Prior Art Scout
n1m21n/Infinite
Find publicly documented solutions (peer repos, GitHub, forums) to bugs, platform quirks, dependency gotchas or architectural patterns, respecting the copyleft discussions-only rule.
Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art.
Install Research
$ npx skills add OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills research --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/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .claude/skills/research && 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 "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .claude/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/researchType 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills research --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .agents/skills/research && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .agents/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills research --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .cursor/skills/research && 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 "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .cursor/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git --path skills/research--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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills research --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .gemini/skills/research && 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 "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .gemini/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills researchInstalls 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .github/skills/research && 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 "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .github/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills research --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research .opencode/skills/research && 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 "research" agent skill from https://github.com/OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills/tree/main/skills/research into .opencode/skills/research/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research", 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
research- GitHub stars
- 199
- Token cost
- ~978 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 571 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 22
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art.
- Works in 3 steps: Vendor-documented, or the shipping… → Maintainer statements, papers, primary… → Blogs, tutorials, forum posts, model…
- The user says research
- SKILL.md covers Pick a depth and say it, Documents of record first, Then prior art and Grade the evidence, plus 1 more section
- Calls gh and git
What it does
Research is an agent skill from OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills. Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art. Use when the user says research, look it up, sleuth GitHub, "what do other people do", "is that a thing", "are you sure", or asks for something that has obviously been solved before.
Its SKILL.md is about 980 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 Legal & Compliance, covering Intellectual property. It works with GitHub. The repository describes itself as: Skills that drive best-in-class engineering. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- The user says research
- What do other people do
- Is that a thing
- Asks for something that has obviously been solved before
Example prompts
- “what do other people do”
- “is that a thing”
- “are you sure”
- “/research”
Workflow steps
3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Vendor-documented, or the shipping source code. Strongest.
- Maintainer statements, papers, primary repos.
- Blogs, tutorials, forum posts, model memory. Weakest, flag them as such.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 8a97904. 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:
ghgit
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use gh and git, 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
Research loads about 978 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 571 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
The full file from OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills at commit 8a97904, republished under its MIT licence (© OutThisLife). 571 words, ~978 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/research/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- research
- description
- Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art. Use when the user says research, look it up, sleuth GitHub, "what do other people do", "is that a thing", "are you sure", or asks for something that has obviously been solved before.
Research
Two halves, in this order: the documents of record for this project, then prior art outside it. Answering from memory and calling it research is the thing this skill is here to stop.
Match the shape of the ask:
- A question ("is this possible", "are we doing this right", "don't touch
code"): look it up, report, stop. No edits until told to go (→
audit-only). - Part of the work ("research and fix", "sleuth GitHub and iterate until it's right"): research inside the loop. Look, apply, re-check, and say what each pass was based on — don't halt the loop to file a report.
Pick a depth and say it
| Depth | For | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| quick | one fact, one API, one flag | a source or two, answer in a paragraph |
| medium | "how do people do this", choosing an approach | 3-6 sources, compare, recommend |
| very thorough | architecture, redesign, "this has to be solved somewhere" | survey the field, name the canon, ROI-ordered options |
Fan out with parallel subagents for breadth. Give each one a scope, a
Thoroughness: level, Do not edit files., and a return contract: exact paths
with line numbers and short quotes for code, or URL, technique, license, and
applicability for outside repos.
Documents of record first
Exhaust what the project already states before searching the web.
- Tickets and specs: the tracker issue, the PRD or spec, QA feedback, the Slack or Discord thread that started it — whatever this project treats as the record.
- The repo's own planning docs:
plans/,docs/, ADRs,AGENTS.md,CONTEXT.md, README. - Figma dev mode when the question is visual. The design is the source of truth
(→
ui-system). - The repo itself:
git log -S<symbol>andgit log -pfor why the code got this way, and the vendored source innode_modulesor site-packages instead of a remembered API surface.
When two documents disagree, say so instead of silently picking one. "Double check against X, Y, Z" means re-read each one and answer per document, not re-skim your own diff.
Show full SKILL.md (243 more words)Show less
Then prior art
Someone has almost certainly solved this. Go find them and take it.
- GitHub:
gh search repos,gh search code,gh api. Read the real source, not the README. Note the license before recommending a lift. - arXiv and papers for anything on agents, generation, simulation, scheduling, or scoring.
- Vendor docs and changelogs for API truth. Tutorials, blogs, Reddit, HN, and YouTube for what people actually hit in practice.
Report what is reusable, which pattern to copy, and what to leave behind.
Grade the evidence
Rank the sources and mark which tier a claim sits in:
- Vendor-documented, or the shipping source code. Strongest.
- Maintainer statements, papers, primary repos.
- Blogs, tutorials, forum posts, model memory. Weakest, flag them as such.
Every non-obvious claim carries a URL. With no URL, write "unverified" rather than stating it flat.
Don't
- Answer from memory and call it research. "Are you sure?" and "did you research?" mean you already got caught doing it.
- Call something impossible or unsupported without opening the docs or source.
- Stop at the first hit when the question was "how do people do this".
- Hand back a link dump. The deliverable is the recommendation, with the sources under it.
- Drop the research on the floor. When it drives a change, the PR description
carries what was found and why (→
pr-update). When it's a big survey with no PR yet, write it into the repo's planning docs so it outlives the chat.
© OutThisLife, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in skills/research of OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 8a97904
Compare with similar skills
Research 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research this skillOutThisLife/brooklyn-skills | 199 | — | ~978 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Prior Art Scoutn1m21n/Infinite | 271 | — | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Name Auditionglebis/claude-skills | 391 | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Weak Signal SynthesizerOneWave-AI/claude-skills | 336 | 1 repos | ~500 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Open-Source Release Readinesstrailofbits/skills | 7.5k | — | ~2.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | CC-BY-SA-4.0 | |
| Search Contextinstructa/agent-skills | 139 | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Open a PR/MR if missing, or refresh an existing one's title and description so they match the current diff.
Related
Works with
Categories
Questions about Research
What does Research do?
Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art. Research is an agent skill from OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills. Look it up before answering or building — this project's documents of record first, then external prior art.
When should I use Research?
Research fits situations like: the user says research; what do other people do; is that a thing; asks for something that has obviously been solved before.
How do I install Research in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/research in OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills) into .claude/skills/research in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Research in Codex?
Run `npx skills add OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/research in OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills) into .agents/skills/research in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Research 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 OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills --skill research -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/research, .gemini/skills/research, .github/skills/research and .opencode/skills/research in your project.
What does Research need to run?
Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Research needs the command-line tools its instructions call (gh and git).
Does Research access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use gh and git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Research 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 Research use?
Research is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Research use?
About 978 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.9k 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 Research?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Research: Prior Art Scout (n1m21n/Infinite, 271 stars), Name Audition (glebis/claude-skills, 391 stars), Weak Signal Synthesizer (OneWave-AI/claude-skills, 336 stars) and Open-Source Release Readiness (trailofbits/skills, 7.5k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Research?
OutThisLife (a GitHub user) maintains it in OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills, which has 199 GitHub stars. The repository holds 22 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.
Source: OutThisLife/brooklyn-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.