Quickstart (10 minutes)

1. Install

npx research-agent-skills          # pick bundles and agents interactively

The default research-essentials bundle installs writing, journal-format, literature-review, ideation and figure skills for every agent detected on your machine. Restart your agent afterwards.

2. Check the setup

npx research-agent-skills doctor

This shows detected agents, Python/uv availability (needed by skills with scripts) and the integrity of installed files.

3. Try these requests

Open your agent in a folder with your manuscript or data and ask:

Task	Example request	Skill that activates
Draft from results	”Draft the Results section from `results/` and the figures in `figs/`.”	`scientific-writing`
Remove AI slop	”This introduction sounds AI-written. Unslop it without changing any claims.”	`unslop-academic-writing`
Check references	”Verify every entry in `refs.bib` and tell me which ones don’t exist.”	`citation-verification`
Clean the bibliography	”Find duplicates and broken DOIs in `refs.bib`.”	`bibtex-hygiene`
Format for a journal	”Reformat this for Cell Reports: Summary, Highlights, STAR Methods.”	`cell-press`
Respond to reviewers	”Draft a point-by-point response to these three reviews.”	`rebuttal-and-response-to-reviewers`
Post a preprint	”Check my LaTeX folder before I upload to arXiv.”	`arxiv-submission`

You don’t need to name the skill. The agent picks it from the request. Naming it (“use the citation-verification skill”) forces it.

4. Add your field

npx research-agent-skills list --categories
npx research-agent-skills install --category life-sciences     # or chemistry-and-drug-discovery, ml-training, ...

5. Stay current

npx research-agent-skills update

Next: Write a research paper with AI, or browse the skill catalog.