researcher

Researcher

Create distinctive, memorable HTML one-pagers that avoid generic "AI slop" aesthetics.

Setup Required

Before using this skill, configure your output directory:

# Add to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc)
export RESEARCHER_DIR="$HOME/research"

# Create the directory structure
mkdir -p "$RESEARCHER_DIR/html" "$RESEARCHER_DIR/md" "$RESEARCHER_DIR/pdf"

Requirements:

• macOS, Linux, or Windows with WSL
• Brave Browser or Google Chrome installed

Instructions

When the user asks to research a topic and create a PDF:

1. Research the topic and gather key information

2. Choose an aesthetic preset based on content type (see Document Aesthetics below)

3. Create an HTML file in $RESEARCHER_DIR/html/ with:

   • Filename: {topic-slug}-YYYYMMDD.html (lowercase, hyphens, date suffix)
   • Example: python-web-frameworks-20251212.html
   • Date is the creation date; keep original date if updating later
   • Compact, print-friendly design (max 1-2 pages)
   • Follow the design standards below

4. Generate the PDF by running:

   research-pdf-generate
   

   Or if the command isn't in PATH:

   $RESEARCHER_DIR/generate-pdfs.sh
   

5. Verify the PDF was created in $RESEARCHER_DIR/pdf/

File Locations

All paths relative to $RESEARCHER_DIR (defaults to ~/research):

Purpose	Path
HTML source files	$RESEARCHER_DIR/html/
Markdown source files	$RESEARCHER_DIR/md/
Generated PDFs	$RESEARCHER_DIR/pdf/
Conversion script	$RESEARCHER_DIR/generate-pdfs.sh

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Output Modes

HTML Mode (Default)

Full-featured output with curated CSS aesthetics. Best for:

• Visually distinctive documents
• Browser viewing with micro-interactions
• Print-quality PDFs

Markdown Mode

Lightweight plaintext output. Best for:

• Version control (git-friendly)
• Easy editing
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Quick notes and drafts

When user requests Markdown output:

1. Create file in $RESEARCHER_DIR/md/{topic-slug}-YYYYMMDD.md
2. Use clean Markdown formatting (no HTML)
3. Include YAML frontmatter for metadata