Theory

/theory — Populate docs/theory.md

Draft or extend a project's docs/theory.md: a structured inventory of formal theoretical frameworks that generate testable predictions the project's empirical design can adjudicate.

Arguments

• /theory — infer project from the current working directory.
• /theory <project-slug> — run against a specific project under projects/.
• /theory --audit — do not write; report coverage, dangling refs, and missing sections.
• /theory --extend — preserve existing entries; only append new frameworks suggested by current evidence/literature.
• /theory --update <framework-id> [--artifact <AN-id-or-build-path>] — surgical single-framework edit. Update one framework entry (prediction, scope, references) when a new analysis result or literature touchpoint changes how it applies to the project. Reads only CLAUDE.md, theory.md, and the optional triggering artifact. --artifact accepts either an AN id (preferred — e.g. AN-019; the skill reads docs/analyses/an-019-*.md to recover the relevant empirical content) or a raw build/<path> fallback. The framework entry's references back to evidence cite the AN id, not the build path. Does not re-derive other frameworks, does not re-walk literature.md/hypotheses.md. Use from /next step 5 when a run refines a single framework's empirical content. The <framework-id> argument is the entry number or name as used in theory.md. Numbering is sacred — never renumber (paper and hypothesis cross-refs depend on it).

Finding the workspace root

The workspace root contains CLAUDE.md alongside projects/, pipelines/, ideas/, research/. If the current directory is inside a project, search upward to find the root. Use $ROOT for all paths below. The project root is $ROOT/projects/<slug>/ — use $PROJ for it.

What to read (in order)

Read these files to build context. If one is missing, note it and move on; never invent its content.

1. $PROJ/CLAUDE.md — current focus, key terms, conventions
2. $PROJ/docs/summary.md — research question (required)
3. $PROJ/docs/thinking.md — candidate angles, open questions
4. $PROJ/docs/literature.md — authoritative list of papers the project cites or positions against
5. $PROJ/docs/institutions.md — institutional facts (rules, actors, timelines)
6. $PROJ/docs/data.md — what variation/outcomes are available (constrains which predictions are testable)
7. $PROJ/docs/hypotheses.md (if exists) — hypotheses already written; theory.md should support them
8. $PROJ/docs/theory.md (if exists) — existing entries; match their template exactly and preserve content
9. $PROJ/paper/main.tex §introduction and §theory/§model if present
10. $PROJ/paper/*.bib — existing bibliography
11. $PROJ/references/reports/**, $PROJ/references/pdfs/** — technical/policy reports (scan titles + abstracts; read the 2–3 most relevant in full)
12. $PROJ/references/news/stories.csv — anecdotal evidence; use only to ground institutional claims, never as a lit reference

Decide the template

If docs/theory.md already exists: infer its template from the current entries. Match it exactly — same section headers, same ordering, same level of detail. Do not reformat existing content.

If it does not exist, offer the user three templates and ask them to pick:

• Numbered frameworks (saude-style): ## N. Framework name → Core result → Implication for the project → Key references → Testable predictions → Connection to our design. Ends with an "Overarching framing" section comparing polar views. Best when the paper has a clear identification strategy and a theory-vs-theory framing.
• Mechanism-centric: group by mechanism rather than framework. ## Mechanism N. Short name → Formal model reference → What the mechanism predicts → Evidence already suggestive of the mechanism → How our design isolates it. Best when the paper is decomposing a known phenomenon into channels.
• Minimal inventory: one short paragraph per framework (name, core claim, ref, one testable prediction). Best for early-stage projects where theory coverage is exploratory.

For early-stage projects (summary.md says "research question not yet fixed" or equivalent), default to minimal inventory, organized by candidate angle from thinking.md. Each candidate angle gets its own sub-section listing the 2–4 frameworks most relevant to it.

Draft protocol

1. Build a framework candidate list from literature.md, existing paper cites, and the research question. For each candidate, record: name, core claim, canonical reference (author + year only; never invent the journal/title if not in literature.md).
2. Filter aggressively. Keep only frameworks that (a) generate a directional prediction and (b) the project's data/design can plausibly adjudicate. Drop frameworks that are merely adjacent or fashionable.
3. For each surviving framework, draft the entry matching the chosen template. For each field:
   • Core result/idea: state the theoretical claim precisely. Cite author + year from literature.md. If literature.md doesn't contain the reference, write [ref needed: {author year}] — do not fabricate.
   • Implication / prediction: make it directional and specific. "X increases Y" beats "X affects Y."
   • Testable predictions: each must name a variable and a source of variation the project has or could plausibly get. If none, drop the framework — it's not theory for this paper.
   • Connection to our design: reference concrete project elements (judge-IV, event study, specific data source). Generic "could be tested" language is a failure mode — cut it.
4. Aim for 8–15 frameworks. More than 15 means insufficient filtering. Fewer than 6 means the project is under-theorized; flag that in the output.
5. If the template includes a polar-views framing (saude-style), write it last. It should compress the individual frameworks into 2–3 competing overall predictions, each with a list of supporting frameworks.

