Conjure a Experimentalist Agent

Summon a new experiment agent into being. From an empty flask (directory) to a living, running experimentalist agent.

Arguments

The user provides a research goal, and optionally a directory path, constraints, or a template name.

Steps

1. Gather requirements: Ask the user for:

   • Research goal / hypothesis
   • Experiment directory path (or create a new one under EXPERIMENTS_ROOT)
   • Time budget per iteration (default: 5 minutes) — controls the MAX_SECONDS guard
   • Constraints (max sessions, hardware, model preference)
   • Whether to base on a template (mcp__distillate__list_templates) or start fresh

2. Initialize: Call mcp__distillate__init_experiment with the path and goal

   • This scans the directory, drafts PROMPT.md with Claude, sets up hooks and tracking
   • Review the generated protocol with the user

3. Set goals: Call mcp__distillate__update_goals to set measurable success criteria

   • Pull baselines from literature if relevant (mcp__distillate__extract_baselines)

4. Launch: On user approval, call mcp__distillate__manage_session with action="start"

   • The experimentalist agent comes alive in a tmux session

5. Verify: Call mcp__distillate__manage_session with action="status" to confirm it's running

6. Create GitHub repo: Offer to call mcp__distillate__create_github_repo for public tracking