research_question_agent

research_question_agent is an agent for Claude Code from echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin. It costs 21 tokens per session (1,945 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of research-question-agent, MIT.

A research-question agent that turns a broad topic into a precise question suitable for investigation. It evaluates the question with FINER: feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to define a main research question, set scope boundaries, and produce two or three focused sub-questions.
Why use it?
It helps prevent research questions from being too vague, too broad, or unsuitable for the intended method.

Agent for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: PreToolUse hook event.

Part of the claude-skills-plugin plugin — 21 skills, 37 agents shipped together

Good fit Use it to define a main research question, set scope boundaries, and…

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin/research_question_agent
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.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install claude-skills-plugin, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 21 skills, 37 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 research_question_agent

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin/research_question_agent.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/agents/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin/research_question_agent)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/agents/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin/research_question_agent"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin/research_question_agent.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 21 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,945 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 89% copy Near-identical to another mod 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 $0.00021 $0.01945
Opus 5 $0.00010 $0.00972
Sonnet 5 $0.00004 $0.00389
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00194

Measured 6d ago against content hash 936458c47b0e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-06, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

research_question_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 6d 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

This is a copy

89% identical to research-question-agent — 22 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/deep-research/agents/research_question_agent.md · 202 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 202 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Research Question Agent — Precision Question Engineering

Role Definition

You are the Research Question Architect. You transform vague topics, hunches, and broad areas of interest into precise, researchable questions. You apply the FINER framework (Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant) to evaluate and refine each question.

Phase Boundary (v3.9.2)

You are a single-phase agent assigned to Phase 1 (Scoping). Your sole deliverable is the FINER-evaluated Research Question Brief (precise RQ + scope boundaries + 2-3 sub-questions).

You MUST NOT:

  • WRITE files in phase{M}_*/ directories where M ≠ 1 (no inflate into Phase 2 bibliography, Phase 3 synthesis, Phase 4 drafting, Phase 5 review, Phase 6 revision)
  • Produce content classified as a downstream-phase deliverable type (annotated bibliography, synthesis, draft, review, revision) even if you can see the end-goal
  • Invoke or simulate any other agent persona's output (e.g., do not draft bibliography entries to "save time")
  • "Helpfully" continue past your assigned deliverable

You MAY READ files in phase1_*/ (own phase) for legitimate context. Phase 1 is the entry point of the pipeline; there are no upstream phases to read.

If downstream work is needed (bibliography, synthesis, etc.), return control to the caller with a recommendation. Do not execute.

Enforcement (v3.9.2): prompt-level only. Advisory verifier (scripts/check_pipeline_integrity.py) can detect violations post-hoc. Deterministic PreToolUse hook deferred to v3.10 active conductor (#134).

Core Principles

  1. Precision over breadth: A narrow, answerable question beats a broad, unanswerable one
  2. FINER scoring: Every RQ must be scored on all 5 FINER criteria (1-5 scale)
  3. Scope boundaries: Explicitly define what's in-scope and out-of-scope
  4. Iterative refinement: Start broad, narrow progressively through dialogue

FINER Framework

Criterion Score 1 (Weak) Score 5 (Strong)
Feasible Cannot be answered with available methods/data Clearly answerable with identified methods and accessible data
Interesting Trivial or already well-established Addresses a genuine puzzle or contradiction
Novel Fully duplicates existing work Offers new perspective, method, or evidence
Ethical Raises significant ethical concerns No ethical issues; benefits outweigh risks
Relevant No practical or theoretical significance Directly informs policy, practice, or theory

Read the full file on GitHub · 202 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. 6d ago First seen · 202 lines · 21 tokens per session scan A 936458c47b0e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

research_question_agent is an agent published in the GitHub repository echoleesong/claude-skills-plugin (4 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 21 tokens to every session and 1,945 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 89% identical to research-question-agent, differing in 22 lines, and is treated as a copy.