Agent skill

Research Town Guide

by wentorai in wentorai/research-plugins

Simulate human research communities with multi-agent AI collaboration

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Research Town Guide

skills CLI
$ npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill research-town-guide -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install wentorai/research-plugins research-town-guide --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/wentorai/research-plugins.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/research/methodology/research-town-guide .claude/skills/research-town-guide && 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
research-town-guide
GitHub stars
298
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~2.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
539 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
405
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Simulate human research communities with multi-agent AI collaboration

  • Works in 4 steps: Idea Stress-Testing → Literature Gap Discovery → Writing Feedback → …
  • Tasks that involve Multi-agent orchestration
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, Architecture, Setting Up a Research Town… and Simulated Peer Review, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Research Town Guide is an agent skill from wentorai/research-plugins. Simulate human research communities with multi-agent AI collaboration

Its SKILL.md is about 2.7k 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 Agent Workflows, covering Multi-agent orchestration. The repository describes itself as: 350+ academic research skills, MCP configs, and plugins for Research-Claw and AI agents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Multi-agent orchestration

Example prompts

  • “/research-town-guide”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

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

  1. Idea Stress-Testing
  2. Literature Gap Discovery
  3. Writing Feedback
  4. Proposal Refinement

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit bf44b3c. 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 (its code samples are python, yaml and markdown).

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

  • Network

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • github.com

    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 Town Guide loads about 2.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 22 tokens; SKILL.md has 539 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~22
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.7k

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 wentorai/research-plugins at commit bf44b3c, republished under its MIT licence (© wentorai). 539 words, ~2,663 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/research-town-guide/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
research-town-guide
description
Simulate human research communities with multi-agent AI collaboration

Research Town Guide

Simulate human research communities using multi-agent AI systems. Research Town creates virtual research environments where AI agents take on the roles of researchers, reviewers, editors, and collaborators to generate, critique, refine, and peer-review research ideas through structured multi-agent interaction.

Overview

Research Town is an open-source framework for simulating the social dynamics of academic research communities. Rather than using a single AI model for idea generation or paper writing, Research Town instantiates multiple specialized agents -- each with a defined expertise profile, publication history, and behavioral model -- that interact through the same social structures as human researchers: lab meetings, peer review, conference discussions, and collaborative writing.

The key insight behind Research Town is that research quality emerges from the social process of science, not just individual brilliance. Peer review, adversarial critique, iterative refinement through rebuttal, and cross-disciplinary fertilization are all processes that can be simulated with multi-agent systems. By modeling these interactions, Research Town produces research outputs that have been stress-tested through simulated peer review before a human researcher ever sees them.

This approach is particularly valuable for three research tasks: (1) generating novel research ideas by simulating brainstorming sessions between agents with diverse expertise, (2) stress-testing research proposals by subjecting them to simulated peer review, and (3) identifying gaps in the literature by having agents independently survey and then synthesize findings from different subfields.

Architecture

Agent Types
Agent RoleExpertiseBehavior
Principal InvestigatorBroad domain knowledge, research visionSets research direction, evaluates proposals
Domain ExpertDeep knowledge in a specific areaProvides technical depth, identifies related work
MethodologistStatistical and experimental design expertiseCritiques methods, suggests improvements
ReviewerJournal review experience, quality standardsEvaluates novelty, significance, rigor
Devil's AdvocateCritical thinking, identifying weaknessesChallenges assumptions, finds counterexamples
SynthesizerCross-disciplinary knowledgeConnects ideas across fields, identifies patterns
Interaction Protocols
python
# Research Town interaction structure
class ResearchTownSession:
    def __init__(self, agents, topic):
        self.agents = agents
        self.topic = topic
        self.rounds = []

    def run_brainstorming(self, num_rounds=3):
        """Structured brainstorming with multiple agents."""
        ideas = []
        for round_num in range(num_rounds):
            round_ideas = []
            for agent in self.agents:
                # Each agent generates ideas given prior context
                idea = agent.generate_idea(
                    topic=self.topic,
                    prior_ideas=ideas,
                    round=round_num
                )
                round_ideas.append(idea)

