--- name: "autoresearch-agent" description: "Autonomous experiment loop that optimizes any file by a measurable metric. Inspired by Karpathy's autoresearch. The agent edits a target file, runs a fixed evaluation, keeps improvements (git commit), discards failures (git reset), and loops indefinitely. Use when: user wants to optimize code speed, reduce bundle/image size, improve test pass rate, optimize prompts, improve content quality (headlines, copy, CTR), or run any measurable improvement loop. Requires: a target file, an evaluation command that outputs a metric, and a git repo." license: MIT metadata: version: 2.0.0 author: Alireza Rezvani category: engineering updated: 2026-03-13 --- # Autoresearch Agent > You sleep. The agent experiments. You wake up to results. Autonomous experiment loop inspired by [Karpathy's autoresearch](https://github.com/karpathy/autoresearch). The agent edits one file, runs a fixed evaluation, keeps improvements, discards failures, and loops indefinitely. Not one guess — fifty measured attempts, compounding. --- ## Slash Commands | Command | What it does | |---------|-------------| | `/ar:setup` | Set up a new experiment interactively | | `/ar:run` | Run a single experiment iteration | | `/ar:loop` | Start autonomous loop with configurable interval (10m, 1h, daily, weekly, monthly) | | `/ar:status` | Show dashboard and results | | `/ar:resume` | Resume a paused experiment | --- ## When This Skill Activates Recognize these patterns from the user: - "Make this faster / smaller / better" - "Optimize [file] for [metric]" - "Improve my [headlines / copy / prompts]" - "Run experiments overnight" - "I want to get [metric] from X to Y" - Any request involving: optimize, benchmark, improve, experiment loop, autoresearch If the user describes a target file + a way to measure success → this skill applies. --- ## Setup ### First Time — Create the Experiment Run the setup script. The user decides where experiments live: **Project-level** (inside repo, git-tracked, shareable with team): ```bash python scripts/setup_experiment.py \ --domain engineering \ --name api-speed \ --target src/api/search.py \ --eval "pytest bench.py --tb=no -q" \ --metric p50_ms \ --direction lower \ --scope project ``` **User-level** (personal, in `~/.autoresearch/`): ```bash python scripts/setup_experiment.py \ --domain marketing \ --name medium-ctr \ --target content/titles.md \ --eval "python evaluate.py" \ --metric ctr_score \ --direction higher \ --evaluator llm_judge_content \ --scope user ``` The `--scope` flag determines where `.autoresearch/` lives: - `project` (default) → `.autoresearch/` in the repo root. Experiment definitions are git-tracked. Results are gitignored. - `user` → `~/.autoresearch/` in the home directory. Everything is personal. ### What Setup Creates ``` .autoresearch/ ├── config.yaml ← Global settings ├── .gitignore ← Ignores results.tsv, *.log └── {domain}/{experiment-name}/ ├── program.md ← Objectives, constraints, strategy ├── config.cfg ← Target, eval cmd, metric, direction ├── results.tsv ← Experiment log (gitignored) └── evaluate.py ← Evaluation script (if --evaluator used) ``` **results.tsv columns:** `commit | metric | status | description` - `commit` — short git hash - `metric` — float value or "N/A" for crashes - `status` — keep | discard | crash - `description` — what changed or why it crashed ### Domains | Domain | Use Cases | |--------|-----------| | `engineering` | Code speed, memory, bundle size, test pass rate, build time | | `marketing` | Headlines, social copy, email subjects, ad copy, engagement | | `content` | Article structure, SEO descriptions, readability, CTR | | `prompts` | System prompts, chatbot tone, agent instructions | | `custom` | Anything else with a measurable metric | ### If `program.md` Already Exists The user may have written their own `program.md`. If found in the experiment directory, read it. It overrides the template. Only ask for what's missing. --- ## Agent Protocol You are the loop. The scripts handle setup and evaluation — you handle the creative work. ### Before Starting 1. Read `.autoresearch/{domain}/{name}/config.cfg` to get: - `target` — the file you edit - `evaluate_cmd` — the command that measures your changes - `metric` — the metric name to look for in eval output - `metric_direction` — "lower" or "higher" is better - `time_budget_minutes` — max time per evaluation 2. Read `program.md` for strategy, constraints, and what you can/cannot change 3. Read `results.tsv` for experiment history (columns: commit, metric, status, description) 4. Checkout the experiment branch: `git checkout autoresearch/{domain}/{name}` ### Each Iteration 1. Review results.tsv — what worked? What failed? What hasn't been tried? 2. Decide ONE change to the target file. One variable per experiment. 3. Edit the target file 4. Commit: `git add {target} && git commit -m "experiment: {description}"` 5. Evaluate: `python scripts/run_experiment.py --experiment {domain}/{name} --single` 6. Read the output — it prints KEEP, DISCARD, or CRASH with the metric value 7. Go to step 1 ### What the Script Handles (you don't) - Running the eval command with timeout - Parsing the metric from eval output - Comparing to previous best - Reverting the commit on failure (`git reset --hard HEAD~1`) - Logging the result to results.tsv ### Starting an Experiment ```bash # Single iteration (the agent calls this repeatedly) python scripts/run_experiment.py --experiment engineering/api-speed --single # Dry run (test setup before starting) python scripts/run_experiment.py --experiment engineering/api-speed --dry-run ``` ### Strategy Escalation - Runs 1-5: Low-hanging fruit (obvious improvements, simple optimizations) - Runs 6-15: Systematic exploration (vary one parameter at a time) - Runs 16-30: Structural changes (algorithm swaps, architecture shifts) - Runs 30+: Radical experiments (completely different approaches) - If no improvement in 20+ runs: update program.md Strategy section ### Self-Improvement After every 10 experiments, review results.tsv for patterns. Update the Strategy section of program.md with what you learned (e.g., "caching changes consistently improve by 5-10%", "refactoring attempts never improve the metric"). Future iterations benefit from this accumulated knowledge. ### Stopping - Run until interrupted by the user, context limit reached, or goal in program.md is met - Before stopping: ensure results.tsv is up to date - On context limit: the next session can resume — results.tsv and git log persist ### Rules - **One change per experiment.