# LongTable > Research control plane for AI-assisted scholarship: durable human checkpoints, lawful evidence provenance, and verifiable research packages. - **Type:** MCP server - **Install:** `agentstack add mcp-hosungyou-longtable` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [HosungYou](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/hosungyou) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Integrations](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/integrations) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [HosungYou](https://github.com/HosungYou) - **Source:** https://github.com/HosungYou/LongTable ## Install ```sh agentstack add mcp-hosungyou-longtable ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # LongTable LongTable is a researcher-centered workspace for long scholarly projects. It helps a researcher keep research questions, construct boundaries, method choices, evidence standards, authorship judgments, and open tensions traceable across AI-assisted sessions. LongTable is not a chatbot replacement and not a prompt collection. It is a small research workspace system that runs through a CLI, provider skills, optional MCP state and checkpoint transport, and panel collaboration records. LongTable also exposes a narrow Codex hard-stop guard: unresolved Research Specification blockers can block session stop until the researcher decides, clears, or explicitly defers them. Product, setup, documentation, release, and hook-engineering prompts are not hard-stop blockers by default. Codex, Claude Code, and other providers remain the execution environments. LongTable provides the durable research state, generated provider skills, Researcher Checkpoints, and command-line tools that keep important decisions from disappearing into chat history. ## Core Workflow Use one shell setup step and one provider-native research-start step. ```bash npm install -g @longtable/cli longtable setup --provider codex cd "" codex ``` Inside the provider, start the project with: ```text $longtable-start ``` Run pressure interviews with the LongTable grilling surface: ```text $longtable-interview ``` Required routing: - `$longtable-start` is the research-start surface. - `$longtable-interview` is the grilling interview surface. - It does not require a Research Specification before asking the next pressure question. - It frames each turn as `Tension:` followed by one `Pressure question:` and waits for a direct answer. - If only a First Research Shape exists, LongTable continues through `$longtable-start` until a Research Specification is created or explicitly kept open. `longtable start` remains a shell fallback for scripts and automation. It is not the main research-start experience. ## What Gets Created A LongTable workspace lives in the research project folder: ```text / AGENTS.md CURRENT.md .longtable/ project.json current-session.json state.json sessions/ ``` - `AGENTS.md`: provider runtime guidance for this research workspace - `CURRENT.md`: human-readable current state, regenerated from LongTable state - `.longtable/project.json`: stable project identity - `.longtable/current-session.json`: current session cursor - `.longtable/state.json`: layered memory, questions, decisions, interview turns, evidence records, First Research Shape, and Research Specification - `.longtable/sessions/`: session snapshots ## Start vs Interview `$longtable-start` asks open, natural-language questions. It should not begin with a questionnaire, reader/reviewer contribution framing, or fixed theory/method/measurement categories. It asks one question at a time, records turns when MCP/state tools are available, and creates the durable Research Specification when the interview has enough material. The First Research Shape is only a short handle for resuming early work. The substantive artifact is the Research Specification. It should preserve scope, construct ontology, theory framing, coding and measurement rules, method options, evidence and access requirements, epistemic alignment, protected decisions, open questions, next actions, and confidence. `$longtable-interview` is a relentless sharpening interview for a research plan, argument, method, manuscript, evidence standard, or product decision. It inspects `CURRENT.md`, `.longtable/`, supplied documents, and cited evidence first when those can answer the question. Then it names `Tension:` and asks one `Pressure question:`. The interview continues only while the next question can produce a new decision, sharper boundary, stronger evidence standard, or clearer open tension. It stops when remaining questions repeat the same tension without producing a new decision. `$longtable-interview` is the only packaged pressure-interview skill; legacy `$critical-interview` skill folders are removed during skill install. Multiple interviews append to the same workspace state. A later interview may propose or apply a Research Specification patch, append a DecisionRecord, or record an open tension. It should not silently overwrite conflicting research commitments. ## Question UI LongTable owns the question semantics. Providers own presentation. The durable lifecycle is: ```text Researcher Checkpoint -> QuestionRecord -> DecisionRecord ``` Supported transports: - MCP/native structured elicitation when the provider exposes it - terminal selector when the CLI has interactive TTY input and output - numbered/plain-text fallback everywhere else Tmux is not required for LongTable core behavior. If a future Codex terminal popup borrows an OMX-style tmux renderer, it must be documented as an optional Codex transport that requires an attached tmux session and falls back to the standard LongTable question path. ## Common Commands ```bash longtable setup --provider codex longtable doctor longtable status --cwd "" longtable resume --cwd "" longtable roles longtable question --prompt "" longtable decide --question --answer longtable spec read --cwd "" longtable search --query "" longtable panel --prompt "review this measurement plan" --json ``` Provider skill installation is explicit: ```bash longtable codex install-skills longtable claude install-skills longtable mcp install --provider all ``` ## Panel Collaboration Panel is LongTable's public collaboration surface. Use it when role disagreement matters before a research commitment becomes project memory. ```text $longtable: run a panel review of this measurement plan, keep disagreement visible, and ask me what decision should be recorded before revising it. lt panel: show theory, methods, measurement, reviewer, and voice disagreements before I commit this argument. ``` Scriptable equivalents: ```bash longtable panel --prompt "review this measurement plan" --role editor,measurement_auditor --json longtable panel --visibility always_visible --prompt "keep unresolved disagreement visible" --json longtable ask --prompt "lt debate: debate this study design before I commit" --json ``` Team-style requests route through panel. Explicit debate-language requests write panel debate records under `.longtable/panel/`. LongTable team execution is disabled for new work, and `.longtable/team/` is historical state only. ## Journal-Grounded Reviewer and Venue Fit `longtable-reviewer` is the compact surface for peer-review and editor-style feedback. It keeps reviewer objections, Journal Editor fit judgment, Venue Strategist tradeoffs, and scholar-research evidence in one evidence-backed workflow instead of splitting journal feedback into a separate visible skill. If a target journal is named, LongTable should ground reviewer feedback in a Journal Profile: aims/scope, author guidance, recent article patterns, and article type expectations. If reference papers are available or recoverable, LongTable should build a Reference Pattern Matrix covering decision structure, paper flow, standardized terminology, Figure/Table conventions, and APA 7 style expectations. Useful command surfaces: ```bash longtable review --role reviewer --prompt "Evaluate this manuscript positioning for the target journal." longtable panel --role reviewer,measurement_auditor --prompt "Compare journal fit, reviewer risk, and measurement evidence." longtable search --intent venue --query "" longtable scholar-research scaffold --cwd "" --json ``` Treat journal fit as a risk rubric, not an acceptance prediction. A useful reviewer pass separates editor-facing contribution claim, reviewer objection, venue-strategy tradeoff, evidence gap, revision action, and any Researcher Checkpoint needed before changing venue positioning. ## Researcher Checkpoints LongTable asks and waits when a research commitment is about to become settled: - research question or scope - theory frame or construct map - measurement, coding, or extraction standard - method design or analysis strategy - evidence access or citation standard - authorship, voice, submission, or public-sharing decision For low-risk, reversible, or presentational choices, LongTable should proceed with explicit assumptions instead of interrupting. ## Development ```bash npm ci npm run build npm run test npm run release:check ``` Useful smoke checks: ```bash npm run smoke:setup npm run smoke:checkpoints npm run smoke:hooks npm run smoke:research-spec-audit npm run smoke:question-audit npm run pack:check ``` ## Release LongTable packages are version-aligned under `@longtable/*`. Before publishing: ```bash npm run release:check git diff --check ``` After publishing, verify the registry: ```bash npm view @longtable/cli version dist-tags --json npm view @longtable/mcp version dist-tags --json npm install -g @longtable/cli@ longtable --help ``` Actual npm publish and GitHub release creation require explicit release authority. Local implementation and verification can be completed before that external step. ## Codex Stop hard-stop LongTable Codex hooks now expose a narrow hard-stop verdict. `Stop` blocks only Research Specification-affecting pending questions or obligations, while product/tooling/docs/release work remains non-blocking unless explicitly marked as a hard-stop research decision. `PostToolUse` stays quiet for no-op Bash and no longer hard-blocks unrelated nonzero Bash failures. Inspect the current verdict with `longtable codex hook-doctor --json` or `longtable doctor --json`; both report hook coverage/trust, `stopWouldBlock`, `activeBlockers`, stale pending-question counts, and next actions. ## Source & license This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [HosungYou](https://github.com/HosungYou) - **Source:** [HosungYou/LongTable](https://github.com/HosungYou/LongTable) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/mcp-hosungyou-longtable - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/hosungyou - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.