Agent skill

AI Co Scientist

by sundial-org in sundial-org/skills

Transform Claude Code into an AI Scientist that orchestrates research workflows using tree-based hypothesis exploration.

No licenceAuto-check passedMarketing & SEO

Install AI Co Scientist

skills CLI
$ npx skills add sundial-org/skills --skill ai-co-scientist -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install sundial-org/skills ai-co-scientist --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/sundial-org/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/ai-co-scientist .claude/skills/ai-co-scientist && 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
ai-co-scientist
GitHub stars
153
Token cost
~2.5k tokens
SKILL.md length
620 words
Files
49 (incl. scripts, references, assets)
Skills in repo
13
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
None found

At a glance

Transform Claude Code into an AI Scientist that orchestrates research workflows using tree-based hypothesis exploration.

  • Works in 8 steps: Plan Next Experiment → Write Experiment Code → Add Node to Tree → …
  • Research project
  • SKILL.md covers Core Principles, Session Initialization, Stage-Based Workflow and Experimentation Loop (Stage 3), plus 6 more sections
  • Runs JavaScript, Shell and Python scripts from its folder; calls python, git and bash

What it does

AI Co Scientist is an agent skill from sundial-org/skills. Transform Claude Code into an AI Scientist that orchestrates research workflows using tree-based hypothesis exploration. Triggers on "research project", "scientific experiment", "run experiments", "AI scientist", "tree search experimentation", "systematic study".

Its SKILL.md is about 2.5k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 55 other files, including scripts, reference files and assets (for example `assets/viz-template/template.js`, `examples/tree-example.json` and `references/paper-review.md`).

It sits in Marketing & SEO, covering A/B testing. The repository describes itself as: Claude Code Skills by Sundial.

When your agent uses it

  • Research project
  • Scientific experiment
  • Run experiments
  • Tree search experimentation

Example prompts

  • “research project”
  • “scientific experiment”
  • “run experiments”
  • “/ai-co-scientist”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • Node.js
  • A Bash shell

Workflow steps

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

  1. Plan Next Experiment
  2. Write Experiment Code
  3. Add Node to Tree
  4. Execute and Analyze
  5. Update Node Status
  6. Commit to Git
  7. Update Visualization
  8. Repeat

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5a3bf9f. 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

    Ships 4 files in scripts/ (JavaScript, Shell and Python, from the files we listed), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • python
    • git
    • bash

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use 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

AI Co Scientist loads about 2.5k tokens when it runs, and up to ~10k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 70 tokens; SKILL.md has 620 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~70
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.5k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~10k

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); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Without a licence we can't republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 620 words (~2,514 tokens).

“You are now operating as an AI Co-Scientist, following the scientific method to conduct rigorous, reproducible computational research. You use tree-based search to systematically explore hypothesis spaces across any domain of computational or data-driven science.”

— opening of SKILL.md by sundial-org
name
ai-co-scientist

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

SKILL.md and 48 other files (scripts, references, assets) in skills/ai-co-scientist of sundial-org/skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • assets/icml-template/refs.bib
  • assets/icml-template/template.tex
  • assets/viz-template/template.html
  • assets/viz-template/template.js
  • examples/tree-example.json
  • references/paper-review.md
  • references/paper-writing.md
  • references/stages.md
  • references/tree-operations.md
  • scripts/__pycache__/tree.cpython-313.pyc
  • scripts/__pycache__/visualize.cpython-313.pyc
  • scripts/compile_latex.sh
  • scripts/tree.py
  • … and 35 more

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5a3bf9f

Compare with similar skills

AI Co Scientist 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.

AI Co Scientist compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
AI Co Scientist this skillsundial-org/skills153—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Ab Test Analyzeririnabuht12-oss/marketing-skills4.1k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Define Hypothesisproduct-on-purpose/pm-skills716—~966Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
A B Test DesignOwl-Listener/designer-skills2.9k1 repos~472Automated safety check: PassMIT
Send Experiment Designeraaron-he-zhu/aaron-marketing-skills2.9k2 repos~4.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Content Experimentation Best Practicessanity-io/agent-toolkit1881 repos~469Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about AI Co Scientist

What does AI Co Scientist do?

Transform Claude Code into an AI Scientist that orchestrates research workflows using tree-based hypothesis exploration. AI Co Scientist is an agent skill from sundial-org/skills. Transform Claude Code into an AI Scientist that orchestrates research workflows using tree-based hypothesis exploration.

When should I use AI Co Scientist?

AI Co Scientist fits situations like: research project; scientific experiment; run experiments; tree search experimentation.

How do I install AI Co Scientist in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add sundial-org/skills --skill ai-co-scientist -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/ai-co-scientist in sundial-org/skills) into .claude/skills/ai-co-scientist in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install AI Co Scientist in Codex?

Run `npx skills add sundial-org/skills --skill ai-co-scientist -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/ai-co-scientist in sundial-org/skills) into .agents/skills/ai-co-scientist in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use AI Co Scientist 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 sundial-org/skills --skill ai-co-scientist -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/ai-co-scientist, .gemini/skills/ai-co-scientist, .github/skills/ai-co-scientist and .opencode/skills/ai-co-scientist in your project.

What does AI Co Scientist need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, AI Co Scientist needs JavaScript, a shell and Python for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (python, git and bash). Our summary lists: Python 3; Node.js; A Bash shell.

Does AI Co Scientist access the network?

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

Is AI Co Scientist 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. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does AI Co Scientist use?

No licence was found for AI Co Scientist or its repository. Without one, default copyright applies: ask the author before reusing or redistributing it.

How many tokens does AI Co Scientist use?

About 2.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 10k 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 7.9k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to AI Co Scientist?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with AI Co Scientist: Ab Test Analyzer (irinabuht12-oss/marketing-skills, 4.1k stars), Define Hypothesis (product-on-purpose/pm-skills, 716 stars), A B Test Design (Owl-Listener/designer-skills, 2.9k stars) and Send Experiment Designer (aaron-he-zhu/aaron-marketing-skills, 2.9k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains AI Co Scientist?

sundial-org (a GitHub organization) maintains it in sundial-org/skills, which has 153 GitHub stars. The repository holds 13 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 15, 2026.

Source: sundial-org/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.