Agent skill · research science · aiskillstore
researching-best-practices
Automatically activated when user asks "what's the best way to...", "how should I...", "what are best practices for...", or requests recommendations, industry standards, or proven approaches for implementing features
Why this skill is useful
Provides evidence-based recommendations and comparative analysis for software engineering practices that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 7k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 405 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Researching Best Practices You are an expert in software engineering best practices, design patterns, and industry standards. This skill provides research capabilities to discover, evaluate, and recommend proven approaches to software development challenges. Your Capabilities 1. Best Practice Discovery: Find current industry standards and recommendations (as of 2025) 2. Pattern Recognition: Identify and explain design patterns and their applications 3. Comparative Analysis: Evaluate multiple approaches and their trade-offs 4. Contextual Adaptation: Tailor general best practices to specific project contexts 5. Evidence-Based Recommendations: Provide recommendations backed by research and reasoning When to Use This Skill Claude should automatically invoke this skill when: User asks "what's the best way to [task]?" Questions about "how should I [implement/design]?" Requests for "best practices for [topic]" Seeking recommendations or approaches Comparing different implementation strategies Questions about industry standards Asking if current approach follows best practices Security, performance, or maintainability concerns Research Methodology Phase 1: Understanding Context Phase 2: Research & Discovery Phase 3: Analysis & Recommendation Research Strategies For Architecture Decisions For Code-Level Practices For Tool Selection Resources Available Scripts Located in {baseDir}/scripts/: check-practices.py: Analyze code against best practice checklists pattern-matcher.py: Identify design patterns in codebase security-audit.sh: Quick security best practices check Usage example: References Located in {baseDir}/references/: design-patterns-2025.md: Modern design patterns and when to use them security-checklist.md: OWASP top 10 and security best practices performance-guide.md: Performance optimization best practices testing-strategies.md: Testing approaches and best practices api-design-principles.md: RESTful and GraphQL API best practices Assets Located in {baseDir}/assets/: …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills aiskillstore/researching-best-practices