Research Project Template

Research Project Template

Automatically create new research projects with the standard two-folder architecture.

When to Use

Use this skill when the user:

• Wants to create a new research project
• Asks to set up a new paper/analysis
• Mentions starting a new research project
• Needs a project structure for academic research

Architecture

The template creates two folders:

1. Git Repository (ProjectName/):

   • Code/ - Analysis scripts (Julia, Python, R)
   • Figures/ - Final figures for publication
   • Tables/ - Final tables for publication
   • Paper/ - LaTeX documents
   • Slides/ - Presentations
   • Symlinks to shared folders

2. Shared Folder (ProjectName-Share/):

   • Notes/ - Research notes, working journals
   • Data/ - Raw and processed datasets
   • Output/ - Intermediate results

This separation allows Git to track code while Dropbox handles large data files.

Workflow

Step 1: Get Project Details

Ask the user for:

1. Project name (e.g., IntermediaryDemand)
2. Location for the project (defaults to config or current directory)

Step 2: Check Configuration

Read config from shared config loader to get:

• template_path: Path to ResearchProjectTemplate
• default_share_location: Where to create projects

from _config_loader import load_config

config = load_config('project-setup')
template_path = config.get('template_path')
share_location = config.get('default_share_location', '.')

Step 3: Run Creation Script

Execute the project creation script:

cd /path/to/target/location
bash <skill-dir>/scripts/create_project.sh "ProjectName"

Replace <skill-dir> with the directory that contains this SKILL.md.

The script will:

1. Create ProjectName-Share/ with Notes, Data, Output directories
2. Create ProjectName/ with Code, Figures, Tables, Paper, Slides
3. Set up Python environment with uv
4. Create symlinks between the two folders
5. Initialize git repository
6. Copy the template's guidance/config files, including .claude/ and the AGENTS.md compatibility link when present

Step 4: Post-Creation

Inform the user:

1. Project structure created successfully
2. How to share with collaborators (Dropbox for Share folder, Git for code)
3. Next steps: start coding in Code/ directory

Configuration

The plugin reads from .claude/agent-contract.yaml or ~/.config/agent-contract/config.yaml:

project-setup:
  template_path: "/path/to/ResearchProjectTemplate"
  default_share_location: "~/Dropbox/package_dev"

Example

User: "I want to create a new research project called RiskPremia"

Workflow:

1. Check config for template_path and default_share_location
2. Run: bash create_project.sh RiskPremia
3. Report success with project structure

Notes

• The script requires macOS (uses sed -i '' syntax)
• Requires uv for Python environment management (installed via Homebrew)
• Creates initial git commit automatically
• Copies the template's assistant guidance/config files into the new project