Track Idea
cdiggins/plato
Log a new idea into tracker/ with elaboration — assumptions, design decisions, related work links, approach brainstorm, and simplest implementation.
Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior.
Install Research First
$ npx skills add ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-first --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/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .claude/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .claude/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-firstType 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-first --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .agents/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .agents/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-first --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .cursor/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .cursor/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git --path .claude/skills/research-first--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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-first --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .gemini/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .gemini/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-firstInstalls 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .github/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .github/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm research-first --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/research-first .opencode/skills/research-first && 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-first" agent skill from https://github.com/ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm/tree/main/.claude/skills/research-first into .opencode/skills/research-first/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-first", 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-first- GitHub stars
- 494
- Token cost
- ~481 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 222 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 91
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior.
- Works in 4 steps: Search current official documentation to… → Search for state-of-the-art solutions,… → Run multiple searches across distinct… → …
- Tasks that involve Literature review
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
- Tasks that involve Technical debt
What it does
Research First is an agent skill from ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm. Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior. Search online for current documentation and state-of-the-art approaches before tracing through code.
Its SKILL.md is about 480 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 Literature review and Technical debt. The repository describes itself as: Architect-centric agentic swarm plugin for OpenCode. Hub-and-spoke orchestration with SME consultation, code generation, and QA review. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Tasks that involve Literature review
- Tasks that involve Technical debt
Example prompts
- “/research-first”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Search current official documentation to confirm the behavior is NOT
- Search for state-of-the-art solutions, known community workarounds, and
- Run multiple searches across distinct sources (official docs, issue
- Report all findings — with URLs — before any code tracing begins
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b63a4bd. 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
Research First loads about 481 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 74 tokens; SKILL.md has 222 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm at commit b63a4bd, republished under its MIT licence (© ZaxbyHub). 222 words, ~481 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/research-first/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- research-first
- description
- Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior. Search online for current documentation and state-of-the-art approaches before tracing through code.
- audience
- swarm-plugin
- context
- fork
- agent
- Explore
Research Before Planning Protocol
This skill body runs in an isolated Explore context: it has no conversation history and cannot spawn further sub-agents. Work from the task statement it receives, run searches and reads directly, and return a compact findings report.
Scope guard — research the outside world only when the problem involves it:
- If the question involves external frameworks, dependencies, platform or toolchain behavior, or a suspected upstream bug: research online first.
- If the question is purely repo-local (project conventions, invariants, existing code structure), skip web research; the answer lives in the repository (AGENTS.md, docs/, and the source itself).
- If WebSearch/WebFetch are unavailable in this environment, state that explicitly and proceed with code tracing rather than stalling.
When researching:
- Search current official documentation to confirm the behavior is NOT intended and NOT already fixed in a newer release
- Search for state-of-the-art solutions, known community workarounds, and recent discussion of this problem type
- Run multiple searches across distinct sources (official docs, issue trackers, release notes) rather than trusting the first hit
- Report all findings — with URLs — before any code tracing begins
Then trace each problem end-to-end through the actual source code. Do not stop until ≥95% confident in the root cause for every issue being investigated, and mark anything below that threshold as UNVERIFIED with what evidence is missing.
© ZaxbyHub, 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 .claude/skills/research-first of ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit b63a4bd
Compare with similar skills
Research First 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 First this skillZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm | 494 | — | ~481 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Track Ideacdiggins/plato | 106 | — | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Requesting Code ReviewRedWoodOG/Hermes-Desktop | 177 | — | ~1.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Systematic Code Refactoringluongnv89/claude-howto | 42k | — | ~3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Code Simplification for ego-litecitrolabs/ego-lite | 17k | — | ~1.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Code Refactoring Workflowluongnv89/claude-howto | 42k | — | ~3.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
Requesting Code Review
RedWoodOG/Hermes-Desktop
A skill your agent uses when completing tasks, implementing major features, or before merging.
Systematic Code Refactoring
luongnv89/claude-howto
Guides refactoring in phases based on Martin Fowler's method: research, test coverage check, planning and small tested steps, with your approval at each phase.
Code Simplification for ego-lite
citrolabs/ego-lite
Finds and implements evidence-backed simplifications in the ego-lite repository, such as dead code, duplicated state and speculative abstractions, without hiding behavior changes.
Code Refactoring Workflow
luongnv89/claude-howto
Guides systematic, test-backed refactoring in the style of Martin Fowler, moving through research, planning and small incremental changes with your approval at each phase.
Cto Advisor
Ibrahim-3d/orchestrator-supaconductor
Technical leadership guidance for engineering teams, architecture decisions, and technology strategy.
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Keeps plans, decisions, evidence and reviewer verdicts in small files so long multi-phase tasks survive context compaction and session resumes.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Research First
What does Research First do?
Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior. Research First is an agent skill from ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm. Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies, or platform behavior.
When should I use Research First?
Research First fits situations like: tasks that involve Literature review; tasks that involve Technical debt.
How do I install Research First in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/research-first in ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm) into .claude/skills/research-first in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Research First in Codex?
Run `npx skills add ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/research-first in ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm) into .agents/skills/research-first in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Research First 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 ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm --skill research-first -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-first, .gemini/skills/research-first, .github/skills/research-first and .opencode/skills/research-first in your project.
What does Research First need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Research First is instructions for the agent only.
Does Research First 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 Research First 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 First use?
Research First 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 First use?
About 481 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.9k 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 First?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Research First: Track Idea (cdiggins/plato, 106 stars), Requesting Code Review (RedWoodOG/Hermes-Desktop, 177 stars), Systematic Code Refactoring (luongnv89/claude-howto, 42k stars) and Code Simplification for ego-lite (citrolabs/ego-lite, 17k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Research First?
ZaxbyHub (a GitHub organization) maintains it in ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm, which has 494 GitHub stars. The repository holds 91 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.
Source: ZaxbyHub/opencode-swarm on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.