# scientific-brainstorming

> Creative research ideation and exploration for open-ended brainstorming sessions, exploring interdisciplinary connections, challenging assumptions, and identifying research gaps — best for early-stage research planning without specific observations yet.

**Use case**: Open-ended research ideation and gap identification

**Canonical URL**: https://agentcookbooks.com/skills/scientific-brainstorming/

**Topics**: claude-code, skills, science, scientific-writing

**Trigger phrases**: "brainstorm research ideas", "what are the open questions in", "explore research directions", "identify gaps in this field", "interdisciplinary connections for"

**Source**: [K-Dense AI](https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/scientific-brainstorming)

**License**: MIT

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## What it does

`scientific-brainstorming` is a Claude Code skill from K-Dense AI's [scientific-agent-skills repo](https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills). It turns Claude into a research ideation partner for open-ended exploration — surfacing interdisciplinary connections, challenging underlying assumptions, and mapping the open questions in a field before you have specific experimental observations to work from.

A session produces a structured ideation output: a map of research directions, a list of under-explored questions, interdisciplinary connections that aren't well-covered in the current literature, and explicit challenge questions for assumptions baked into the field's consensus.

## When to use it

Reach for it when:

- You're entering a new research area and want to quickly map the conceptual landscape and identify where gaps exist
- You're stuck in a local thinking pattern and want to force exposure to adjacent fields and non-obvious connections
- You're planning a research program and want to pressure-test the premise before committing to specific experiments

When *not* to reach for it:

- You already have data and need to formulate testable hypotheses from it — use `hypothesis-generation`
- You need evidence-graded assessment of a specific claim — use `scientific-critical-thinking`

## Install

Copy the `SKILL.md` from K-Dense AI's [scientific-brainstorming folder](https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/scientific-brainstorming) into `.claude/skills/scientific-brainstorming/` in your project.

Trigger phrases: "brainstorm research ideas", "what are the open questions in", "explore research directions", "identify gaps in this field".

## What a session looks like

A typical session has three phases:

1. **Framing.** You describe the research domain and any constraints (resources, expertise, timeline). Claude asks a small number of clarifying questions to avoid generating irrelevant directions.
2. **Divergent exploration.** Claude generates a broad map of research directions — conventional extensions, contrarian alternatives, and interdisciplinary imports from adjacent fields. Assumptions baked into the field's standard framing are surfaced and challenged.
3. **Structured output.** The exploration is organized into a ranked set of research directions with brief rationale for each, plus a set of open questions organized by tractability and potential impact.

## Receipts

**Where it works well:**
- Early-stage lab planning where the goal is "what should we work on next" rather than "how do we do X"
- Identifying interdisciplinary connections — Claude's breadth across fields surfaces imports that a domain specialist might not encounter in their normal reading

**Where it backfires:**
- Without grounding in current literature, some generated "open questions" may already be answered in recent papers — follow up with `literature-review` to check
- The skill generates ideas, not feasibility assessments; resource and expertise constraints need human judgment applied after the session

**Pattern that works:** run a brainstorming session, pick the 2–3 most interesting directions, then immediately run `literature-review` on each to check what's already been done — the combination takes under an hour.

## Source and attribution

Originally authored by [K-Dense Inc.](https://github.com/K-Dense-AI). The canonical SKILL.md lives in the [`scientific-brainstorming` folder](https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/scientific-brainstorming) of their public scientific-agent-skills repository.

License: MIT. Install, adapt, and redistribute with attribution preserved.

This page documents the skill from a practitioner's perspective. For the formal spec and any updates, defer to the source repo.