research-harness-plan

name	research-harness-plan
description	RES: Generate an executable empirical analysis plan from study_spec.md, audit report, and cleaned data structure. Produces analysis_plan.md. Trigger: create analysis plan, plan analysis, generate analysis plan. Do NOT load for: cleaning, execution, review, release, setup.
description-en	RES: Generate an executable empirical analysis plan from study_spec.md, audit report, and cleaned data structure. Produces analysis_plan.md. Trigger: create analysis plan, plan analysis, generate analysis plan. Do NOT load for: cleaning, execution, review, release, setup.
kind	workflow
purpose	Generate an executable, evidence-backed analysis plan from the approved study specification
trigger	create analysis plan, plan analysis, generate analysis plan, /research-harness-plan
shape	workflow
role	generator
pair	research-harness-work
owner	research-harness-core
since	2026-05-29
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Edit","Glob"]
argument-hint	[--update] [--add STAGE]
user-invocable	true
effort	medium

Research Harness Plan

Generate an executable empirical analysis plan based on the approved study specification, audit findings, and cleaned data structure.

This skill runs after /research-harness-clean and before /research-harness-work. The output — analysis_plan.md — requires human approval before any analysis script is run.

Quick Reference

Input	Action
/research-harness-plan	Generate a fresh analysis_plan.md from study_spec.md + reports
/research-harness-plan --update	Update an existing analysis_plan.md with new tasks or revised scope
/research-harness-plan --add robustness	Add a robustness-check stage to an existing plan

Pre-flight Checks

Before writing any plan content:

1. Read study_spec.md. If it does not exist or is substantially empty, stop and tell the user to run /research-harness-setup first.
2. Read reports/data_audit_report.md. If it does not exist, stop and tell the user to run /research-harness-audit first.
3. Read reports/data_cleaning_report.md. If it does not exist, stop and tell the user to run /research-harness-clean first.
4. Identify the analysis-ready dataset path from the cleaning report.
5. Check that the analysis-ready dataset file exists.

If any check fails: report which check failed and stop. Do not generate a plan for data that does not exist.

Procedure

Step 1 — Synthesize inputs

Read and synthesize:

• study_spec.md: research question, identification strategy, outcome, treatment, covariates, sample restrictions, expected outputs
• reports/data_audit_report.md: available variables, sample sizes, ID structure, missingness, feasibility assessment
• reports/data_cleaning_report.md: final row count, variable names in the analysis-ready dataset, any unresolved issues

Identify:

• Which variables in the study spec are confirmed to exist in the cleaned data
• Which variables in the study spec are missing or ambiguous — list them as in the plan