Resources
Use these resources to assemble a vibe coding harness. In practice, a good harness usually has both an instruction layer and a tool layer: skills tell the AI agent how to reason and coordinate work; CLIs, MCP servers, scripts, and tests make repeated actions reliable.
Learning Resources
- Documentation: The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude
- Video: Agentic Coding (MIT Open Course)
Vibe coding blog posts:
- Vibe Coding Done Right — Test-driven approach to AI-generated code
- Git Workflow for AI Coding — Using Git to manage human-AI collaboration
- Sustainable Automation — CLAUDE.md and Skills for persistent AI workflows
- 中文知乎文章 — 中文介绍如何使用Claude Code和Skills
Harness Tool Layer: MCP Servers and Command Line Tools
MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers extend AI coding agents with external tool access. CLI tools can be invoked directly from the terminal by agents. Star counts (approximate) are shown for reference.
Literature & Papers
- arxiv-mcp-server — MCP: Search and analyze arXiv papers (2.4k stars)
- paper-search-mcp — MCP: Multi-source search across arXiv, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, Crossref, OpenAlex, Zenodo (900+ stars)
- semanticscholar — CLI: Python client for Semantic Scholar API (440+ stars)
- Google-Scholar-MCP — MCP: Google Scholar search (260+ stars)
- Dianel555/paper-search-mcp-nodejs — MCP: Multi-source paper search including Web of Science, arXiv (130+ stars)
- arxiv-latex-mcp — MCP: Fetch arXiv LaTeX source for precise math reading (110+ stars)
- semantic-scholar-mcp — MCP: Semantic Scholar: papers, authors, citation graphs (110+ stars)
- scholar-mcp — MCP: Search, download (Sci-Hub/arXiv/Unpaywall), AI analysis, citation graphs (85+ stars)
- google_scholar_mcp — MCP: Google Scholar with abstract filtering (74+ stars)
- doi2bib — CLI: Convert DOI/arXiv ID to BibTeX (66+ stars)
- arxiv-dl — CLI: Download papers by URL or arXiv ID (55+ stars)
Reference Management
- zotero-mcp — MCP: Search, summarize, export BibTeX from Zotero library (2.1k stars)
- zotero-mcp (plugin) — MCP: Deep Zotero plugin + MCP integration for literature analysis (540+ stars)
- zotero-cli — CLI: CLI interface for Zotero web API (310+ stars)
- kujenga/zotero-mcp — MCP: Python Zotero MCP server (140+ stars)
- ZotLink — MCP: Save preprints (arXiv, bioRxiv, chemRxiv) to Zotero with rich metadata (135+ stars)
Jupyter & Notebooks
- jupyter-mcp-server — MCP: Full notebook control: edit, execute, manage cells (960+ stars)
- jupyter-notebook-mcp — MCP: Jupyter notebook interaction (125+ stars)
- nbconvert — CLI: Convert notebooks to PDF, HTML, LaTeX
- nbstripout — CLI: Strip output for clean git diffs
Scientific Computing & Math
- lean-lsp-mcp — MCP: Interact with Lean theorem prover via LSP (340+ stars)
- mcp.science — MCP: Materials Project, GPAW DFT, sandboxed Python (120+ stars)
- mcp-wolframalpha — MCP: Wolfram Alpha API queries (75+ stars)
- Wolfram MCP Service — MCP: Official Wolfram cloud MCP service
Document Typesetting & Writing
- typst — CLI: Fast markup-based typesetting to PDF/PNG/SVG (52k stars)
- pandoc — CLI: Universal document converter (Markdown, LaTeX, DOCX, HTML, etc.)
