Research & Search
Research agent skills teach AI agents to gather and synthesize information properly: literature reviews, competitive analysis, web research with citations, and structured summaries. Each SKILL.md encodes a method, not just a prompt, so results stay consistent across runs.
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ur-grue Bundle Event Timeline CompilerCompiles key events into a structured, scannable timeline — formatted as a table or numbered list — designed for use in graphic production, digital interactives, sidebar fact boxes, and editorial planning documents.
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ur-grue Bundle Source Cross ReferencerTakes a specific claim and a list of sources you have gathered, then maps which sources support, contradict, or are silent on the claim — so you can see at a glance whether your sourcing is solid before publication.
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ur-grue Bundle Historical Precedent FinderIdentifies historical precedents relevant to a current news event or policy debate, provides a structured comparison showing why each precedent is or is not analogous, and lists the sources a journalist should consult to verify and deepen each comparison.
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ur-grue Bundle Demographic Data BriefProduces a concise, journalist-ready profile of the population structure, trends, and key demographic characteristics of a specified region, city, country, or community — ready to use as background for a story or segment.
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ur-grue Bundle Event Chronology BuilderBuilds a detailed, prose-style chronology of events for a given story — ordered by date, written in clear narrative language, and structured so a journalist can use it directly as a research backbone or hand it to an editor for fact-checking.
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ur-grue Bundle Org Structure ResearcherProduces a structured research framework mapping the internal hierarchy, key decision-makers, departments, and reporting lines of any company, institution, or organisation — so journalists can understand who holds power and how decisions get made before conducting interviews or publishing a story.
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ur-grue Bundle Political Landscape BriefProduces a structured research framework that maps the key political actors, power dynamics, fault lines, and contextual background a journalist needs to understand before reporting on a region or country — without making factual assertions about current events that require live verification.
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ur-grue Bundle Stock Footage BriefProduces a structured brief for a researcher or footage coordinator to use when sourcing stock or archive footage from libraries, broadcasters, or specialist archives.
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ur-grue Bundle Trending Topics BriefProduces a short editorial brief that maps the trending conversations on a beat — identifying which topics are gaining public attention, why, and whether any of them represent a genuine news opportunity for your outlet.
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ur-grue Bundle Contact Info ResearcherBuilds a structured research framework for locating publicly available contact routes for a named person — including institutional channels, public profiles, press offices, and professional directories — so you know exactly where to look and in what order.
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ur-grue Bundle Funding Sources ResearcherProduces a structured research brief on the known and probable funding sources of an NGO, think tank, advocacy group, or foundation — including disclosed donors, funding structures, potential conflicts of interest, and the key questions a journalist should pursue.
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ur-grue Bundle Shoot Equipment ListGenerates a complete, shoot-specific packing and equipment checklist organized by category, crew role, and travel constraints.
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ur-grue Bundle Interview Partners BriefProduces a structured shortlist of potential interview partners for a given story or topic — with role descriptions, the angle each person would best serve, and a priority ranking — so you can walk into pre-production with a clear sourcing plan.
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ur-grue Bundle Title Verification BriefProduces a focused verification plan — specific sources to consult and direct questions to ask — to confirm that a quoted person currently holds the exact job title or position you plan to attribute to them in print or broadcast.
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ur-grue Bundle Meta Analysis FinderExplains what meta-analyses and systematic reviews are, how to locate them for a given topic, and how to read them critically — giving journalists a reliable route to the strongest available evidence without relying on individual studies.
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ur-grue Bundle Manuscript FormatterReformats a manuscript, article, or long-form text to match a specific publication's structural and style requirements — adjusting headings, paragraph spacing, citation format, pull-quote placement, and front matter without altering the content itself.
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ur-grue Bundle Location Permit BriefProduces a structured brief summarising the permit requirements, access restrictions, and key contacts needed to film or photograph at a specific location.
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ur-grue Bundle Location Visual BriefProduces a written visual brief describing the architectural character, light conditions, landscape qualities, and cinematic potential of a specific location — giving a director, cinematographer, or art director a working picture of a place before a recce.
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ur-grue Bundle Coverage Gap IdentifierAnalyses existing coverage on a topic to identify the specific angles, voices, and questions that no outlet has meaningfully addressed — producing a prioritised list of story opportunities your outlet can own.
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ur-grue Bundle Research Brief CreatorProduces a structured research brief for a reporter starting a new story assignment — covering the key questions to answer, the types of sources to seek, documents to obtain, and potential story angles to investigate.
