How do I install the Research Prompt Quality skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add etanhey/research-prompt-quality in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Research Prompt Quality safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Research Prompt Quality?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Research Prompt Quality free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Research Prompt Quality?

EtanHey (@etanhey) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Research Prompt Quality by etanhey — Agent Skill

Name: Research Prompt Quality
Author: EtanHey

Research Prompt Quality

Mandatory pre-flight gate before any deep-research prompt ships. Three gates: CHECK-FIRST (non-redundancy), GROUND (Drive refs + current-usage examples + prior-research stance), emit-only-if-pass. Use when writing deep research prompts, Claude Desktop research prompts, deciding should we research, or proposing research. Triggers: 'deep research', 'research prompt', 'should we research', 'propose research'. NOT for executing research — use /research, /claude-desktop-research, or /gemini-research.

EtanHey Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Research Prompt Quality — Pre-Flight Gate

Stop flat, redundant deep-research prompts before they ship. Research execution skills run after this gate passes.

When to run

Run before writing or pasting any deep-research prompt (Claude Desktop, Gemini Deep Research, or /research --deep). If the gate fails, do not emit a research prompt — output the stop reason and route to engineering or plan work instead.

The three gates (all must pass)

Gate 1 — CHECK-FIRST (non-redundancy)

Search existing work before proposing new research.

skills/golem-powers/research-prompt-quality/scripts/check-first.sh "<topic keywords>"

Sources scanned:

Brain Drive/03_RESEARCH/ (when mounted)
Every ~/Gits/*/docs.local/research/
Every ~/Gits/*/docs.local/plans/
Every ~/Gits/*/docs.local/decisions/

On exit 1: print ALREADY RESEARCHED → <paths> and STOP. This is engineering / plan execution, not research.

Canonical failure: proposing "RRF ranking" deep-research when ≥6 prior artifacts already exist (see evals/fixtures/neg-2-redundant-rrf.md).

Gate 2 — GROUND

Every research prompt MUST include:

Drive folder refs — relevant Brain Drive/03_RESEARCH/... paths (or documented folder IDs from boot grounding docs).
≥1 concrete current-usage example — real code, config, or file path from the repo (not generic "we use agents").
Prior-research stance — explicit BUILD-ON / VALIDATE / REFUTE for each prior artifact; never restart from zero.

Use references/ground-template.md as the required structure. Fold relevant grounding bundles into the prompt; do not treat a bundle as the prompt itself.

Gate 3 — Emit only if 1+2 pass

If CHECK-FIRST passes and GROUND is satisfied, emit the self-contained research prompt (reuse /claude-desktop-research format). Otherwise output only the stop message or grounding gap list.

Workflow

1. CHECK-FIRST   → scripts/check-first.sh "<keywords>"
2. If hits       → STOP ("ALREADY DONE → paths → engineering")
3. Gather ground → read repo paths, Drive folders, prior research files
4. Draft         → references/ground-template.md
5. Score         → scripts/score-research-prompt.py <draft.md>  (target ≥8/10)
6. Ship prompt   → hand to /claude-desktop-research or /research

Static quality bar

Run scripts/score-research-prompt.py on the draft. RED gate for eval fixtures: negative prompts ≤4/10, grounded prompts ≥8/10. See EVAL.md for rubric and fixture scores.

Integration

/research — run this gate before --deep or external research dispatch.
/claude-desktop-research — run this gate before writing the paste-ready prompt file.

Anti-patterns (from gen-10, 2026-05-29)

Bad	Good
Flat prompt with no Drive refs or repo examples	Grounded prompt with the relevant evidence bundle folded in
"Deep-research RRF fusion" when 6+ prior docs exist	`ALREADY RESEARCHED → <paths> → engineering`
Generic "multi-agent ecosystem" without `send_input` / cmux paths	Cite `cmux/SKILL.md`, `orc/workflows/fact-propagation.md`, etc.
Restart prior art from scratch	BUILD-ON / VALIDATE / REFUTE per prior file

Eval

See EVAL.md — four real fixtures, literal scorer stdout, with-skill vs without-skill delta target ≥+30%.

