Protocol

Skill dahliasan/researchskills/skills/protocol

Guided walkthrough from a research question to a PROTOCOL.md (YAML + prose). Soft-hidden: prefer discover-papers as the front door; use this when the user wants a durable review protocol, Methods-ready search strategy, or says "/protocol". Staged react-to-drafts walk (not a blank form). Extraction schema is researchskills.extraction.v1 (in-repo). Triggers on "/protocol", "write a PROTOCOL.md", "define my review protocol", "lock my search strategy", "PICO/PCC for this review".From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add dahliasan/researchskills --skill protocol

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

SKILL.md

3.2 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

/protocol — research question → PROTOCOL.md

Soft-hidden sibling of discover-papers. Produce a reproducible protocol file. Do not invoke explore-unknowns; borrow only the interaction pattern: settled ground → react to concrete drafts → ship an artifact.

Mental model

question → scope drafts → eligibility → OpenAlex queries → seeds → screening prefs
                                ↓
                         PROTOCOL.md (YAML + prose)

Template: references/protocol-template.md.
Paper-card schema: ../../schemas/paper-extraction.v1.schema.json (researchskills.extraction.v1).

Step 0 — Settled ground

Restate what you already know from the chat (topic, taxa, years, must-include/exclude). Flag assumptions. Ask one clarifying question only if a load-bearing gap blocks drafting.

Step 1 — Question framework

Default PCC (population / concept / context) unless the user prefers PICO. Show a filled draft table for reaction (not empty fields).

Step 2 — Eligibility

Show draft include/exclude bullets. Ask the user to steal/skip/edit. Do not proceed until they react.

Step 3 — Search queries

Propose 3–8 OpenAlex search.queries[] strings. Prefer explicit queries over concatenating PCC alone. User reacts; revise.

Step 4 — Seeds and extras

Ask for 0–N seed DOIs (optional). Note snowball / additional sources as optional PROTOCOL fields.

Step 5 — Screening prefs

Propose defaults (AI triage on title/abstract; human confirm policy as the user prefers). Keep YAML keys stable across projects.

Step 6 — Write the file

Write PROTOCOL.md at the path the user chooses (default: project root or literature/PROTOCOL.md). Include YAML front matter + prose Overview / Question / Eligibility / Search sections suitable for Methods. Set extraction.schema to researchskills.extraction.v1. Declare review-specific card fields under extraction.extra_fields (rendered into the extract prompt).

Step 7 — Offer next step

Offer /discover-papers in locked mode on this file. Do not start an external literature-engine run unless the user asks and that tool is available.

Composes with

discover-papers — run OpenAlex from locked protocol or return here from protocol mode
literature-review — extract using the in-repo paper-card schema
find-pdf — after candidates are accepted
zotero — export Accepted items later

Notes

Never require PROTOCOL.md for a one-off search — that is discover-papers quick mode.
Quality over completeness: a short locked protocol beats an unfinished mega-protocol.