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Agent skill

Scholar Conceptual

by joshzyj in joshzyj/open-scholar-skill

Build original theoretical frameworks and produce publication-quality conceptual diagrams for social science research.

Custom licenceAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Scholar Conceptual

skills CLI
$ npx skills add joshzyj/open-scholar-skill --skill scholar-conceptual -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install joshzyj/open-scholar-skill scholar-conceptual --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/joshzyj/open-scholar-skill.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/scholar-conceptual .claude/skills/scholar-conceptual && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
scholar-conceptual
GitHub stars
168
Token cost
~5.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,360 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
30
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Custom licence

At a glance

Build original theoretical frameworks and produce publication-quality conceptual diagrams for social science research.

  • Works in 5 steps: Identify the Theoretical Task → Gather Building Blocks → Execute Theory-Building Strategy → …
  • Tasks that involve Diagrams
  • SKILL.md covers Arguments, Mode Dispatch Table, Setup and MODE 1: THEORIZE — Build…, plus 5 more sections
  • Calls bash, npx and python3

What it does

Scholar Conceptual is an agent skill from joshzyj/open-scholar-skill. Build original theoretical frameworks and produce publication-quality conceptual diagrams for social science research. Two modes: (1) THEORIZE — construct new theories from empirical puzzles using typology construction (property-space analysis), process theorizing, mechanism specification (Coleman's boat, Hedström DBO), scope condition mapping, multi-level models, abductive inference, and synthetic framework integration; (2) DIAGRAM — generate conceptual figures (mechanism diagrams, multi-level models, typology…

Its SKILL.md is about 5.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Diagrams, Knowledge graphs and Data visualization. It works with Mermaid. The repository describes itself as: Open scholar skill, a claude code plugin, for academic research.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Diagrams
  • Tasks that involve Knowledge graphs
  • Tasks that involve Data visualization

Example prompts

  • “/scholar-conceptual”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Identify the Theoretical Task
  2. Gather Building Blocks
  3. Execute Theory-Building Strategy
  4. Formalize the Framework
  5. Write Theory Section Prose

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6e5ac8e. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • bash
    • npx
    • python3

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    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

Scholar Conceptual loads about 5.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 247 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,360 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~247
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~5.3k

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 1,360 words (~5,291 tokens).

“You are an expert social theorist who builds original theoretical frameworks and translates them into publication-quality conceptual diagrams. You work at the level of theory construction — not hypothesis derivation (that's /scholar-hypothesis) and not causal identification (that's /scholar-causal).”

— opening of SKILL.md by joshzyj, Custom licence
name
scholar-conceptual
tools
Read, Bash, Write, WebSearch
argument-hint
[theorize|diagram] [topic], e.g., 'theorize a framework for digital labor precarity' or 'diagram mechanism model for segregation and health'
user-invocable
true

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in .claude/skills/scholar-conceptual of joshzyj/open-scholar-skill.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6e5ac8e

Compare with similar skills

Scholar Conceptual 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.

Scholar Conceptual compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Scholar Conceptual this skilljoshzyj/open-scholar-skill168—~5.3kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Diagram Designcathrynlavery/diagram-design48k1 repos~7.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Fireworks Tech GraphCitrus-bit/Anaxa120—~5.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Markdown Mermaid WritingK-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills48k1 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Openai Dotcom Vizyzlnew/infra-skills149—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Microsim Generatorynulihao/AgentSkillOS618—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassNone

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Scholar Conceptual

What does Scholar Conceptual do?

Build original theoretical frameworks and produce publication-quality conceptual diagrams for social science research. Scholar Conceptual is an agent skill from joshzyj/open-scholar-skill. Build original theoretical frameworks and produce publication-quality conceptual diagrams for social science research.

When should I use Scholar Conceptual?

Scholar Conceptual fits situations like: tasks that involve Diagrams; tasks that involve Knowledge graphs; tasks that involve Data visualization.

How do I install Scholar Conceptual in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add joshzyj/open-scholar-skill --skill scholar-conceptual -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/scholar-conceptual in joshzyj/open-scholar-skill) into .claude/skills/scholar-conceptual in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Scholar Conceptual in Codex?

Run `npx skills add joshzyj/open-scholar-skill --skill scholar-conceptual -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/scholar-conceptual in joshzyj/open-scholar-skill) into .agents/skills/scholar-conceptual in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Scholar Conceptual 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 joshzyj/open-scholar-skill --skill scholar-conceptual -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/scholar-conceptual, .gemini/skills/scholar-conceptual, .github/skills/scholar-conceptual and .opencode/skills/scholar-conceptual in your project.

What does Scholar Conceptual need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Scholar Conceptual needs the command-line tools its instructions call (bash, npx and python3). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Scholar Conceptual access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Scholar Conceptual 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 Scholar Conceptual use?

Scholar Conceptual 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 Scholar Conceptual use?

About 5.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 21k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Scholar Conceptual?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Scholar Conceptual: Diagram Design (cathrynlavery/diagram-design, 48k stars), Fireworks Tech Graph (Citrus-bit/Anaxa, 120 stars), Markdown Mermaid Writing (K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills, 48k stars) and Openai Dotcom Viz (yzlnew/infra-skills, 149 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Scholar Conceptual?

joshzyj (a GitHub user) maintains it in joshzyj/open-scholar-skill, which has 168 GitHub stars. The repository holds 30 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 18, 2026.

Source: joshzyj/open-scholar-skill on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.