Research
danjdewhurst/story-skills
This skill should be used when the user asks to "research", "fact-check", "check the history", "is this accurate", "research notes", "sources", "historical accuracy", "technical accuracy", "how…
Use after framing a question and before designing an analysis, or when choosing a method, judging whether a result is novel, or needing a prior effect size for a power calculation
Install Surveying Prior Work
$ npx skills add K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-work --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/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .claude/skills/surveying-prior-work && 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 "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .claude/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-workType 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-work --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .agents/skills/surveying-prior-work && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .agents/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-work --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .cursor/skills/surveying-prior-work && 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 "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .cursor/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git --path skills/surveying-prior-work--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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-work --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .gemini/skills/surveying-prior-work && 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 "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .gemini/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-workInstalls 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .github/skills/surveying-prior-work && 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 "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .github/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers surveying-prior-work --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/surveying-prior-work .opencode/skills/surveying-prior-work && 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 "surveying-prior-work" agent skill from https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers/tree/main/skills/surveying-prior-work into .opencode/skills/surveying-prior-work/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "surveying-prior-work", 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
surveying-prior-work- GitHub stars
- 350
- Token cost
- ~898 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 494 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 13
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Custom licence
At a glance
Use after framing a question and before designing an analysis, or when choosing a method, judging whether a result is novel, or needing a prior effect size for a power calculation
- Works in 4 steps: Established methods — what is the… → Known confounds and artifacts — what… → Prior effect sizes — what magnitude have… → …
- Tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction
- SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use, What to Ground and The Process, plus 2 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Surveying Prior Work is an agent skill from K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers. Use after framing a question and before designing an analysis, or when choosing a method, judging whether a result is novel, or needing a prior effect size for a power calculation
Its SKILL.md is about 900 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 Writing & Content, covering Creative writing and fiction. The repository describes itself as: Composable computational-science methodology skills for AI research agents — pre-registration over TDD. A science-domain reimplementation of Superpowers.
When your agent uses it
- Tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction
Example prompts
- “/surveying-prior-work”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Established methods — what is the standard, accepted way to analyze this kind of question? What are its assumptions and failure modes?
- Known confounds and artifacts — what variables are known to drive this outcome? What measurement artifacts are common in this data type?
- Prior effect sizes — what magnitude have others found? This feeds the power/sample-size calculation in the analysis design.
- Relationship to prior work — is this a replication, an extension, a new population, or genuinely novel? Be honest about which.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 0374bdf. 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
Surveying Prior Work loads about 898 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 50 tokens; SKILL.md has 494 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 494 words (~898 tokens).
“Before designing an analysis, ground the question and your chosen methods in what is already known. Most questions have established methods, known confounds, and prior effect sizes. Reinventing a method badly — or rediscovering a known artifact and reporting it…”
- name
- surveying-prior-work
Files
Just SKILL.md in skills/surveying-prior-work of K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 0374bdf
Compare with similar skills
Surveying Prior Work 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surveying Prior Work this skillK-Dense-AI/science-superpowers | 350 | — | ~898 | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Researchdanjdewhurst/story-skills | 286 | 1 repos | ~2.4k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Bio Long Read Sequencing Isoseq AnalysisGPTomics/bioSkills | 1.2k | 1 repos | ~3.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Anmath Methodsfranklee16/academic-research-skills | 223 | 1 repos | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| ResearchCkokoski/AuthorAgent | 124 | — | ~487 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Story Multi-Perspective Reviewzenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode | 7.4k | 3 repos | ~3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Ckokoski/AuthorAgent
Constrained internet research with source tracking for fiction and nonfiction projects
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Reviews Chinese web-novel text with several reviewer agents in parallel, falling back to a single-agent pass, and reports structure, character, prose and setting problems with fixes.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Surveying Prior Work
What does Surveying Prior Work do?
Use after framing a question and before designing an analysis, or when choosing a method, judging whether a result is novel, or needing a prior effect size for a power calculation. Surveying Prior Work is an agent skill from K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers.
When should I use Surveying Prior Work?
Surveying Prior Work fits situations like: tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction.
How do I install Surveying Prior Work in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/surveying-prior-work in K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers) into .claude/skills/surveying-prior-work in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Surveying Prior Work in Codex?
Run `npx skills add K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/surveying-prior-work in K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers) into .agents/skills/surveying-prior-work in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Surveying Prior Work 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 K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers --skill surveying-prior-work -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/surveying-prior-work, .gemini/skills/surveying-prior-work, .github/skills/surveying-prior-work and .opencode/skills/surveying-prior-work in your project.
What does Surveying Prior Work need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Surveying Prior Work is instructions for the agent only.
Does Surveying Prior Work 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 Surveying Prior Work 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 Surveying Prior Work use?
Surveying Prior Work 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 Surveying Prior Work use?
About 898 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.6k 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 Surveying Prior Work?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Surveying Prior Work: Research (danjdewhurst/story-skills, 286 stars), Bio Long Read Sequencing Isoseq Analysis (GPTomics/bioSkills, 1.2k stars), Anmath Methods (franklee16/academic-research-skills, 223 stars) and Research (Ckokoski/AuthorAgent, 124 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Surveying Prior Work?
K-Dense-AI (a GitHub organization) maintains it in K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers, which has 350 GitHub stars. The repository holds 13 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 13, 2026.
Source: K-Dense-AI/science-superpowers on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.