actor-profiling

name	actor-profiling
description	Understand who the user is — background, resources, constraints, and deep motivations. Produces an ActorProfile that informs all downstream decisions. Use this tactic at the start of any crystallization process to build a model of the user's capabilities, limitations, and intent.
dependencies	{"sops":["ask-constraints","ask-intentionality","clarify-resources","explore-resume"]}

Actor Profiling

Build a comprehensive model of the user as a research actor — who they are, what they have, what constrains them, and why they're doing this.

Available SOPs

SOP	Purpose	Execution
explore-resume	Background, skills, projects, publications, research experience	dialogue (once only)
clarify-resources	Compute, timeline, collaboration, data, environment	dialogue
ask-constraints	Venue targets, methodology preferences, avoidance areas, advisor requirements	dialogue
ask-intentionality	Deep WHY probing — motivation, risk tolerance, innovation preference, etc.	dialogue

Methodology Guidance

The goal is to construct an ActorProfile with enough information to inform field exploration and goal decomposition. How you get there is your decision.

Typical flow:

1. explore-resume first (one-time, never re-run)
2. clarify-resources → ask-constraints → ask-intentionality

But you may:

• Return to ask-intentionality at any point when you discover a deeper WHY to probe
• Interleave clarify-resources when intentionality probing reveals resource-related gaps
• Skip or abbreviate SOPs when the user's initial message already provides the information

End condition: You judge that you have enough information to construct a meaningful ActorProfile. In cold-start scenarios, "enough" may mean just establishing boundaries (what the user won't do) rather than specifics.

Cold-Start Special Case

When the user doesn't know what they want or can do, the ActorProfile captures boundaries rather than commitments:

• "User has experience in NLP and GNN, won't jump to physics/chemistry"
• "Timeline is flexible, no hard deadline"
• "Motivated by interest, not graduation pressure"

This is sufficient — later tactics will help narrow within these boundaries.

Output (Tactic-Level Aggregation)

After running the SOPs you deem necessary, synthesize an ActorProfile:

ActorProfile {
  background: { skills, projects, publications, researchExp }
  resources: { compute, timeline, collaboration, data, environment }
  constraints: { venue, methodology, avoidance, advisor }
  intentionality: {
    motivation, successDefinition,
    riskTolerance, innovationPreference,
    independencePreference, timeUrgency, learningWillingness
  }
  boundary: "..."  // what the user definitely won't do
}

This is a conceptual schema, not a JSON requirement. Express it in whatever format serves the downstream context best.

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
ask-constraints	Understand hard boundaries on the user's research — target venues, methodology preferences, areas to avoid, advisor/team requirements. Not limited to ML/AI — works for any research domain.
ask-intentionality	Deep WHY probing inspired by i* Intentionality modeling. Understand the user's motivation, success definition, risk tolerance, innovation preference, independence preference, time urgency, and learning willingness. The most important SOP in actor-profiling — understanding WHY drives everything downstream.
clarify-resources	Understand what resources the user has available for research — compute, timeline, collaboration, data access, experimental environment. Every item accepts 'TBD' as a valid answer.
explore-resume	Understand the user's background comprehensively — technical stack, project experience, research experience, publications, research directions. Allows user to express interest beyond their resume. Execute once only, never re-run.