Fork an in-flight research-agent run at its current checkpoint into a named branch with its own state, log, and attempts, sharing the parent's goal and findings read-only. Use to pursue a competing strategy without disturbing the main line. The synthesize skill later compares branches.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
Are you the author of Branch?
Add the live security badge to your README. It updates with every re-scan.
[](https://www.skillsdirectory.com/skills/queelius-branch)
---
name: branch
description: >-
Fork an in-flight research-agent run at its current checkpoint into a named
branch with its own state, log, and attempts, sharing the parent's goal and
findings read-only. Use to pursue a competing strategy without disturbing
the main line. The synthesize skill later compares branches.
---
# Branch a Research Run
Fork the current run so a competing strategy can be explored in parallel with (or instead of) the main line, without touching the main line's state.
## Step 1: Parse Arguments
Extract from the user's message:
1. **Branch name** (required): kebab-case identifier, e.g. `induction-proof`, `adversarial-search`. Derive one from the stated strategy if the user did not name it explicitly, and confirm it.
2. **Branch focus** (optional): one or two sentences describing what this branch should pursue differently from the main line.
## Step 2: Verify the Run and the Name
- `.research/goal.md` must exist (Read tool); if not, there is nothing to branch: suggest `/research-agent:research`.
- `.research/branches/<name>/` must NOT already exist (Glob tool). If it does, offer `/research-agent:resume <name>` instead, or a different name.
## Step 3: Launch the Researcher in Branch Mode
Spawn the researcher agent (Agent tool, `subagent_type: research-agent:researcher`) with this prompt structure:
<mode>branch</mode>
<branch>{kebab-case name}</branch>
<branch-focus>
{the focus, or "explore an alternative approach to the goal"}
</branch-focus>
<working_directory>
{absolute path to current working directory}
</working_directory>
Fork the run at its current checkpoint per your branch-mode
initialization. Never write to the parent's goal.md, log.md, or
state.md; all branch work lives under .research/branches/{name}/.
## Step 4: Inform the User
> Branch `{name}` forked from the current checkpoint. It works under `.research/branches/{name}/` with its own state, log, and attempts; the goal and the parent's confirmed findings are shared read-only.
>
> - `/research-agent:status` shows all branches alongside the main line
> - `/research-agent:resume {name}` continues this branch later
> - `/research-agent:synthesize {name}` concludes just this branch; a main-line `/research-agent:synthesize` compares all branches
