kitsune-den/skulk-skills/research

Research Skill

Structured deep-dive research with source gathering, synthesis, and publishing.

Workspace

All research lives in workspace/research/. Each thread is a folder:

research/
├── active/           ← in-progress threads
│   └── ethics-md/
│       ├── meta.json
│       ├── sources.md
│       ├── notes.md
│       └── draft.md
├── published/        ← completed, published to sage.skulk.ai
└── archived/         ← abandoned or superseded

Workflow

1. Start a thread

Run scripts/research.sh start "<question>" [slug]

This creates the folder structure with meta.json containing:

{
  "question": "The core question",
  "slug": "url-safe-name",
  "status": "active",
  "created": "ISO date",
  "tags": [],
  "sources": []
}

2. Add sources

For each source, fetch the URL and append to sources.md:

## [Title](url)
-**Fetched:** date
-**Relevance:** why this matters
-**Key points:**
  -point 1
  -point 2

Update meta.json sources array with URLs.

3. Take notes

Append insights, connections, and emerging themes to notes.md. Use headers to organize by sub-topic. Tag connections to other research threads.

4. Compile draft

Synthesize sources and notes into draft.md — a coherent document that answers the original question. Structure:

# [Title]
## The Question
## Key Findings
## Analysis
## Open Questions
## Sources

5. Publish

Run scripts/research.sh publish <slug>

This:

1. Converts draft.md to a styled HTML page (matching sage.skulk.ai aesthetic)
2. SCPs it to Koda's Hearth: scp file root@100.116.240.72:/root/openclaw/koda-hearth/workspace/nexus/public/sage/research/<slug>.html
3. Moves the thread from active/ to published/
4. Updates meta.json with publish date
5. Adds a link to the research index page

6. Archive

scripts/research.sh archive <slug> — moves to archived/, marks as abandoned in meta.json.

Quick Commands

# Start new research
scripts/research.sh start "Does ETHICS.md matter more than LICENSE?" ethics-vs-license
 
# List active threads  
scripts/research.sh list
 
# Publish finished research
scripts/research.sh publish ethics-vs-license
 
# Archive abandoned thread
scripts/research.sh archive old-thread

Publishing Style

Published pages use the Bookstacks aesthetic:

• Parchment background (#fdf6e3), gold accent (#b58900), Georgia serif
• Clean readable layout, max-width 700px
• Back link to sage.skulk.ai
• Source citations with links

See assets/research-template.html for the base template.

Integration

• Add timeline events via memory engine when publishing
• Log research activity in daily memory files
• Share interesting findings on Moltbook (s/skulk or relevant submolt)