| name | idea-generation |
| description | Use this when the user wants research ideas, innovation points, or to find research gaps (找研究方向, 生成创新点). Generates 5 ideas from collected papers, identifies gaps, proposes novel methods with citations. Requires papers in workspace. |
| metadata | {"openclaw":{"emoji":"💡","requires":{"bins":["git"]}}} |
Idea Generation
Don't ask permission. Just do it.
Generate innovative research ideas grounded in literature analysis. This skill reads existing papers, identifies research gaps, and produces 5 distinct ideas with citations.
Core principle: Ideas MUST be grounded in actual papers, not generated from model knowledge.
Outputs go to ideas/.
Step 1: Check Workspace Resources
First, check what resources already exist:
ls papers/ 2>/dev/null | head -20
ls knowledge/ 2>/dev/null
Assess Available Resources
| Resource | Location | Status |
|---|
| Papers | papers/ | Count: ? |
| Knowledge | knowledge/_index.md | Exists: Y/N |
Step 2: Ask User About Search Strategy
Based on workspace state, ask user:
If papers exist (≥5):
📚 Found {N} papers in workspace from previous survey.
Options:
- Use existing papers - Generate ideas from current collection
- Search more - Run
/research-collect to expand collection
- Quick search - Add 5-10 more papers on specific topic
If no papers:
📭 No papers found in workspace.
To generate grounded ideas, I need literature. Options:
- Run /research-collect - Comprehensive search (100+ papers, recommended)
- Quick search - Fetch 10-15 papers on your topic now
- You provide papers - Point me to existing PDFs/tex files
Step 3: Acquire Resources (if needed)
Option A: Delegate to /research-collect (Recommended)
If user wants comprehensive search:
Please run: /research-collect {topic}
This will:
- Search 100+ papers systematically
- Filter by relevance (score ≥4)
- Cluster into research directions
- Save to papers/
After survey completes, run /idea-generation again.
Option B: Quick Search (5-10 papers)
For fast iteration, do minimal search:
- Search papers:
arxiv_search({ query: "{user_topic}", max_results: 10 })
openalex_search({ query: "{user_topic}", max_results: 10 })
-
Download papers: 按 /paper-download 的方式下载到 papers/
-
Clone reference repos (optional):
gh search repos "{paper_title} implementation" --limit 5 --sort stars
git clone --depth 1 {repo_url} repos/{name}
Step 4: Analyze Literature
Prerequisites: At least 5 papers in papers/
4.1 Read Papers
For each paper, extract:
- Core contribution (1 sentence)
- Key method/formula
- Limitations mentioned
- Future work suggestions
Long papers (>50KB): See references/reading-long-papers.md
4.2 Identify Research Gaps
Look for:
- Common limitations across papers
- Unexplored technique combinations
- Scalability issues
- Assumptions that could be relaxed
Document gaps in ideas/gaps.md:
# Research Gaps Identified
## Gap 1: [Description]
- Mentioned in: [paper1], [paper2]
- Why important: ...
## Gap 2: [Description]
...
Step 5: Generate 5 Ideas
Create ideas/idea_1.md through idea_5.md using template in references/idea-template.md.
Requirements:
- Each idea cites ≥2 papers by arXiv ID
- Use different strategies:
| Idea | Strategy |
|---|
| 1 | Combination - merge 2+ techniques |
| 2 | Simplification - reduce complexity |
| 3 | Generalization - extend to new domain |
| 4 | Constraint relaxation - remove assumption |
| 5 | Architecture innovation - new design |
❌ REJECTED if: No arXiv IDs cited, or ideas not grounded in literature
Step 6: Select and Enhance Best Idea
6.1 Score All Ideas
| Idea | Novelty | Feasibility | Impact | Total |
|---|
| 1 | /5 | /5 | /5 | /15 |
| ... | | | | |
6.2 Enhance Selected Idea
Create ideas/selected_idea.md with:
- Detailed math (loss functions, gradients)
- Architecture choices
- Hyperparameters
- Implementation roadmap
Step 7: Code Survey
Map idea concepts to reference implementations.
See references/code-mapping.md for template.
Output: ideas/implementation_report.md
Step 8: Summary
Create ideas/summary.md:
- All 5 ideas with scores
- Selected idea details
- Next steps:
/research-pipeline to implement
Commands
| User Says | Action |
|---|
| "Generate ideas for X" | Check workspace → ask strategy → generate |
| "I have papers, generate ideas" | Skip to Step 4 |
| "Enhance idea N" | Jump to Step 6 |
| "Map to code" | Jump to Step 7 |
Integration
- Before:
/research-collect to collect papers
- After:
/research-pipeline to implement selected idea
- Alternative:
/write-review-paper to write survey instead