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scientific-problem-selection

This skill should be used when scientists need help with research problem selection, project ideation, troubleshooting stuck projects, or strategic scientific decisions. Use this skill when users ask to pitch a new research idea, work through a project problem, evaluate project risks, plan research strategy, navigate decision trees, or get help choosing what scientific problem to work on. Typical requests include "I have an idea for a project", "I'm stuck on my research", "help me evaluate this project", "what should I work on", or "I need strategic advice about my research".

69

Quality

87%

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SecuritybySnyk

Low

Low-risk findings worth noting

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

78%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The content is a well-structured conversational framework with clear entry points, sequenced skills, and excellent progressive disclosure to verified reference files. The main areas for improvement are trimming padded outcome/audience sections and adding a couple of explicit checkpoints where workflow branching occurs.

Suggestions

Trim the 'Expected Outcomes' and 'Who Should Use These Skills' sections to reduce tokens that do not directly guide execution.

Add explicit decision checkpoints for when to move between the three entry options or between Skills (e.g., when an idea is sufficiently refined to advance to Risk Assessment).

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is mostly efficient and assumes Claude's competence without explaining basic concepts, but sections like 'Expected Outcomes' and 'Who Should Use These Skills' add padding that could be trimmed.

4 / 5

Actionability

Provides concrete, specific guidance including exact prompts to ask users ('Tell me the short version of your idea (1-2 sentences)') and structured follow-up question lists; as an instruction-only skill the absence of code is not penalized, with only minor gaps in execution detail.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

A clear three-option entry structure with sequenced skills and an explicit workflow diagram provides a strong sequence; no explicit validation checkpoints are present, but the conversational, non-destructive nature means the destructive/batch cap does not apply, leaving minor checkpoint gaps.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The body is a clean overview pointing to nine well-signaled one-level-deep references, each verified to exist in references/, with a navigation table including file, content, and search patterns for easy discovery.

5 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Description

91%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description is strong: it clearly states what the skill does and when to use it, with excellent natural trigger phrases and third-person voice. The main weakness is mild verbosity and slightly broad strategic-advice framing that creates minor overlap risk.

Suggestions

Tighten the description to reduce redundancy between the first sentence and the 'Use this skill when...' clause.

Consider scoping 'strategic scientific decisions' more concretely to reduce overlap with general planning skills.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names the domain and lists several concrete actions ('pitch a new research idea', 'troubleshoot stuck projects', 'evaluate project risks', 'plan research strategy', 'navigate decision trees', 'choosing what scientific problem to work on'), with minor gaps in coverage rather than a comprehensive list.

4 / 5

Completeness

Explicitly answers both 'what' (research problem selection, project ideation, troubleshooting, strategic decisions) and 'when' via the 'Use this skill when users ask to...' clause with concrete trigger phrases; voice is third-person with no first/second-person violation.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Comprehensive natural trigger phrases a user would actually say are quoted verbatim ('I have an idea for a project', 'I'm stuck on my research', 'help me evaluate this project', 'what should I work on', 'I need strategic advice about my research'), covering synonyms and common phrasings.

5 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

A clear niche (scientific problem selection) with mostly distinct triggers, though the broad phrasing 'strategic scientific decisions' has minor overlap risk with general strategy or planning skills.

4 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Validation

100%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository
anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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