# Relationship Specification

> SOP: specify the direction and form of relationships between variables

- Skill: `yogsoth-ai/relationship-specification` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add yogsoth-ai/relationship-specification`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/yogsoth-ai/relationship-specification/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: yogsoth-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/yogsoth-ai)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/yogsoth-ai/relationship-specification

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# Relationship Specification
For each pair of key variables, specify the relationship direction (positive/negative) and functional form (linear/nonlinear/U-shaped/threshold), citing the theoretical basis.

## HARD-GATE
<HARD-GATE>
Preconditions (all must hold before starting):
1. At least 1 variable pair of 1 IV + 1 DV exists
2. Relevant mechanism or theory information is provided (used to judge the relationship form)

Not satisfied → stop, return error: cannot determine the relationship, missing variable pairs or theoretical basis.
</HARD-GATE>

## Pipeline
1. Precondition check: verify completeness of the variable pairs
2. Direction determination: for each variable pair, determine the relationship direction (positive/negative/bidirectional/none)
3. Form determination: judge the functional form of the relationship (linear/nonlinear/U-shaped/inverted-U/threshold/saturating)
4. Theoretical-basis citation: for each determination, cite the theory or empirical evidence supporting that relationship form
5. Uncertainty annotation: if the direction/form is contested, annotate the competing prediction
6. Output a structured relationship-specification list

## Output Format
```json
[
  {
    "pair": "IV_name → DV_name",
    "direction": "positive | negative | bidirectional | unknown",
    "form": "linear | nonlinear | U-shaped | inverted-U | threshold | saturating | unknown",
    "theoretical_basis": "Theory or evidence supporting this specification",
    "competing_prediction": "Alternative specification if contested (null if uncontested)",
    "confidence": "high | medium | low"
  }
]
```
Cover at least all IV→DV pairs; optionally include IV→mediator and mediator→DV.