Research Toolkit
Six skills for research, source preservation, and academic workflows: academic writing, legal paywall bypass (Unpaywall, library databases), web archiving (Wayback, Archive.today, ArchiveBox), page-change monitoring, AI-enriched digital archives, and a curated free-API catalog.
- Type
- Plugin
- Repository
- jamditis/claude-skills-journalism
- GitHub stars
- 403
- License
- MIT
- Repo last updated
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source file
- research-toolkit/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
- Version
- 1.1.3
- Author
- Joe Amditis
What Research Toolkit is
Research Toolkit is a plugin published in the jamditis/claude-skills-journalism repository on GitHub, which has about 403 stars. The repository describes itself as: “Claude Code skills for journalism, media, and academia - verification, FOIA, data journalism, academic writing, and more”
A plugin is a package that bundles skills, slash commands, subagents, hooks, and MCP connectors so they install together. Plugins are plain files with a manifest at .claude-plugin/plugin.json, and they work in both Claude Code and Claude Cowork.
Installing Research Toolkit adds everything it ships in one step. Connectors inside a plugin still need to be connected separately, and hooks and subagents only run in Cowork and Claude Code, not in regular chat.
How to install Research Toolkit
Claude Code
- Add the repository as a plugin marketplace: claude plugin marketplace add jamditis/claude-skills-journalism
- Install the plugin: claude plugin install research-toolkit@<marketplace-name>, using the marketplace name from the repository's .claude-plugin/marketplace.json.
- Restart the session if the new skills or commands don't appear straight away.
Claude Cowork
- Open Customize → Plugins and choose Add marketplace.
- Enter jamditis/claude-skills-journalism (the owner/repo shorthand works for GitHub).
- Find Research Toolkit in the list, click Install, then connect any connectors it needs from its Connectors tab.
New to extending Cowork? Our plugins guide and Customize guide explain how skills, plugins, and connectors fit together.
Inside the source file
An excerpt from research-toolkit/.claude-plugin/plugin.json, shared under the repository's MIT license. Read the full file on GitHub.
Six skills for research, source preservation, and academic workflows. Built for journalists, researchers, librarians, and academics who need to find, preserve, and analyze evidence across the web.
What's in this plugin
Installation
Install via the claude-skills-journalism Marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add jamditis/claude-skills-journalism
/plugin install research-toolkit@claude-skills-journalismOr install individual skills directly into ~/.claude/skills/ if you prefer not to use the plugin system, see the project README.
Cross-references to skills outside this bundle
A few skills here interact with siblings in the journalism-core bundle. References are advisory ("see also"), the skills work standalone if journalism-core is not installed:
- web-archiving is referenced from journalism-core/source-verification (full archiving workflows) and journalism-core/interview-prep (recovering deleted social-media content)
- content-access complements journalism-core/foia-requests for primary-source acquisition
Maintenance
Skills are maintained for currency on a rolling basis. Notable currency notes:
- content-access, paywall services and academic-access tools change frequently; verify URLs and pricing before relying on a referenced source
- free-apis-catalog, major journalism-relevant APIs sunset on a regular basis (IEX Cloud, CrowdTangle, ProPublica Congress, X free tier). The catalog tracks the most recent shifts and points at public-apis/public-apis as the canonical breadth source
- page-monitoring, third-party monitoring services have shifted free-tier limits in 2024-2026
- web-archiving, archive.today underwent operational changes in late 2025 (FBI subpoena to registrar, Wikipedia citation policy shift); see notes in the skill itself
Before you install
- Read the whole file first. Skills, commands, and subagents are instructions Claude will follow, so make sure they match what you want.
- Check which tools, scripts, or MCP servers it uses. Local servers and scripts run with your permissions.
- Try it in a test project or a copy of your files before pointing it at real work.
- Pin the version you tested, and review changes before updating.
- Watch for instructions that fetch web content or run shell commands; those are where prompt injection risks start. See our prompt injection guide.
FAQ
What is Research Toolkit?
Research Toolkit is a plugin for Claude Code and Claude Cowork from the jamditis/claude-skills-journalism repository on GitHub. Six skills for research, source preservation, and academic workflows: academic writing, legal paywall bypass (Unpaywall, library databases), web archiving (Wayback, Archive.today, ArchiveBox), page-change monitoring, AI-enriched digital archives, and a curated free-API catalog.
How do I install Research Toolkit in Claude Code?
Add the repository as a plugin marketplace: claude plugin marketplace add jamditis/claude-skills-journalism Install the plugin: claude plugin install research-toolkit@<marketplace-name>, using the marketplace name from the repository's .claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Restart the session if the new skills or commands don't appear straight away.
Can I use Research Toolkit in Claude Cowork?
Open Customize → Plugins and choose Add marketplace. Enter jamditis/claude-skills-journalism (the owner/repo shorthand works for GitHub). Find Research Toolkit in the list, click Install, then connect any connectors it needs from its Connectors tab.
Is Research Toolkit safe to install?
It is a third-party community resource, not reviewed by Anthropic or this site. Read the source file first, check which tools and connectors it uses, and install only from sources you trust.
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