer Topic Selection
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selection --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .claude/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .claude/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selectionType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selection --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .agents/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .agents/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selection --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .cursor/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .cursor/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git --path skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selection --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .gemini/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .gemini/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selectionInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .github/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .github/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills aer-topic-selection --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection .opencode/skills/aer-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "aer-topic-selection" agent skill from https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/tree/main/skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection into .opencode/skills/aer-topic-selection/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "aer-topic-selection", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
aer-topic-selection- GitHub stars
- 4.5k
- Used in
- 1 other repo
- Token cost
- ~2k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 1,019 words
- Files
- 3 (incl. references)
- Skills in repo
- 383
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Custom licence
At a glance
A skill your agent uses when evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar, when routing between AER, AER:Insights, and the AEJ family, or when sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence…
- Works in 4 steps: Cross-subfield interest. A labor… → Substantive contribution. Methodological… → Self-contained in the first 3 pages. The… → …
- Evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar
- SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use, The Top-5 Bar and Venue Routing, plus 8 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Aer Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills. Use when evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar, when routing between AER, AER:Insights, and the AEJ family, or when sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence into one publishable claim. Apply before any writing begins.
Its SKILL.md is about 2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 4 other files, including reference files (for example `agents/openai.yaml` and `references/venue-router.md`).
It sits in Research & Science, covering Hypothesis generation. The repository describes itself as: 🔬 A curated collection of 23,000+ agent skills for empirical research across 8 social science disciplines. | 精选 23,000+ AI Agent 技能库，覆盖8大社会科学学科的实证研究。CoPaper.AI…
When your agent uses it
- Evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar
- Routing between AER
- Sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence into one publishable claim
Example prompts
- “/aer-topic-selection”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Cross-subfield interest. A labor economist's paper must matter to public, macro, IO, and development economists. Not the median person…
- Substantive contribution. Methodological extension or substantive new fact or new identification or genuinely new data. Competent…
- Self-contained in the first 3 pages. The editor decides in ten minutes. If understanding the contribution requires the appendix, the paper…
- Defensible identification or model discipline. Empirical: design-based, not selection-on-observables. Theory: tractable result with an…
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9fa87d8. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Aer Topic Selection loads about 2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 65 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,019 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 1,019 words (~1,954 tokens).
“The single most expensive mistake in top-5 economics is writing a polished manuscript around a contribution that was always going to be desk-rejected. This skill is the pre-mortem: stress-test the idea, the audience, and the venue before the introduction is…”
- name
- aer-topic-selection
Files
SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection of brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills.
- SKILL.md
- agents/openai.yaml
- references/venue-router.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9fa87d8
Used in 1 other repository
We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.
Compare with similar skills
Aer Topic Selection next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aer Topic Selection this skillbrycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills | 4.5k | 1 repos | ~2k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Hypothesis Generationspacering-net/codeg | 3.9k | 14 repos | ~3.6k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Nature Paper CardYuan1z0825/nature-skills | 47k | 2 repos | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Hypothesis GenerationK-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-writer | 2.4k | 2 repos | ~3.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Good QuestionRimagination/good-question | 305 | 1 repos | ~4.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| High Stakes Analytics Decision Lablimingrui679-design/high-stakes-analytics-decision-lab | 1k | — | ~2.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Good Question
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High Stakes Analytics Decision Lab
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Claim-Driven Experiment Planner
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Turns a refined research proposal into a claim-to-evidence-to-run-order roadmap instead of a sprawling benchmark wishlist.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Aer Topic Selection
What does Aer Topic Selection do?
A skill your agent uses when evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar, when routing between AER, AER:Insights, and the AEJ family, or when sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence…. Aer Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills. Use when evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar, when routing between AER, AER:Insights, and the AEJ family, or when sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence into one publishable claim.
When should I use Aer Topic Selection?
Aer Topic Selection fits situations like: evaluating whether a research idea clears the AER top-5 bar; routing between AER; sharpening a fuzzy contribution sentence into one publishable claim.
How do I install Aer Topic Selection in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills) into .claude/skills/aer-topic-selection in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Aer Topic Selection in Codex?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/50-brycewang-aer-skills/skills/aer-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills) into .agents/skills/aer-topic-selection in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Aer Topic Selection in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill aer-topic-selection -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/aer-topic-selection, .gemini/skills/aer-topic-selection, .github/skills/aer-topic-selection and .opencode/skills/aer-topic-selection in your project.
What does Aer Topic Selection need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Aer Topic Selection is instructions for the agent only.
Does Aer Topic Selection access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Aer Topic Selection safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Aer Topic Selection use?
Aer Topic Selection has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.
How many tokens does Aer Topic Selection use?
About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1.9k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to Aer Topic Selection?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Aer Topic Selection: Hypothesis Generation (spacering-net/codeg, 3.9k stars), Nature Paper Card (Yuan1z0825/nature-skills, 47k stars), Hypothesis Generation (K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-writer, 2.4k stars) and Good Question (Rimagination/good-question, 305 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Aer Topic Selection?
brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills, which has 4,542 GitHub stars. The repository holds 383 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.
Source: brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.