- latexmk — CLI: Automates LaTeX compilation
- OverleafMCP — MCP: Access Overleaf projects via Git (83+ stars)
Plotting & Visualization
- mcp-server-chart — MCP: 25+ chart types using AntV (3.9k stars)
- mcp-echarts — MCP: Generate charts with ECharts (216+ stars)
- gnuplot — CLI: Scientific plotting from the terminal
- ffmpeg — CLI: Encode media, assemble image sequences into animations
- imagemagick — CLI: Convert, resize, annotate images (200+ formats)
Web Search & Fetch
- exa-mcp-server — MCP: Exa AI-native search engine (4.1k stars)
- notion-mcp-server — MCP: Notion: pages, databases, search (4.1k stars)
- tavily-mcp — MCP: Tavily search for AI agents (1.6k stars)
- playwright-mcp — MCP: Official Playwright: cross-browser automation (30k stars)
- MCP Servers (Official) — MCP: Reference implementations: Brave Search, Fetch, Filesystem, Memory, and more (82k stars)
Git, GitHub & Data Versioning
- github-mcp-server — MCP: Official GitHub: code search, PRs, issues, CI (28k stars)
- gh — CLI: GitHub CLI: issues, PRs, actions, releases
- git-lfs — CLI: Version large files in Git
- dvc — CLI: Data Version Control for datasets & pipelines
Databases & Data Processing
- duckdb — CLI: Analytical SQL on CSV/Parquet/JSON (37k stars)
- jq — CLI: JSON processor: slice, filter, transform (34k stars)
- dbhub — MCP: Zero-dep MCP for Postgres, MySQL, SQLite (2.4k stars)
- sqlite3 — CLI: SQLite shell
- h5dump / h5ls — CLI: Inspect HDF5 files
- ncdump — CLI: Display netCDF file contents
- csvkit — CLI: CLI utilities for CSV
SSH, Remote & HPC
- ssh-mcp — MCP: SSH exec/sudo via MCP (350+ stars)
- sbatch / squeue / scancel — CLI: SLURM job scheduler
- rsync / scp — CLI: Efficient file transfer
- rclone — CLI: Sync to/from S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, 70+ providers
- tmux — CLI: Persistent terminal sessions (survives SSH disconnect)
- GNU parallel — CLI: Execute commands in parallel across cores/nodes
Communication & Collaboration
- slack-mcp-server — MCP: Slack: DMs, history, channels (1.5k stars)
- Gmail-MCP-Server — MCP: Gmail integration (1.1k stars)
- obsidian-mcp-server — MCP: Obsidian vault access (420+ stars)
- Google Drive MCP — MCP: Search, list, read Drive files
Build & Dev Utilities
- uv — CLI: Fast Python package/project manager (82k stars)
- fzf — CLI: Fuzzy finder for files, history, anything (79k stars)
- ripgrep (rg) — CLI: Fast recursive search (62k stars)
- ruff — CLI: Fast Python linter + formatter (47k stars)
- fd — CLI: Fast alternative to find (42k stars)
- hyperfine — CLI: Statistical command-line benchmarking (28k stars)
- papis — CLI: Terminal-based document & bibliography manager (1.7k stars)
- entr — CLI: Run commands when files change (5.5k stars)
- make / cmake / ninja — CLI: Build automation
Harness Instruction Layer: Skills for Researchers
Skills are reusable instruction files (SKILL.md) that teach AI coding agents domain-specific workflows. In a harness, skills should describe goals, decision points, verification checks, and when to call tools. MCP servers and CLIs provide executable capabilities; skills provide knowledge and methodology.
How to Install a Skill
# Option 1: Clone into your project's .claude/skills/ directory
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/skills.git /tmp/skills
cp -r /tmp/skills/skills/pdf .claude/skills/pdf
# Option 2: Use the skills CLI (12k stars)
npx skills install anthropics/skills/pdf
# Option 3: Use skillkit (680+ stars)
npx skillkit@latest init
Skills placed in .claude/skills/ are automatically discovered by Claude Code.
Recommended Skill Sources
Listed by GitHub stars and relevance to research. All repos have >50 stars.
Official Anthropic Skills — anthropics/skills (105k stars)
The official skill collection from Anthropic. Key skills for researchers:
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Read, extract, and analyze PDF documents — papers, reports, theses | |
| docx | Create and edit Word documents — drafts, reports, grant applications |
| pptx | Create and edit PowerPoint presentations — conference talks, lab meetings |
| xlsx | Create and edit Excel spreadsheets — data tables, budgets |
| doc-coauthoring | Collaborative document writing with AI — co-author papers and reports |
| skill-creator | Meta-skill: create new skills from your own workflows |
| mcp-builder | Build custom MCP servers for your research tools |
| claude-api | Build applications using the Claude API |
Development Methodology — obra/superpowers (120k stars)
Battle-tested development workflow skills. Especially useful for research software:
| Skill | Why researchers need it |
|---|---|
| test-driven-development | Write tests before implementation — ensures correctness of scientific code |
| systematic-debugging | Root-cause analysis before proposing fixes — no more trial-and-error |
| brainstorming | Structured exploration of design space before coding |
| writing-plans | Break complex tasks into step-by-step plans with review checkpoints |
| executing-plans | Execute implementation plans with systematic verification |
| requesting-code-review | Review completed work against plan and coding standards |
| verification-before-completion | Run verification commands before claiming work is done |
