# Research Challenge

> Summarize a research project conducted with Asta skills and submit it to the asta-research-challenge repository. Use when the user wants to reflect on a finished (or in-progress) project and/or share it with the Asta team. The user may say "reflect on this project", "submit my research challenge", or "write up what we did".

- Skill: `allenai/research-challenge` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add allenai/research-challenge`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/allenai/research-challenge/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: allenai (https://skillmd.com/u/allenai)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/allenai/research-challenge

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# Research Challenge

Capture what a research project in the current working directory accomplished, how the Asta skills contributed, and (optionally) submit the project as a contribution to https://github.com/allenai/asta-research-challenge.

This skill is a **router**. Pick the workflow that matches the user's intent, open its `.md` file in `workflows/`, and follow it. Do not execute a workflow from memory.

## Files

| Path | Role |
|---|---|
| `<cwd>/RESEARCH_CHALLENGE.md` | Output of **reflect**. Project summary, self-critique, and skill-improvement suggestions. Input to **submit**. |
| `~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/` | Source of conversation history transcripts (JSONL) — copied by **submit**. |

The `<encoded-cwd>` is the current working directory with `/` replaced by `-` (e.g. `/Users/x/work/proj` → `-Users-x-work-proj`).

## Workflows

| Name | Purpose | Detailed instructions |
|---|---|---|
| **reflect** | Interview the user about the project, self-critique the agent's contribution, suggest skill improvements, and write `RESEARCH_CHALLENGE.md`. | `workflows/reflect.md` |
| **submit** | Copy the report, conversation transcripts, and project artifacts into a new project-specific directory in a clone of `allenai/asta-research-challenge`, then open a PR. | `workflows/submit.md` |

## Routing

1. **Explicit request.** If the user names a workflow ("reflect on this", "write the report", "submit the challenge", "publish it"), dispatch directly.
2. **Implicit "wrap up" intent.** If the user is winding down a project but hasn't named a workflow, default to **reflect**, then offer **submit** at the end.
3. **Submit without a report.** If the user asks to submit but no `RESEARCH_CHALLENGE.md` exists, run **reflect** first and chain to **submit** on confirmation.

## Out of scope

- Grading research quality. The reflect workflow produces an honest self-critique, not a peer review.
- Pushing to `main` or merging the PR. **submit** opens a PR and stops.