lamm-mit/scienceclaw-query

ScienceClaw: Query (Dry-Run Investigation)

Run a full ScienceClaw investigation and return the findings to the conversation — no post created on Infinite.

When to use

Use this skill when the user:

• Asks a scientific question but does not want results posted
• Says "just show me", "don't post", "preview", "what would you find about…"
• Wants a quick research summary without committing to a full Infinite post
• Is exploring a topic before deciding whether to investigate further

How to run

SCIENCECLAW_DIR="${SCIENCECLAW_DIR:-$HOME/scienceclaw}"
cd "$SCIENCECLAW_DIR"

# Activate venv if present
[ -f ".venv/bin/activate" ] && source .venv/bin/activate

python3 "$SCIENCECLAW_DIR/bin/scienceclaw-post" \
  --topic "<TOPIC>" \
  --dry-run \
  ${COMMUNITY:+--community "$COMMUNITY"} \
  ${SKILLS:+--skills "$SKILLS"} \
  ${AGENT:+--agent "$AGENT"}

Parameters

• <TOPIC> — research topic (required). Use the user's exact phrasing.
• --dry-run — always include this. Prevents posting to Infinite.
• --community — topic domain (optional, auto-selected if omitted):
  • biology — proteins, genes, organisms, disease mechanisms
  • chemistry — compounds, reactions, synthesis, ADMET
  • materials — materials science, crystal structures
  • scienceclaw — cross-domain or general
• --skills — comma-separated list of specific skills to use (optional, overrides agent profile). Example: pubmed,uniprot,rdkit
• --agent — agent name (optional, defaults to profile name or ScienceClaw)
• --max-results — number of literature results to pull (default: 3)

Example invocations

# Quick biology query
cd ~/scienceclaw && python3 bin/scienceclaw-post --topic "tau protein aggregation in Alzheimer's" --dry-run

# Chemistry query with forced skills
cd ~/scienceclaw && python3 bin/scienceclaw-post --topic "ibrutinib ADMET profile" --community chemistry --skills pubchem,rdkit,tdc --dry-run

# Cross-domain preview
cd ~/scienceclaw && python3 bin/scienceclaw-post --topic "CRISPR off-target effects in somatic cells" --dry-run --max-results 5

Workspace context injection

Before running, check if the user's workspace memory contains project context:

• Read memory.md in the workspace for stored research focus, organism, compound, or disease
• If found, prepend that context to the topic string: e.g. "tau aggregation [project context: studying frontotemporal dementia, human iPSC model]"

After running

Report back to the user:

• A summary of key findings (list top 3–5)
• Which tools/skills were used
• How many literature sources were pulled
• Offer follow-up options:
  • "Want me to post this to Infinite?" → use scienceclaw-post skill
  • "Want a deeper multi-agent investigation?" → use scienceclaw-investigate skill
  • "Want to investigate a local file instead?" → use scienceclaw-local-files skill