---name: research-prompt-qualitydescription: Mandatory pre-flight gate before any deep-research prompt ships. Three gates: CHECK-FIRST (non-redundancy), GROUND (Drive refs + current-usage examples + prior-research stance), emit-only-if-pass. Use when writing deep research prompts, Claude Desktop research prompts, deciding should we research, or proposing research. Triggers: 'deep research', 'research prompt', 'should we research', 'propose research'. NOT for executing research — use /research, /claude-desktop-research, or /gemini-research.---# Research Prompt Quality — Pre-Flight Gate> Stop flat, redundant deep-research prompts before they ship. Research execution skills run **after** this gate passes.## When to runRun **before** writing or pasting any deep-research prompt (Claude Desktop, Gemini Deep Research, or `/research --deep`). If the gate fails, **do not emit a research prompt** — output the stop reason and route to engineering or plan work instead.## The three gates (all must pass)### Gate 1 — CHECK-FIRST (non-redundancy)Search existing work **before** proposing new research.```bashskills/golem-powers/research-prompt-quality/scripts/check-first.sh "<topic keywords>"```Sources scanned:- `Brain Drive/03_RESEARCH/` (when mounted)- Every `~/Gits/*/docs.local/research/`- Every `~/Gits/*/docs.local/plans/`- Every `~/Gits/*/docs.local/decisions/`**On exit 1:** print `ALREADY RESEARCHED → <paths>` and **STOP**. This is engineering / plan execution, not research.Canonical failure: proposing "RRF ranking" deep-research when ≥6 prior artifacts already exist (see `evals/fixtures/neg-2-redundant-rrf.md`).### Gate 2 — GROUNDEvery research prompt MUST include:1. **Drive folder refs** — relevant `Brain Drive/03_RESEARCH/...` paths (or documented folder IDs from boot grounding docs).2. **≥1 concrete current-usage example** — real code, config, or file path from the repo (not generic "we use agents").3. **Prior-research stance** — explicit BUILD-ON / VALIDATE / REFUTE for each prior artifact; never restart from zero.Use `references/ground-template.md` as the required structure. Fold relevant grounding bundles into the prompt; do not treat a bundle as the prompt itself.### Gate 3 — Emit only if 1+2 passIf CHECK-FIRST passes and GROUND is satisfied, emit the self-contained research prompt (reuse `/claude-desktop-research` format). Otherwise output only the stop message or grounding gap list.## Workflow```1. CHECK-FIRST → scripts/check-first.sh "<keywords>"2. If hits → STOP ("ALREADY DONE → paths → engineering")3. Gather ground → read repo paths, Drive folders, prior research files4. Draft → references/ground-template.md5. Score → scripts/score-research-prompt.py <draft.md> (target ≥8/10)6. Ship prompt → hand to /claude-desktop-research or /research```## Static quality barRun `scripts/score-research-prompt.py` on the draft. RED gate for eval fixtures: negative prompts ≤4/10, grounded prompts ≥8/10. See `EVAL.md` for rubric and fixture scores.## Integration- `/research` — run this gate before `--deep` or external research dispatch.- `/claude-desktop-research` — run this gate before writing the paste-ready prompt file.## Anti-patterns (from gen-10, 2026-05-29)| Bad | Good ||-----|------|| Flat prompt with no Drive refs or repo examples | Grounded prompt with the relevant evidence bundle folded in || "Deep-research RRF fusion" when 6+ prior docs exist | `ALREADY RESEARCHED → <paths> → engineering` || Generic "multi-agent ecosystem" without `send_input` / cmux paths | Cite `cmux/SKILL.md`, `orc/workflows/fact-propagation.md`, etc. || Restart prior art from scratch | BUILD-ON / VALIDATE / REFUTE per prior file |## EvalSee `EVAL.md` — four real fixtures, literal scorer stdout, with-skill vs without-skill delta target ≥+30%.

Frequently asked questions