ClaudSkills / Science & Research / research-methods

Desk Research

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Desk Research skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Desk Research is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Science & Research category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: Science & Research · Sub-category: research-methods · Last updated: 2026-08-18

Evidence-grounded research with selectable depth and discipline. Use for any look-up, find-out, fact-check, or comprehensive investigation, including prior art and best practice surveys. Carries a mode parameter (quick / standard / applied / deep) with `quick` as default — casual phrasings (`look up`, `find out`, `quick check`) stay quick; academic phrasings (`research with citations`, `evidence-grounded`, `go deep`, `comprehensively`) bias standard or deep; practitioner phrasings (`applied patterns for`, `best practice for`, `prior art on`, `grey literature`) bias applied. Quick mode is inline, ≤5 fetches, no artifact. Standard mode produces `<topic-slug>-survey.md` with GRADE-style confidence per finding from peer-reviewed and primary sources. Applied mode produces `<topic-slug>-survey.md` calibrated for practitioner grey literature with a discipline-aware confidence overlay. Deep mode additionally auto-runs `/devils-advocate`, producing `<topic-slug>-counterpoints.md`.

Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›

About this skill (catalog notes)

Desk Research includes at least one code block. At roughly 3,130 words the SKILL.md is on the longer end of the catalog distribution.

Source: eugenelim.github.io/agent-ready-repo
License: Apache-2.0
Original author: eugenelim
Indexed lastmod: 2026-08-18
Catalog position: Science & Research · research-methods
Indexed related skills: 10

How Desk Research fits the catalog

Desk Research sits in the Science & Research category under the research-methods sub-topic in the ClaudSkills catalog. There are 10 related skills indexed alongside it; comparing a few before installing usually reveals which fits your workflow best.

These notes are auto-generated from features detected in the SKILL.md file and from this catalog's structure — they aren't part of the source repository.

From the source SKILL.md

The research lifecycle's anchor. Selects one of four modes based on the prompt's depth and discipline signals, dispatches retrievers, synthesises findings with citations and per-finding confidence ratings, and (in deep mode) adversarially reviews its own output.

What this skill does

Desk Research is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the research-methods sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/desk-research/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

Who uses this skill

The Desk Research Claude Code skill is built for researchers, data scientists, academics, and analysts working with complex data and scientific literature. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 187,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/desk-research
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/desk-research/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/desk-research/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/desk-research/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/desk-research/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\desk-research\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

See pricing → Download desktop app

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Desk Research Claude Code skill?

Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/desk-research/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.

What does the Desk Research skill do?

Is this skill free to install?

Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.

When should I use the Desk Research skill?

Use Desk Research when your Claude Code task falls under the Science & Research category — specifically in the research methods area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Desk Research" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/science/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Desk Research skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Desk Research is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Science & Research category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/eugenelim/agent-ready-repo/blob/HEAD/packs/desk-research/.apm/skills/desk-research/SKILL.md
License: Apache-2.0
Author: eugenelim
Website: https://eugenelim.github.io/agent-ready-repo/

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA

eugenelim. (2026). Desk Research [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/desk-research/

BibTeX

@misc{desk-research-2026,
  author    = {eugenelim},
  title     = {Desk Research [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/desk-research/}
}

Embed this skill

Promote, attribute, or link this skill from your own README, blog post, or documentation. All three snippets are free to use — no sign-up, no API key. More distribution surfaces →

Badge

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Security scan

Grade A · scanned 2026-08-18 — free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10.

No risk patterns were found in any of the ten OWASP-aligned categories. How grading works ›

✓ Prompt injection
✓ Data exfiltration
✓ Supply chain
✓ Reverse shell
✓ Credentials
✓ Execution
✓ Filesystem
✓ Persistence
✓ Obfuscation
✓ Network

Show this grade on your repo (click to copy):

[![Security: A](https://img.shields.io/badge/Security-A-2e7d32)](https://claudskills.com/skills/desk-research/#security)

More Science & Research skills

Browse all Science & Research skills in the ClaudSkills registry, or explore these other picks from the same category:

Browse all Science & Research skills → Top 100 skills

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