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ur-grue Bundle Derived Metrics CalculatorTakes raw numbers you provide and calculates derived figures — percentage changes, per-capita rates, index values, or ratios — with plain-language explanations ready to drop into a story.
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ur-grue Bundle News Topic Monitor BriefProduces a structured monitoring brief that tells a reporter or editor exactly what to watch, where to watch it, and how often — so a developing story never slips through unnoticed.
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ur-grue Bundle Source Credentials CheckerProduces a structured checklist of verification steps and questions a journalist should work through to confirm that a source's claimed professional credentials are genuine before quoting them.
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ur-grue Bundle Cross Country Data ComparerTakes a specific indicator or metric and produces a structured, journalist-ready comparison of how multiple countries perform on that measure, including context on what the differences mean.
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ur-grue Bundle Document Authenticity CheckerGenerates a structured red-flag checklist for a specific document or quote a journalist has received, identifying the observable indicators that commonly appear in fabricated, altered, or misattributed materials — so a reporter knows exactly what to look for before treating the document as verified.
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ur-grue Bundle Competitor Coverage BriefProduces a structured summary of how other outlets have already covered a given topic, so you can enter any story with a clear picture of the existing media landscape.
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ur-grue Bundle Prior Statements ResearcherProduces a structured research framework for finding, organising, and verifying a named person's previous public statements on a specific topic, so a journalist can enter an interview or write a story with full command of the subject's record.
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ur-grue Bundle Journal Landscape GuideMaps the academic publishing landscape for a given field — explaining which journals matter, what they signal about credibility, and where preprints fit — so journalists can navigate scientific literature without prior academic training.
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ur-grue Bundle Archival Footage BriefProduces a detailed brief for archive research, specifying the historical footage, photographs, documents, or audio needed for a documentary and identifying the most likely sources to find them.
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ur-grue Bundle Subject Research BriefGenerates a structured research brief on a documentary subject before the first filming session, covering their background, their relationship to the film's subject, their on-camera track record, and the areas most likely to yield compelling material.
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netvar1337 Bundle Offensive Claude Reverse EngineeringUse when reverse-engineering a binary or firmware — static triage + decompilation (Ghidra/IDA/Binary Ninja), dynamic instrumentation (GDB/Frida 17/angr), anti-reversing & packer bypass, OLLVM/VM deobfuscation, UEFI/BIOS RE & Secure Boot research, patch-diffing for n-days
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netvar1337 Bundle Claude Red Infrastructure Offensive Keylogger ArchLow-level keylogger architecture design: kernel driver hooks (WH_KEYBOARD_LL, SetWindowsHookEx), ETW-based input capture, user-mode vs kernel-mode approaches, stealth techniques, and data exfiltration. Use for understanding input capture mechanisms, EDR evasion research, or malware architecture analysis.
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ur-grue Bundle Legislative History ResearcherProduces a chronological brief tracing how a law or regulation came to be — the political context, the key amendments and turning points, and what the original intent was compared to how it is applied today — so a journalist understands the story behind the rule they are reporting on.
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ur-grue Bundle Ownership Structure ResearcherProduces a structured research framework for tracing who ultimately owns and controls a company or media outlet — including parent companies, holding structures, investors, and beneficial owners — so journalists can identify conflicts of interest, editorial dependencies, or undisclosed relationships before publishing.
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ur-grue Bundle Filming Conditions BriefProduces a practical brief covering the best time of day, season, and weather window for filming at a specific location, including light conditions, crowd patterns, access restrictions, and known logistical challenges a crew should anticipate.
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ur-grue Bundle Photo Archive ResearcherIdentifies the most relevant photo archives, picture libraries, and institutional collections likely to hold historical images for a specific story, topic, or time period — and provides a prioritised research plan for approaching them.
Frequently asked questions
What are Research & Search agent skills?
Research agent skills teach AI agents to gather and synthesize information properly: literature reviews, competitive analysis, web research with citations, and structured summaries. Each SKILL.md encodes a method, not just a prompt, so results stay consistent across runs.
Which Research & Search skills are most installed?
Popular Research & Search skills on SkillMD right now include event-timeline-compiler, source-cross-referencer, historical-precedent-finder. Rankings shift as installs change; sort this page by "Most installs" for the live list.
Do Research & Search skills work with Claude Code and Cursor?
Yes. Every skill here ships as a SKILL.md file, an open format that works in Claude Code, Claude.ai, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, and 60+ other agents. Install one with npx skillmds@latest add <owner>/<name>, or copy the file into your agent's skills directory.