hackathon-research

A command that researches several possible solutions to a hackathon challenge using many concurrent research agents. It analyzes the problem, constraints, success criteria, users, and different solution approaches.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to break down a hackathon problem, generate distinct solution options, and evaluate their technical and practical fit.
Why use it?
It helps compare speed-first, innovation-first, and balanced approaches before committing to one. This makes the trade-offs between delivery time, originality, risk, and effort clearer.

Command for Claude Code

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 commands/mort-lab/excel-mcp/hackathon-research
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mort-lab/excel-mcp

Made for: Claude Code.

Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 7,175 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 $0.00000 $0.07175
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.03587
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.01435
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00717

Measured 2d ago against content hash f18cf3ad8843, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

hackathon-research 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.

.claude/commands/rapid-development/experimental/hackathon-research.md · 984 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 984 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Hackathon Multi-Option Research

Rapidly evaluate multiple solution approaches for hackathon challenges using massive parallel research (15 concurrent agents).

Problem/Challenge: $ARGUMENTS

Phase 1: Problem Analysis & Option Generation

Problem Breakdown

Analyze the challenge statement for:

  • Core requirements and constraints
  • Success criteria and evaluation metrics
  • Available time and resources
  • Technical constraints and preferences
  • Target users and use cases

Solution Approach Generation

Generate 3 distinct solution approaches:

Option A: Speed-First Approach
  • Philosophy: "Ship fast, iterate later"
  • Strategy: Leverage existing tools, proven patterns, minimal custom code
  • Target: Working prototype in minimal time
  • Trade-offs: May sacrifice innovation for speed
Option B: Innovation-First Approach
  • Philosophy: "Breakthrough solution with novel approach"
  • Strategy: Cutting-edge tech, unique architecture, creative problem-solving
  • Target: High-impact, differentiated solution
  • Trade-offs: Higher risk, potentially longer development time
Option C: Balanced Approach
  • Philosophy: "Solid foundation with strategic innovation"
  • Strategy: Proven base with selective modern enhancements
  • Target: Reliable solution with competitive advantages
  • Trade-offs: Moderate risk, moderate innovation

Phase 2: Massive Parallel Research (15 Agents)

CRITICAL: Execute all 15 research agents simultaneously using multiple Agent tool calls in a single response for maximum efficiency.

OUTPUT STRUCTURE: Create separate files for organized research review:

  • Individual agent outputs: PRPs/research/{option}-agent-{id}-{area}.md
  • Synthesized option analysis: PRPs/research/{option}-synthesized-output.md
  • Final recommendations: PRPs/research/final-recommendations-analysis.md

IMPORTANT: Create the PRPs/research/ directory first if it doesn't exist.

Research Matrix: 5 Agents × 3 Options

Read the full file on GitHub · 984 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 · 984 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A f18cf3ad8843

Subscribe to this mod's changes

hackathon-research is a command published in the GitHub repository mort-lab/excel-mcp (5 stars, last pushed 25d ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 7,175 tokens. 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 2026-08-31.