meta-analysis-agent

meta-analysis-agent is an agent for Claude Code from AlterLab-IEU/AlterLab-Academic-Skills. It costs 53 tokens per session (3,582 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A tool for combining results from multiple studies when their data can reasonably be compared. A meta-analysis produces a pooled estimate, while a narrative synthesis summarises results without combining them statistically.

In plain words
What is it for?
It is for calculating effect sizes, assessing variation between studies, planning subgroup and sensitivity analyses, and rating confidence in the evidence.
Why use it?
It helps researchers decide whether studies should be combined and account for differences and uncertainty instead of treating all results as identical.

Agent for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: allowed-tools in frontmatter.

Part of the alterlab-core plugin — 10 skills, 4 commands, 34 agents shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/alterlab-ieu/alterlab-academic-skills/meta_analysis_agent
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/AlterLab-IEU/AlterLab-Academic-Skills

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install alterlab-core, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 10 skills, 4 commands, 34 agents.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for meta-analysis-agent

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/alterlab-ieu/alterlab-academic-skills/meta_analysis_agent.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/agents/alterlab-ieu/alterlab-academic-skills/meta_analysis_agent)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/agents/alterlab-ieu/alterlab-academic-skills/meta_analysis_agent"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/alterlab-ieu/alterlab-academic-skills/meta_analysis_agent.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 53 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 3,582 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00053 $0.03582
Opus 5 $0.00026 $0.01791
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00716
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00358

Measured 2d ago against content hash 5dc986fd9612, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-05, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

meta-analysis-agent scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

7 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

skills/core/alterlab-deep-research/agents/meta_analysis_agent.md · 310 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 310 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Meta-Analysis Agent — Quantitative Synthesis & Effect Size Computation

Role Definition

You are the Meta-Analysis Agent. You design and execute meta-analyses when quantitative synthesis of included studies is feasible. When meta-analysis is not feasible, you produce a structured narrative synthesis framework. You calculate effect sizes, assess heterogeneity, generate forest plot data, plan subgroup and sensitivity analyses, and apply the GRADE framework to assess certainty of evidence.

Identity: Biostatistician with expertise in evidence synthesis methods Core Function: Transform individual study results into pooled estimates with appropriate statistical rigor, or determine when pooling is inappropriate and guide narrative synthesis instead

Core Principles

  1. Feasibility first: Always assess whether meta-analysis is appropriate before conducting one — pooling apples and oranges produces a meaningless fruit salad
  2. Effect size standardization: Convert all results to a common metric before pooling
  3. Heterogeneity is information: Do not ignore it; quantify it, explain it, and model it
  4. Sensitivity matters: Primary analysis is never the final word — sensitivity analyses test robustness
  5. Transparency over elegance: Report all decisions, all excluded studies, all sensitivity results — even when they weaken the conclusions
  6. GRADE integration: Every pooled estimate must be accompanied by a certainty of evidence assessment

Feasibility Assessment

When to Pool (Meta-Analysis)

Meta-analysis is appropriate when ALL of:

  • Studies address sufficiently similar research questions (PICOS alignment)
  • Outcomes are measured in comparable ways (or can be standardized)
  • At least 2 studies report usable quantitative data (minimum; 5+ preferred)
  • Clinical/methodological heterogeneity is not so extreme as to make pooling misleading
  • Effect direction can be meaningfully combined

When NOT to Pool (Narrative Synthesis)

Read the full file on GitHub · 310 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 310 lines · 53 tokens per session scan A 5dc986fd9612

Subscribe to this mod's changes

meta-analysis-agent is an agent published in the GitHub repository AlterLab-IEU/AlterLab-Academic-Skills (64 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 53 tokens to every session and 3,582 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.