Scientific Method¶
Falsification-first investigation and invention for Claude Code + Grok — hypothesis ledgers, controlled experiments, and REFUTE-first verification for engineers who need to be right, not just confident.
Install¶
Claude Code¶
/plugin marketplace add 88plug/claude-code-plugins
/plugin install scientific-method@88plug
Grok Build¶
grok plugin marketplace add 88plug/claude-code-plugins
grok plugin install scientific-method@88plug --trust
No setup, no API keys, no MCP server. The plugin enforces method over your existing tools.
Quickstart¶
Run a full campaign on any problem in one command:
/scientific-method:investigate the API returns 500 under load but not in tests
You get labeled hypotheses (H1..Hn), a prediction for each written before any measurement, the cheapest probe run first, and a calibrated verdict — every result logged to a persistent ledger so killed ideas stay killed.
What it does¶
Most debugging is guessing dressed up as analysis. This plugin makes Claude work like a scientist:
- Turn each assertion into a falsifiable hypothesis.
- Predict the outcome before measuring.
- Run a controlled experiment.
- Attack the result before trusting it.
- Record the verdict so it survives across sessions.
It is distilled from real session transcripts: a GPU codec campaign that falsified four asserted "physical" performance walls, a fleet forensics investigation that killed two plausible-but-wrong root causes with control cases before filing a vendor bug, and benchmark work where honest baselines caught regressions that averages hid.
Note
This is a methodology plugin. It ships a skill, commands, agents, and one read-only hook — no MCP server, output style, or statusline. The hook is the only thing that runs automatically, and it only reads EXPERIMENTS.md.
What it enforces¶
| Rule | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Labeled hypotheses (H1..Hn) with explicit nulls | Assertions stop being free-floating claims |
| Predictions before measurement | Blocks post-hoc rationalization |
| Cheapest falsification first | One probe beats five agents arguing |
| Controls and baselines mandatory | Correlation is not a finding |
| REFUTE-first adversarial gate | Author of a finding cannot referee it |
| Calibrated confidence (0.90+ needs ground truth) | Confidently-wrong is worse than inconclusive |
Persistent ledger (EXPERIMENTS.md) |
Killed ideas stay killed across sessions |
Workflow at a glance¶
Each stage maps to a command you can run alone, or that investigate chains for you. Full detail: Workflow.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Hypothesis | Assertion → labeled falsifiable claim + null |
| Prediction | Outcome→conclusion table, written before measuring |
| Experiment | Cheapest controlled probe that can falsify the claim |
| Refute | Adversarial attack on surviving findings |
| Verdict | confirmed / prototype / research / kill |
| Ledger | Persist so DO-NOT-RE-ATTACK entries never restart |
Commands¶
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/scientific-method:investigate <problem> |
Full campaign: hypotheses, probes, verdicts, ledger |
/scientific-method:falsify <claim> |
Attack an asserted limit, ceiling, or claim |
/scientific-method:invent <problem> |
Invention campaign past a confirmed limit |
/scientific-method:verdict [claims] |
REFUTE-first review before you act on a finding |
/scientific-method:ledger [sync] |
Create or update the hypothesis ledger |
/scientific-method:council <question> |
Multi-model council; dissent + factual cruxes → probes |
/scientific-method:peer-review <work> |
Blind lensed review + rebuttal + area-chair decision |
Full reference: Commands.
Agents¶
These fan out under campaigns. You can also invoke them directly. Full detail: Agents.
| Agent | Role | Typical parent |
|---|---|---|
experiment-designer |
Design one hypothesis, probe, and outcome table (does not run it) | investigate, falsify |
refuter |
Try to kill a finding; return confirmed / prototype / research / kill | verdict, invent pipeline |
council-member |
One independent council seat: position, evidence, would-change-my-mind | council |
peer-reviewer |
One blind, execution-grounded review with a lens and scores | peer-review |
meta-reviewer |
Area chair: evidence over votes; final accept/revise/reject | peer-review |
Skill and hook
- **`scientific-method` skill** — the method itself, artifact templates, and multi-agent campaign patterns. Auto-triggers on phrases like "prove it", "root cause this", "no guessing", or any challenge to an asserted number, limit, or cause. - **SessionStart hook** — if `EXPERIMENTS.md` exists, surfaces the ledger so killed hypotheses stay killed. Read-only; silent no-op when the file is absent.How to trigger¶
Run any command above, or let the skill auto-trigger. It activates on phrases like "use the scientific method", "prove it", "validate these claims", "root cause this 100%", "no guessing", or any challenge to an asserted number, limit, or cause.
Tip
When you want a finding double-checked before you act on it, run
/scientific-method:verdict — it puts the claim through the REFUTE-first
gate without rerunning the whole campaign.
Install from a local clone¶
git clone https://github.com/88plug/scientific-method
/plugin marketplace add ./scientific-method
/plugin install scientific-method@88plug
Updating¶
This plugin ships rolling — every commit is a release. Your installed version (claude plugin list) and the one in the 88plug catalog are shown as vYEAR.MONTH.BUILD; if they differ, run /plugin update scientific-method@88plug. With marketplace auto-update enabled, you always get the latest automatically.
Contributing¶
Issues and pull requests are welcome at 88plug/scientific-method. The plugin-validate workflow runs on every change — make sure it passes before you open a PR.
License¶
FSL-1.1-ALv2 © 2026 88plug — Functional Source License; converts to Apache 2.0 two years after each release.
Features¶
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Falsifiable hypotheses | Every limit, cause, or claim becomes H1..Hn with an explicit null |
| Predict before measure | Outcome-to-conclusion tables written before any probe runs |
| Cheapest falsification first | One controlled experiment beats five agents arguing |
| Controls and baselines | Mandatory for causal and performance claims |
| REFUTE-first gate | Adversarial verification before a finding is trusted |
| Calibrated confidence | 0.90+ needs ground-truth proof; confidently wrong loses to inconclusive |
| Hypothesis ledger | Verdicts persist in EXPERIMENTS.md with DO-NOT-RE-ATTACK log |
| Multi-agent campaigns | Designer, refuter, council, and peer-review agents fan out under the hood |
| Invention path | Ideate past a limit, refute, measure vs tuned baseline, certify |
| Auto-trigger skill | Activates on "prove it", "no guessing", root-cause, and claim challenges |
Development¶
Local clone for contributors (marketplace install above is preferred):
git clone https://github.com/88plug/scientific-method
/plugin marketplace add ./scientific-method
/plugin install scientific-method@88plug