skill-nix-research

name	skill-nix-research
description	Conduct Nix/NixOS/Home Manager research using MCP-NixOS, web docs, and codebase exploration. Invoke for nix research tasks.
allowed-tools	Agent, Bash, Edit, Read, Write

Nix Research Skill

Thin wrapper that delegates Nix research to nix-research-agent subagent.

Trigger Conditions

This skill activates when:

• Task type is "nix"
• Research is needed for Nix, NixOS, or Home Manager configuration
• Package definitions or module patterns need to be gathered

Execution Flow

Stage 1: Input Validation

Validate task_number exists and task_type is "nix".

Stage 2: Preflight Status Update

Update status to "researching" BEFORE invoking subagent.

Stage 3: Prepare Delegation Context

Domain-specific context for the nix-research-agent:

• MCP-NixOS tools for package/option lookup (when available)
• NixOS module patterns from .claude/extensions/nix/context/
• Local .nix files (flake.nix, home.nix, modules/)

{
  "session_id": "sess_{timestamp}_{random}",
  "delegation_depth": 1,
  "delegation_path": ["orchestrator", "research", "skill-nix-research"],
  "timeout": 3600,
  "task_context": {
    "task_number": N,
    "task_name": "{project_name}",
    "description": "{description}",
    "task_type": "nix"
  },
  "focus_prompt": "{optional focus}",
  "metadata_file_path": "specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json"
}

Stage 4: Invoke Subagent

Use Agent tool with subagent_type: "nix-research-agent".

Stage 4b: Self-Execution Fallback

CRITICAL: If you performed the work above WITHOUT using the Agent tool (i.e., you read files, wrote artifacts, or updated metadata directly instead of spawning a subagent), you MUST write a .return-meta.json file now before proceeding to postflight. Use the schema from return-metadata-file.md with the appropriate status value for this operation.

If you DID use the Agent tool, skip this stage -- the subagent already wrote the metadata.

Postflight (ALWAYS EXECUTE)

The following stages MUST execute after work is complete, whether the work was done by a subagent or inline (Stage 4b). Do NOT skip these stages for any reason.

Stage 5: Parse Subagent Return

Read the metadata file from specs/{N}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json.

Stage 6: Update Task Status (Postflight)

Update state.json and TODO.md based on result.

Stage 7: Link Artifacts

Add research artifact to state.json. Update TODO.md per @.claude/context/patterns/artifact-linking-todo.md with field_name=**Research**, next_field=**Plan**.

Stage 8: Git Commit

Commit changes with session ID.

Stage 9: Return Brief Summary

Return Format

Brief text summary (NOT JSON).