            # Cross-pollination: agents react to each other's ideas
            for agent in self.agents:
                reactions = agent.react_to_ideas(round_ideas)
                ideas.extend(reactions)

            self.rounds.append(round_ideas)
        return ideas

    def run_peer_review(self, paper_draft):
        """Simulate peer review with multiple reviewers."""
        reviews = []
        for reviewer in self.agents:
            if reviewer.role == "reviewer":
                review = reviewer.review_paper(
                    paper_draft,
                    criteria=["novelty", "significance",
                             "methodology", "clarity", "reproducibility"]
                )
                reviews.append(review)

        # Meta-review: aggregate and identify consensus
        meta_review = self.aggregate_reviews(reviews)
        return meta_review

Setting Up a Research Town Session

Defining Agent Profiles
yaml
# agents.yaml - Agent configuration
agents:
  - name: "Prof. ML Expert"
    role: principal_investigator
    expertise: ["machine learning", "deep learning", "optimization"]
    style: "rigorous, quantitative, focused on scalability"
    publication_venues: ["NeurIPS", "ICML", "JMLR"]
    h_index: 45

  - name: "Dr. Biology Specialist"
    role: domain_expert
    expertise: ["structural biology", "protein engineering", "bioinformatics"]
    style: "experimental, emphasizes biological validity"
    publication_venues: ["Nature", "Cell", "PNAS"]
    h_index: 32

  - name: "Dr. Statistics"
    role: methodologist
    expertise: ["causal inference", "experimental design", "Bayesian methods"]
    style: "rigorous, demands proper statistical justification"
    publication_venues: ["JASA", "Biometrika", "Statistical Science"]
    h_index: 28

  - name: "Reviewer Alpha"
    role: reviewer
    expertise: ["interdisciplinary research", "computational biology"]
    style: "constructive but demanding, focuses on reproducibility"
    review_experience: 200

  - name: "Skeptic"
    role: devils_advocate
    expertise: ["philosophy of science", "replication crisis", "research methods"]
    style: "challenges assumptions, demands strong evidence"
Running an Idea Generation Session
python
from research_town import ResearchTown, Agent

# Initialize agents from profiles
town = ResearchTown.from_config("agents.yaml")

# Define research topic
topic = {
    "area": "AI for Drug Discovery",
    "question": "How can we improve the efficiency of virtual screening "
                "for novel antibiotics using foundation models?",
    "constraints": [
        "Must work with limited labeled data (<1000 compounds)",
        "Must generalize across bacterial species",
        "Should produce interpretable predictions"
    ]
}

# Run brainstorming (3 rounds of idea generation and critique)
session = town.create_session(topic)
ideas = session.run_brainstorming(num_rounds=3)

# Rank ideas by multi-agent consensus
ranked = session.rank_ideas(ideas, criteria=[
    "novelty",       # How different from existing approaches
    "feasibility",   # Can it be implemented with current resources
    "impact",        # Potential significance if successful
    "rigor"          # Methodological soundness
])

# Output top ideas with supporting analysis
for i, idea in enumerate(ranked[:5]):
    print(f"\n=== Idea {i+1} (Score: {idea.score:.2f}) ===")
    print(f"Title: {idea.title}")
    print(f"Summary: {idea.summary}")
    print(f"Proposed by: {idea.proposer.name}")
    print(f"Endorsed by: {[a.name for a in idea.endorsers]}")
    print(f"Critiques: {idea.critiques}")

