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Search First Skill for Claude

by loulanyue

Research-before-coding workflow. Search for existing tools, libraries, and patterns before writing custom code. Invokes the researcher agent.

2k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
265
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/loulanyue/awesome-claude-notes --skill search-first

The instruction itself

21 sections, as written by the author

/search-first — Research Before You Code

Systematizes the "search for existing solutions before implementing" workflow.

Trigger

Use this skill when:

  • Starting a new feature that likely has existing solutions
  • Adding a dependency or integration
  • The user asks "add X functionality" and you're about to write code
  • Before creating a new utility, helper, or abstraction

Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  1. NEED ANALYSIS                           │
│     Define what functionality is needed      │
│     Identify language/framework constraints  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  2. PARALLEL SEARCH (researcher agent)      │
│     ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐  │
│     │  npm /   │ │  MCP /   │ │  GitHub / │  │
│     │  PyPI    │ │  Skills  │ │  Web      │  │
│     └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  3. EVALUATE                                │
│     Score candidates (functionality, maint, │
│     community, docs, license, deps)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  4. DECIDE                                  │
│     ┌─────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌─────────┐  │
│     │  Adopt  │  │  Extend  │  │  Build   │  │
│     │ as-is   │  │  /Wrap   │  │  Custom  │  │
│     └─────────┘  └──────────┘  └─────────┘  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  5. IMPLEMENT                               │
│     Install package / Configure MCP /       │
│     Write minimal custom code               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Decision Matrix

| Signal | Action |

|--------|--------|

| Exact match, well-maintained, MIT/Apache | Adopt — install and use directly |

| Partial match, good foundation | Extend — install + write thin wrapper |

| Multiple weak matches | Compose — combine 2-3 small packages |

| Nothing suitable found | Build — write custom, but informed by research |

How to Use

Quick Mode (inline)

Before writing a utility or adding functionality, mentally run through:

  • Does this already exist in the repo? → rg through relevant modules/tests first
  • Is this a common problem? → Search npm/PyPI
  • Is there an MCP for this? → Check ~/.claude/settings.json and search
  • Is there a skill for this? → Check ~/.claude/skills/
  • Is there a GitHub implementation/template? → Run GitHub code search for maintained OSS before writing net-new code

Full Mode (agent)

For non-trivial functionality, launch the researcher agent:

Task(subagent_type="general-purpose", prompt="
  Research existing tools for: [DESCRIPTION]
  Language/framework: [LANG]
  Constraints: [ANY]

  Search: npm/PyPI, MCP servers, Claude Code skills, GitHub
  Return: Structured comparison with recommendation
")

Search Shortcuts by Category

Development Tooling

  • Linting → eslint, ruff, textlint, markdownlint
  • Formatting → prettier, black, gofmt
  • Testing → jest, pytest, go test
  • Pre-commit → husky, lint-staged, pre-commit

AI/LLM Integration

  • Claude SDK → Context7 for latest docs
  • Prompt management → Check MCP servers
  • Document processing → unstructured, pdfplumber, mammoth

Data & APIs

  • HTTP clients → httpx (Python), ky/got (Node)
  • Validation → zod (TS), pydantic (Python)
  • Database → Check for MCP servers first

Content & Publishing

  • Markdown processing → remark, unified, markdown-it
  • Image optimization → sharp, imagemin

Integration Points

With planner agent

The planner should invoke researcher before Phase 1 (Architecture Review):

  • Researcher identifies available tools
  • Planner incorporates them into the implementation plan
  • Avoids "reinventing the wheel" in the plan

With architect agent

The architect should consult researcher for:

  • Technology stack decisions
  • Integration pattern discovery
  • Existing reference architectures

With iterative-retrieval skill

Combine for progressive discovery:

  • Cycle 1: Broad search (npm, PyPI, MCP)
  • Cycle 2: Evaluate top candidates in detail
  • Cycle 3: Test compatibility with project constraints

Examples

Example 1: "Add dead link checking"

Need: Check markdown files for broken links
Search: npm "markdown dead link checker"
Found: textlint-rule-no-dead-link (score: 9/10)
Action: ADOPT — npm install textlint-rule-no-dead-link
Result: Zero custom code, battle-tested solution

Example 2: "Add HTTP client wrapper"

Need: Resilient HTTP client with retries and timeout handling
Search: npm "http client retry", PyPI "httpx retry"
Found: got (Node) with retry plugin, httpx (Python) with built-in retry
Action: ADOPT — use got/httpx directly with retry config
Result: Zero custom code, production-proven libraries

Example 3: "Add config file linter"

Need: Validate project config files against a schema
Search: npm "config linter schema", "json schema validator cli"
Found: ajv-cli (score: 8/10)
Action: ADOPT + EXTEND — install ajv-cli, write project-specific schema
Result: 1 package + 1 schema file, no custom validation logic

Anti-Patterns

  • Jumping to code: Writing a utility without checking if one exists
  • Ignoring MCP: Not checking if an MCP server already provides the capability
  • Over-customizing: Wrapping a library so heavily it loses its benefits
  • Dependency bloat: Installing a massive package for one small feature

原文

  • 英語版の原文

ナビゲーション

  • 日本語ドキュメント一覧
  • skills/README.md
  • 貢献ガイド

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take loulanyue/search-first from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference npm. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.