node-run-clarify - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: node-run-clarify description: Interactive Q&A to gather run context before executing a ResearchOps tree node step. Use when a node is about to be run to collect key context the agent will need (e.g. dataset path, design doc, hyperparameters).

Node Run Clarification

Gather context from the user through targeted one-at-a-time questions before launching a tree node's run step. The LLM decides what to ask based on the node kind and existing plan details.

Workflow

Trigger: User clicks "Run Step" on a PLANNED or BLOCKED node in VibeNodeWorkbench.
Q&A Loop: Call POST /api/researchops/projects/:projectId/tree/nodes/:nodeId/run-clarify with:
- messages: conversation so far (starts empty [])
- Response: { done: bool, question: string, options?: string[] }
- Present question to user (with options as quick-reply buttons if provided)
- Append user answer as { role: "user", content: "<answer>" } to messages
- Repeat until done: true
Skip: User can skip the Q&A entirely. In that case, clarifyMessages is [].
Run: Call POST /api/researchops/projects/:projectId/tree/nodes/:nodeId/run-step with:
- clarifyMessages: the full Q&A exchange (or [] if skipped)
- Other options: force, preflightOnly, searchTrialCount

Node Kind Guidance

The clarify endpoint adapts questions by node kind:

Kind	Typical questions
`experiment`	Dataset path? Baseline to compare against? Key hyperparameters?
`implementation`	Which design doc to follow? Which KB files are relevant? Branch to work on?
`analysis`	Which run outputs to analyze? Expected metrics? Comparison baseline?
`knowledge`	Which papers/assets to pull in? Specific sections needed?
`search`	Search budget? Metric to optimize? Constraint ranges?

Context Storage

Clarification messages are stored in the run metadata (clarifyContext) so the agent can reference them during execution. They supplement — not replace — the node's existing plan fields.

UI Integration

The ClarificationChat component lives inside VibeNodeWorkbench (always visible for runnable nodes). It resets when the selected node changes. Users can toggle Skip Q&A / Enable Q&A at any time before launching the run.