Guardrails (these are the quality bar — do not relax)

• Never fabricate a reference. If the canonical citation is not in literature.md, paper/*.bib, or the body of an existing doc, write [ref needed: ...]. Placeholder refs are fine; fake refs are not.
• Never state evidence without a source. Anecdotal evidence must cite a row in references/news/stories.csv by id or a report filename. Institutional facts must cite docs/institutions.md.
• Every testable prediction must map to project data. If docs/data.md does not contain a source that can measure the variable in question, either (a) refine the prediction to fit available data, (b) flag the prediction with [requires: ...], or (c) drop it.
• Preserve existing content. If docs/theory.md exists and you're in extend mode or normal mode, never rewrite or reorder existing entries. Append new entries at the end, marked with a Status: drafted YYYY-MM-DD line.
• No padding. If a section would only contain generic statements, leave it empty with a brief TODO rather than filling it. Readers can distinguish an honest gap from a disguised one.
• Theoretical frameworks only, not empirical findings. Theory.md is for formal models and their predictions. Empirical results belong in hypotheses.md or results.md.

Output protocol

1. Print a short preview: framework numbers + names + one-line core claim each. Flag any [ref needed] or [requires: ...] placeholders.
2. Wait for user confirmation unless they said "go ahead" up front.
3. Write docs/theory.md. If the file exists, read it first; merge by appending new entries, never rewriting existing ones.
4. Report back: number of frameworks drafted, number of placeholders that need manual resolution, path to the file. Suggest running /hypothesis next if docs/hypotheses.md is thin or missing.

Update mode (--update <framework-id>)

Surgical single-framework edit. Use when one framework's prediction, scope, or reference list needs refinement after a /next iteration surfaced something specific (a new test sharpens the prediction, a result narrows the framework's domain, a citation needs adding).

Minimal read set:

1. $PROJ/CLAUDE.md — current focus.
2. $PROJ/docs/theory.md — locate the target framework, respect its template exactly.
3. The --artifact argument (if given). If an AN id: read $PROJ/docs/analyses/an-NNN-*.md to recover the empirical result; the framework's evidence citation uses the AN id. If a build/<path>: read the artifact directly.
4. The triggering script's IAT docstring (from the AN page's script: field, or the source/X.py → build/X.* convention for bare-path artifacts) — for context.

Do not re-read literature.md, hypotheses.md, or any external literature unless the target framework's citation list would change.

What to edit: only the target framework's entry. Preserve the template (Core result, Testable predictions, Connection to our design). Update only the field affected by the new result.

What not to touch: other frameworks, the document header, the cross-link to hypotheses.md (unless adding a new hypothesis ref to the target framework).

Numbering is sacred: never renumber. Paper and hypotheses.md cross-refs depend on framework-ID stability.

Output: edited theory.md plus a one-paragraph summary of what changed. The summary belongs in the /next end-of-iteration report.

Audit mode (--audit)

Do not write. Check:

• Every entry has Core result + Testable predictions + Connection to our design filled (per template).
• Every reference cited in the body appears in literature.md or paper/*.bib.
• Every testable prediction's variable appears in data.md.
• Every framework has at least one link to a hypothesis in hypotheses.md (if hypotheses.md exists). Orphan frameworks that no hypothesis uses are flagged.

Report findings as a bulleted list of gaps. Do not attempt to fix them automatically.

Interaction with /hypothesis

If hypotheses.md exists and references theory frameworks by number (Theory: #3 + #7), preserve the numbering of existing entries when extending. Never renumber — it will break hypotheses.md cross-refs.

Common failure modes to avoid

• Generic theory dump. Listing every framework the user has ever heard of. Filter to what the project can actually test.
• Fake erudition. Citing Coase, Arrow, Tirole because they sound appropriate. Only cite if the paper genuinely uses the result.
• Disconnected predictions. "This predicts X" with no tie to the project's data. Every prediction must say where X would be measured.
• Polar-views theater. Writing a "two views" framing when the evidence clearly favors one view. If the honest read is one-sided, say so.