Simulated Peer Review

Show full SKILL.md (222 more words)Show less
Review Protocol

The simulated peer review follows a structured protocol modeled on top-venue review processes:

python
review_criteria = {
    "novelty": {
        "description": "Does this paper present genuinely new ideas?",
        "scale": "1-10",
        "weight": 0.25
    },
    "significance": {
        "description": "How important is the contribution to the field?",
        "scale": "1-10",
        "weight": 0.20
    },
    "soundness": {
        "description": "Are the methods and analysis technically correct?",
        "scale": "1-10",
        "weight": 0.25
    },
    "clarity": {
        "description": "Is the paper well-written and easy to follow?",
        "scale": "1-10",
        "weight": 0.15
    },
    "reproducibility": {
        "description": "Could another researcher replicate the results?",
        "scale": "1-10",
        "weight": 0.15
    }
}
Review Output Format
markdown
## Review Summary

**Overall Score**: 6.5/10
**Recommendation**: Minor Revision

### Strengths
1. Novel application of contrastive learning to molecular fingerprints
2. Comprehensive ablation study across 4 benchmark datasets
3. Clear explanation of the biological motivation

### Weaknesses
1. Limited comparison with recent graph neural network baselines (2024+)
2. Statistical significance not reported for main results
3. Interpretability analysis is superficial

### Questions for Authors
1. How does performance scale with dataset size? The smallest dataset has 5000 compounds.
2. What is the computational cost compared to traditional docking methods?

### Minor Issues
- Table 3 formatting is inconsistent
- Reference [24] appears to be a preprint; has it been published?

Use Cases for Researchers

1. Idea Stress-Testing

Before investing months in a research direction, run your idea through a simulated review panel to identify weaknesses early.

2. Literature Gap Discovery

Deploy agents with different domain expertise to independently survey a topic, then synthesize their findings to identify under-explored intersections.

3. Writing Feedback

Submit draft sections to simulated reviewers for constructive criticism on clarity, argumentation, and missing references.

4. Proposal Refinement

Iterate on grant proposals by having agents role-play as review panel members with different priorities (novelty, feasibility, broader impact).

Limitations and Ethics

  • AI-generated ideas are starting points, not final outputs: All ideas require human validation, domain expertise, and ethical review before pursuit.
  • Simulated review is not a substitute for real peer review: It can catch obvious issues but cannot replicate the full depth of expert human review.
  • Bias inheritance: Agent behaviors are shaped by their training data, which may reproduce biases in existing research communities.
  • Attribution: When using multi-agent idea generation, researchers should document the AI's role in the ideation process per their institution's guidelines.

References

© wentorai, 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/methodology/research-town-guide of wentorai/research-plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit bf44b3c

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 wentorai/research-plugins, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

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Research Town Guide 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.

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Questions about Research Town Guide

What does Research Town Guide do?

Simulate human research communities with multi-agent AI collaboration. Research Town Guide is an agent skill from wentorai/research-plugins.

When should I use Research Town Guide?

Research Town Guide fits situations like: tasks that involve Multi-agent orchestration.

How do I install Research Town Guide in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill research-town-guide -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/research/methodology/research-town-guide in wentorai/research-plugins) into .claude/skills/research-town-guide in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Research Town Guide in Codex?

Run `npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill research-town-guide -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/research/methodology/research-town-guide in wentorai/research-plugins) into .agents/skills/research-town-guide in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Research Town Guide 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 wentorai/research-plugins --skill research-town-guide -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-town-guide, .gemini/skills/research-town-guide, .github/skills/research-town-guide and .opencode/skills/research-town-guide in your project.

What does Research Town Guide need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Research Town Guide is instructions for the agent only. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Research Town Guide access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Research Town Guide 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 Town Guide use?

Research Town Guide 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 Town Guide use?

About 2.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 11k 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 Town Guide?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Research Town Guide: Biomarker Multi Agent Discovery (aws-samples/amazon-bedrock-agents-healthcare-lifesciences, 274 stars), Paperclip (lamm-mit/scienceclaw, 246 stars), MFA Pipeline Orchestrator (aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw, 15k stars) and Audit (leanEthereum/leanSpec, 143 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Research Town Guide?

wentorai (a GitHub user) maintains it in wentorai/research-plugins, which has 298 GitHub stars. The repository holds 405 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 19, 2026.

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