| dispatching-parallel-agents | Run independent research tasks in parallel |
Scientific Skills — K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills (17k stars)
170+ scientific skills covering 250+ databases. The largest research-focused skill collection:
| Category | Skills included |
|---|---|
| Scientific Writing | scientific-writing, literature-review, citation-management, peer-review, venue-templates, latex-posters, scientific-slides |
| Research Process | scientific-brainstorming, scientific-critical-thinking, hypothesis-generation, scholar-evaluation, research-grants |
| Data Analysis | exploratory-data-analysis, scientific-visualization, matplotlib, plotly, seaborn, statsmodels, statistical-analysis |
| Bioinformatics | biopython, scanpy, anndata, scvelo, scvi-tools, pysam, deeptools, esm, alphafold-database |
| Chemistry & Materials | rdkit, deepchem, pymatgen, matchms, medchem, molfeat, datamol, torchdrug |
| Databases | arxiv-database, pubmed-database, biorxiv-database, chembl-database, uniprot-database, pdb-database, opentargets-database, pubchem-database, kegg-database, openalex-database, and 20+ more |
| Machine Learning | scikit-learn, pytorch-lightning, transformers, torch-geometric, shap, dask, polars |
| Quantum Computing | qiskit, cirq, pennylane, qutip |
| Lab Integration | benchling-integration, lamindb, opentrons-integration, protocolsio-integration |
Other Notable Skills for Research
| Stars | Skill | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 114k | affaan-m/everything-claude-code | Agent harness optimization system — makes your AI coding agent more effective |
| 49k | ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills | Curated list of Claude Skills across domains |
| 28k | sickn33/antigravity-awesome-skills | 1,326+ installable skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI |
| 24k | vercel-labs/agent-skills | Vercel skills: deploy, React best practices, web design |
| 14k | muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering | Skills for context engineering and multi-agent architectures |
| 14k | mvanhorn/last30days-skill | Research any topic across Reddit, X, YouTube, HN, and web — synthesize a grounded summary |
| 11k | blader/humanizer | Removes signs of AI-generated writing from text — useful for polishing academic prose |
| 10k | huggingface/skills | HuggingFace: models, datasets, Spaces, inference |
| 7k | nicobailon/visual-explainer | Generate rich HTML pages or slide decks for diagrams, data tables, project recaps |
| 7k | Lum1104/Understand-Anything | Turn any codebase into an interactive knowledge graph — useful for understanding research code |
| 4k | trailofbits/skills | 17 security audit skills (CodeQL, Semgrep, variant analysis) |
| 1.9k | microsoft/skills | Microsoft: skills, MCP servers, Custom Agents for SDKs |
| 1.7k | supabase/agent-skills | Postgres best practices |
| 1.5k | Imbad0202/academic-research-skills | Full academic pipeline: literature review, draft, peer review simulation, revision, finalization |
| 1.2k | polyuiislab/infiAgent | Build AI Scientist and other agents by editing config files |
Skill Tutorials & Guides
- Claude Code Skills Docs — Official documentation
- Anthropic Guide to Building Skills (PDF) — Comprehensive PDF guide
- Claude Skills Deep Dive — Technical deep dive into how skills work internally
- Codecademy — How to Build Claude Skills — Step-by-step tutorial
- DEV — Create Your First Skill in 5 Minutes — Quick-start guide
Skill Repositories & Collections
| Stars | Repository | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 120k | obra/superpowers | 15 battle-tested dev workflow skills |
| 105k | anthropics/skills | Official Anthropic skills |
| 49k | ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills | Curated list of awesome Claude Skills |
| 39k | PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules | Cursor rules for many frameworks |
| 34k | hesreallyhim/awesome-claude-code | Skills, hooks, slash-commands, orchestrators |
| 28k | sickn33/antigravity-awesome-skills | 1,326+ installable agentic skills |
| 27k | github/awesome-copilot | Official Copilot community instructions/skills |
| 14k | agentskills.io | The open SKILL.md specification, adopted by 19+ tools |
| 13k | VoltAgent/awesome-agent-skills | 1000+ skills from official teams + community |
| 12k | vercel-labs/skills | npx skills CLI to discover/install skills across 17+ agents |
| 10k | travisvn/awesome-claude-skills | Curated by domain |
| 8k | BehiSecc/awesome-claude-skills | Another curated list of Claude Skills |
| 7.6k | alirezarezvani/claude-skills | 192+ skills across engineering, marketing, product, compliance |
| 930+ | rohitg00/awesome-claude-code-toolkit | 135 agents, 35 curated skills, 42 commands, 150+ plugins |
| 680+ | rohitg00/skillkit | npx skillkit@latest init — portable skills across 40+ agents |
| 640+ | alirezarezvani/claude-code-skill-factory | Toolkit for building skills at scale |
Skill Marketplaces
- SkillsMP — 96k+ skills with search and quality indicators
- MCP Market — Skills — Browsable skills directory
- SkillHub — 7k+ AI-evaluated skills rated on 5 dimensions
- LobeHub Skills — SKILL.md format skills for multiple agents