** Don't change 5 things at once. You won't know what worked. - **Simplicity criterion.** A small improvement that adds ugly complexity is not worth it. Equal performance with simpler code is a win. Removing code that gets same results is the best outcome. - **Never modify the evaluator.** `evaluate.py` is the ground truth. Modifying it invalidates all comparisons. Hard stop if you catch yourself doing this. - **Timeout.** If a run exceeds 2.5× the time budget, kill it and treat as crash. - **Crash handling.** If it's a typo or missing import, fix and re-run. If the idea is fundamentally broken, revert, log "crash", move on. 5 consecutive crashes → pause and alert. - **No new dependencies.** Only use what's already available in the project. --- ## Evaluators Ready-to-use evaluation scripts. Copied into the experiment directory during setup with `--evaluator`. ### Free Evaluators (no API cost) | Evaluator | Metric | Use Case | |-----------|--------|----------| | `benchmark_speed` | `p50_ms` (lower) | Function/API execution time | | `benchmark_size` | `size_bytes` (lower) | File, bundle, Docker image size | | `test_pass_rate` | `pass_rate` (higher) | Test suite pass percentage | | `build_speed` | `build_seconds` (lower) | Build/compile/Docker build time | | `memory_usage` | `peak_mb` (lower) | Peak memory during execution | ### LLM Judge Evaluators (uses your subscription) | Evaluator | Metric | Use Case | |-----------|--------|----------| | `llm_judge_content` | `ctr_score` 0-10 (higher) | Headlines, titles, descriptions | | `llm_judge_prompt` | `quality_score` 0-100 (higher) | System prompts, agent instructions | | `llm_judge_copy` | `engagement_score` 0-10 (higher) | Social posts, ad copy, emails | LLM judges call the CLI tool the user is already running (Claude, Codex, Gemini). The evaluation prompt is locked inside `evaluate.py` — the agent cannot modify it. This prevents the agent from gaming its own evaluator. The user's existing subscription covers the cost: - Claude Code Max → unlimited Claude calls for evaluation - Codex CLI (ChatGPT Pro) → unlimited Codex calls - Gemini CLI (free tier) → free evaluation calls ### Custom Evaluators If no built-in evaluator fits, the user writes their own `evaluate.py`. Only requirement: it must print `metric_name: value` to stdout. ```python #!/usr/bin/env python3 # My custom evaluator — DO NOT MODIFY after experiment starts import subprocess result = subprocess.run(["my-benchmark", "--json"], capture_output=True, text=True) # Parse and output print(f"my_metric: {parse_score(result.stdout)}") ``` --- ## Viewing Results ```bash # Single experiment python scripts/log_results.py --experiment engineering/api-speed # All experiments in a domain python scripts/log_results.py --domain engineering # Cross-experiment dashboard python scripts/log_results.py --dashboard # Export formats python scripts/log_results.py --experiment engineering/api-speed --format csv --output results.csv python scripts/log_results.py --experiment engineering/api-speed --format markdown --output results.md python scripts/log_results.py --dashboard --format markdown --output dashboard.md ``` ### Dashboard Output ``` DOMAIN EXPERIMENT RUNS KEPT BEST Δ FROM START STATUS engineering api-speed 47 14 185ms -76.9% active engineering bundle-size 23 8 412KB -58.3% paused marketing medium-ctr 31 11 8.4/10 +68.0% active prompts support-tone 15 6 82/100 +46.4% done ``` ### Export Formats - **TSV** — default, tab-separated (compatible with spreadsheets) - **CSV** — comma-separated, with proper quoting - **Markdown** — formatted table, readable in GitHub/docs --- ## Proactive Triggers Flag these without being asked: - **No evaluation command works** → Test it before starting the loop. Run once, verify output. - **Target file not in git** → `git init && git add . && git commit -m 'initial'` first. - **Metric direction unclear** → Ask: is lower or higher better? Must know before starting. - **Time budget too short** → If eval takes longer than budget, every run crashes. - **Agent modifying evaluate.py** → Hard stop. This invalidates all comparisons. - **5 consecutive crashes** → Pause the loop. Alert the user. Don't keep burning cycles. - **No improvement in 20+ runs** → Suggest changing strategy in program.md or trying a different approach. --- ## Installation ### One-liner (any tool) ```bash git clone https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills.git cp -r claude-skills/engineering/autoresearch-agent ~/.claude/skills/ ``` ### Multi-tool install ```bash ./scripts/convert.sh --skill autoresearch-agent --tool codex|gemini|cursor|windsurf|openclaw ``` ### OpenClaw ```bash clawhub install cs-autoresearch-agent ``` --- ## Related Skills - **self-improving-agent** — improves an agent's own memory/rules over time. NOT for structured experiment loops. - **senior-ml-engineer** — ML architecture decisions. Complementary — use for initial design, then autoresearch for optimization. - **tdd-guide** — test-driven development. Complementary — tests can be the evaluation function. - **skill-security-auditor** — audit skills before publishing. NOT for optimization loops.