# research-planning

Turns a topic or idea into a structured research plan: methodology, paper sections, dependency-ordered tasks and diagrams.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1800 installs · ★ 433
- Author: lingzhi227
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-02-27
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/research-planning

## What it does

The `research-planning` skill takes a topic, an idea description or a paper to reproduce and turns it into a plan. It starts by reading whatever papers, code or references you supply, pinning down the core research question and checking what resources are on hand: datasets, compute, existing code.

Planning runs in four stages. The overall plan covers methodology, key experiments and evaluation metrics. Architecture design maps file structure and system design with Mermaid class and sequence diagrams. Logic design breaks the work into tasks with dependencies, required packages and shared knowledge, and configuration collects hyperparameters plus a `config.yaml`. A separate pass lays out the paper section by section, from Abstract to Conclusion, with key points, figures and tables for each. The result is JSON holding the research question, methodology, task list, baselines, datasets, metrics and risks.

The skill reads two reference files from its own folder: `references/planning-prompts.md` and `references/output-schemas.md`. Vague input produces a vague plan, and by design the skill flags ambiguities instead of filling the gaps itself. Worth knowing before you run it: a fuzzy prompt means a rewrite and a second pass.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill research-planning -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/research-planning/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill research-planning -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill research-planning -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install lingzhi227/agent-research-skills research-planning
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill research-planning -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --path skills/research-planning
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill research-planning -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/research-planning/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- break a research topic into dependency-ordered tasks
- draft a section-by-section paper structure
- list datasets, metrics and baselines for an experiment
- surface risks and failure modes before training starts
- describe system architecture with Mermaid diagrams

## Example prompts
- research-planning: plan the experiments for a paper on model distillation
- research-planning: reproduce the attached paper, start with the overall plan
- research-planning: break the recommender training project into tasks with dependencies

## Similar
- [research-ideation](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/galaxy-dawn-research-ideation.md) — skill · 566 installs
- [github-deep-research](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/github-deep-research.md) — skill · 2900 installs
- [benchmark-paper-template](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/benchmark-paper-template.md) — skill · 679 installs
- [paper-write](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/paper-write.md) — skill · 539 installs
- [paper-plan](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/paper-plan.md) — skill · 526 installs
- [review-response](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/review-response.md) — skill · 555 installs

From the same set: [lingzhi227/agent-research-skills](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills.md) — 30 cards

---
NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md