Autoresearch Skill

Karpathy-style optimization loops for any conversion-focused content. No traffic needed. Simulated expert panel. Minutes, not weeks.

The sequence: Run autoresearch FIRST to hit 85+ simulated score. Then deploy. Then validate with real traffic.

What You'll Produce

Every run outputs 3 files:

File	Purpose
{name}-optimized.{ext}	The winning optimized content
data/{name}-experiments.json	Full experiment log — all variants + all scores
data/{name}-optimization-report.md	Human-readable summary with winner rationale

Core rules

1. Intake: parse content type from file extension (HTML → landing/form page; markdown → email/ad copy). List all optimizable elements and confirm with user before starting.
2. Score every variant against the 5-expert panel in a single batched API call per round — never one call per variant.
3. Run up to 3 rounds per element; stop early when top variant hits the minimum score threshold (default: 80).
4. Cross-breed only after each element has its own winner — premature cross-breeding creates incoherent combinations.
5. Write 3 output files: optimized content, experiments JSON, optimization report.
6. Report back: winning score, biggest score jump, top 2 runner-ups, file paths, next step.

User Options

Option	Default	Description
elements	all	Which elements to optimize
variants_per_round	10	How many variants per round
min_score	80	Stop when this score is hit
rounds	3	Max rounds before stopping
auto_apply	false	Overwrite source file with winners
content_type	auto-detect	Force a content type if auto-detect is wrong

Quality Gates

• < 70: Don't ship. Something fundamental is broken.
• 70-79: Marginal. One more round targeting the lowest-scoring dimension.
• 80-84: Good. Shippable. Validate with real traffic.
• 85-89: Strong. Ship with confidence.
• 90+: Rare. Ship immediately.

Anti-Patterns

• Never call the API once per variant. Always batch. A 10-variant round = 1 call.
• Don't over-optimize for one dimension — a 95 clarity + 45 trust is a misleading overall score.
• Don't run more than 5 rounds. If not hitting 80 after 3, the problem is strategic, not tactical.

References

• references/round-structure.md — round-by-round procedure and 5-expert panel definitions
• references/content-types.md — elements and score dimensions per content type (landing pages, email, ads, forms)
• references/execution-protocol.md — 6-step execution protocol with JSON schema

Related skills

• content-ops — quality scoring gate; run after autoresearch optimization
• conversion-ops — audits a LIVE landing-page URL across CRO dimensions; use it instead when scoring a live page rather than optimizing copy variants pre-launch