research-mode

research-mode is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs. It costs 62 tokens per session (2,429 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

A switch that keeps an agent in research mode across a conversation. It can remind the agent to update a research document, or resume an existing one.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to start research on a topic, continue an existing research document, or turn research mode off.
Why use it?
It helps prevent research notes from becoming outdated or being forgotten during a long conversation. If automatic reminders are unavailable, you can update the document manually.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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 skills/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs/research-mode
Any agent
npx skills add kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs --skill research-mode
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

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-mode

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs/research-mode.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs/research-mode)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs/research-mode"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs/research-mode.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 62 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,429 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. 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 $0.00062 $0.02429
Opus 5 $0.00031 $0.01215
Sonnet 5 $0.00012 $0.00486
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00243

Measured 5d ago against content hash 9022b6e0a841, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

research-mode scanned grade B with 1 finding 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 5d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 3 executable files (scripts/check-hooks.sh, scripts/clear-mode.sh, scripts/research-mode-hook.sh), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

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.

Reads agent configuration directoriesmediumAgent snooping

.claude/, .codex/, .gemini/ hold keys, settings and other credentials a mod has no legitimate need for.

| Claude Code | `~/.claude/settings.json` | _(none — default)_ |
skills/research-mode/SKILL.md · 215 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 215 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Usage

  • /research-mode — Enable research mode, then prompt for a topic
  • /research-mode <topic> — Enable research mode and start researching the topic
  • /research-mode continue — List existing research docs and resume one
  • /research-mode off — Disable research mode

Configuration

Hook configuration by tool

Tool Hook config location / equivalent Script format argument
Claude Code ~/.claude/settings.json (none — default)
Copilot ~/.copilot/hooks.json copilot
Pi Bundled active-mode extension in .pi/agent/extensions/active-mode/ (extension-driven)

Claude Code and Copilot support the bundled PostToolUse and SessionStart hook scripts directly. Pi does not use the same standalone hook configuration files in this repository's starter config. Instead, this starter config now ships a Pi-native active-mode extension that reads .ai/.active-mode, clears stale flags on fresh session start, injects reminder context before LLM calls, and shows mode status in the UI. If that extension is not installed, fall back to manual document updates.

If you cannot determine which tool you are, ask the user.

Workflow

Step 1: Check hook configuration

If the argument is "off", skip this step and go directly to Step 2.

Otherwise:

  • If running in Claude Code, run bash {skill-dir}/scripts/check-hooks.sh and parse the structured output.
  • If running in Copilot, run bash {skill-dir}/scripts/check-hooks.sh copilot and parse the structured output.
  • If running in Pi, skip the standalone hook check. Explain that this repository's Pi starter config uses the bundled active-mode extension instead of standalone hook files. If that extension is installed, research mode gets equivalent reminder/cleanup behaviour automatically. Otherwise research mode will rely on manual update discipline only. Then continue to Step 2.

Read the full file on GitHub · 215 lines

Files

What ships with it

3 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

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. 5d ago First seen · 215 lines · 62 tokens per session scan B 9022b6e0a841

Subscribe to this mod's changes

research-mode is a skill published in the GitHub repository kimgoetzke/coding-agent-configs (2 stars, last pushed 16d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 62 tokens to every session and 2,429 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (reads agent configuration directories). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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