Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Research Grant Writing Assistant agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The research-grants skill is a set of instructions and reference files that an AI agent loads when you ask for help with a research funding proposal. It covers NSF, NIH, DOE, DARPA and Taiwan's NSTC, and it is aimed at investigators, early-career researchers and research office staff who write or review proposals. After this guide you will know what the skill changes about the agent's behaviour, how to install it, how to phrase requests so it activates, and what limits to respect.
Research Grant Writing AssistantK-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the research-grants ZIP file from the skill's page in the directory.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Extract it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. If you use the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill.
- 4Name the agency and document. Start your request by naming the agency, opportunity and the document you want reviewed or drafted.
- 5Attach official sources and check outputs. Provide the current solicitation or notice, then verify every page limit and format in the exported files yourself.
What the skill makes the agent do
Without the skill, an agent answers grant questions from general knowledge. With it, the agent follows agency-specific guidance when you ask for help preparing or reviewing a proposal. The skill's stated approach is a checklist: confirm the governing funding notice and deadline, map each requirement to where it appears in your draft, and flag gaps.
The skill also includes worksheets for specific aims, NSF project summaries and budget justifications, and review criteria for critiquing drafts. Its templates are explicitly worksheets, not official forms, and the agent is instructed not to invent data, citations, investigator records, partner commitments or approvals.
- Checks the opportunity: agency, identifier, due date and time zone, eligibility, form version, limits and required attachments
- Builds a requirement, source section, draft location and gap matrix before judging compliance
- Drafts or critiques specific aims, project summaries, broader impacts and budget justifications
- Helps with resubmissions, including responding to reviewer comments
Install the skill: download, unzip and place it
Download the ZIP file from the skill's page in the directory. Unzip it so the skill folder is placed in one of two locations: your personal skills folder at ~/.claude/skills/, or a project's .claude/skills/ folder if you want the skill only for that project.
If you use the Claude apps instead, you can upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills rather than copying files yourself.
- Personal use across projects: ~/.claude/skills/
- Single project only: .claude/skills/ inside the project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
How to trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need a special command. Describe the task in plain language and name the agency and the document you are working on. The more specific you are about the funding opportunity, the better the agent can apply the right rules.
Give the agent the official solicitation or notice whenever you have it. The skill says it needs network access to verify current opportunities and agency instructions, or supplied official documents, so attaching the source material is the most reliable route.
- Review my NSF project summary against the current solicitation and tell me what is missing.
- Build a compliance matrix for this NIH R01 draft using the attached NOFO.
- Draft a specific aims page from my notes on the problem, the gap and my three aims. Keep my wording where possible.
- Critique this DARPA proposal's transition plan against the program's review criteria.
- I got reviewer comments on my resubmission. Map each comment to the section that needs changing.
Use the skill for compliance and critique, not full drafts
The skill is built for investigator-authored work. For NIH, its guidance says the agent may help with requirements, critique, consistency checks and limited editing, but NIH policy excludes applications or sections substantially developed by AI. Reviewing or disclosing AI help does not by itself make substantial AI authorship compliant, so the science and writing must stay your own.
Final checks must happen on the exported files. The skill notes that Markdown text does not establish page limits or formatting compliance.
- Use it to find gaps, check consistency across sections and tighten your own sentences
- Do not ask it to generate a full proposal from scratch
- Inspect the final PDF or exported document against the official page limits
Optional figures and what the skill sends out
The skill suggests 1 to 3 figures, such as timelines or workflow diagrams. Its preferred route is the scientific-schematics skill with the grant document type. That route requires an OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable and outbound API access. The example below is the command the skill documents, run from the repository root.
Disclosure: AI schematic generation sends your prompt to OpenRouter, a third-party API. Do not include unpublished sensitive details unless that transmission is appropriate for your project. The skill itself is listed as running no scripts, but it does use network access.
- Figures are optional; you can build them in your usual tools instead
- Only the optional figure route needs OPENROUTER_API_KEY
python skills/scientific-schematics/scripts/generate_schematic.py "project timeline with Year 1-3 milestones" -o figures/timeline.png --doc-type grantWhat people use it for
- Early-career researchers checking a first NSF or NIH proposal against the governing solicitation
- Research office staff building a compliance matrix that maps each requirement to a draft location
- PIs revising a draft after reviewer comments in a resubmission
- Writing a one-page NSF project summary or NIH specific aims page from the applicant's own notes
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the research-grants skill?
Download the ZIP from the skill's page, then unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Is the research-grants skill free to use?
The skill is licensed under the MIT license. The source does not state any price, and the only optional extra mentioned is figure generation, which needs an OPENROUTER_API_KEY.
What does the skill need to run?
It needs network access to verify current opportunities and agency instructions, or you can supply official documents. The optional figure feature also needs the scientific-schematics skill, an OPENROUTER_API_KEY and outbound API access.
Can the skill write my whole grant proposal?
No. NIH policy excludes applications or sections substantially developed by AI, so the skill is designed for requirements checks, critiques and limited editing of your own material. The science and writing must remain yours.
Why does the agent say an old solicitation is not enough?
The skill states that archived or outdated calls do not establish current funding or rules. Check the current notice and the original solicitation, and provide the dated official documents when you ask for a review.
Why is my exported proposal still failing page limits after the agent checked it?
The skill notes that Markdown text does not establish page compliance, so exported files must be inspected. Open the final PDF or document and check it against the official page limits and format rules.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are an investigator writing or revising your own NSF, NIH, DOE, DARPA or NSTC proposal, or a research office building compliance checks. Pick something else if you want an AI to write a full proposal for you, or if your funder is not one of the five agencies covered, since the skill's agency-specific guidance does not extend to them.
Download the skill