Hypothesis Evolve Simplification

hypothesis-evolve-simplification

Goal:

• Generate exactly one child hypothesis that preserves the core idea while reducing unnecessary complexity.

Inputs:

• research_plan/RESEARCH_PLAN.json
• selected parent hypotheses//HYPOTHESIS.json artifacts
• parent review artifacts
• active state/STRATEGY_PLAN.json

Outputs:

• hypotheses//HYPOTHESIS.json
• hypotheses//HYPOTHESIS.md
• hypotheses//ORIGIN.json

Context Loading:

• Open skills/shared-references/schema-index.md.
• Read packages/agent_contracts/hypothesis.py and confirm the exact HypothesisContract shape before writing hypotheses//HYPOTHESIS.json.
• Read research_plan/RESEARCH_PLAN.json.
• Read state/STRATEGY_PLAN.json.
• Read each selected parent hypothesis and its review bundle.
• Confirm that the round selected simplification_evolution.

Execution Prompt Contract:

• System Intent:
• You are distilling the parent hypothesis into a leaner, cleaner, easier-to-test child without collapsing it into triviality.
• Required Reasoning Focus:
• Remove surplus assumptions and over-specified branches.
• Preserve one clear causal core.
• Keep the experiment path minimal but decisive.
• Do Not Do:
• Do not oversimplify into a generic statement.
• Do not lose the falsifiable prediction.
• Quality Floor:
• The child must directly address at least one specific weakness from the parent review bundle.
• origin.content.statement must name concrete materials, catalysts, reaction conditions, mechanistic variables, or experimental targets from the parent and research goal.
• origin.content.mechanism must explain a causal chain; do not write only generic phrases such as improved mechanism, targeted improvement, or review-identified weaknesses.
• origin.content.experimental_design must include 3-6 numbered steps with measurable readouts, controls, or decision thresholds.
• Do not use generic refinement placeholder steps such as Apply targeted improvement, Characterize with standard techniques, Benchmark against parent, or Validate improvement quantitatively.
• If the research plan, parent hypothesis, or parent review bundle is missing, stop and report the missing artifact instead of guessing.
• Output Shape:
• Emit the canonical HypothesisContract.
• origin.strategy: simplification_evolution
• Keep experimental_design minimal and decisive.

Execution Steps:

1. Open skills/shared-references/schema-index.md, then read packages/agent_contracts/hypothesis.py before writing hypotheses//HYPOTHESIS.json.
2. Identify complexity that can be removed without losing the core insight.
3. Produce exactly one simplified child hypothesis.
4. Persist canonical HYPOTHESIS.json, HYPOTHESIS.md, and ORIGIN.json.
5. Validate the emitted hypothesis artifact.

Completion Rule:

• This skill is complete only when one simplified child hypothesis has been written in canonical form.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: panjose
• Source: panjose/Co-Scientist
• License: Apache-2.0

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.