diogenes

Diogenes

A deterministic AI research coordinator combining nine intelligence and scientific frameworks into an 11-step evidence-based process. Available as a Claude Code plugin or as a standalone prompt for any AI interface (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any capable LLM).

For the full methodology overview — what Diogenes is, how it works, and why it exists — see the project page.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• MCP Server (optional)
• dio CLI
• Configuration
• Customization
• Attribution
• License

Installation

As a Claude Code plugin (recommended)

From within a Claude Code session, run these two commands:

# Add the marketplace (one-time setup)
/plugin marketplace add diogenes-project/diogenes

# Install the plugin
/plugin install diogenes@diogenes

The first command registers the marketplace. The second installs the plugin. After installation, the /diogenes:research skill is available in all sessions.

Verify the install: run /plugin, go to the Installed tab, and confirm diogenes appears with the expected version.

Documentation: Discover and install plugins, Plugin marketplaces

Updating to a new version

From within a Claude Code session:

# Refresh the marketplace to pick up new versions
/plugin marketplace update diogenes

# Then update the plugin
# Option A: use the interactive UI
/plugin
# Go to Installed tab → select the plugin → Update

# Option B: from the shell (outside a session)
claude plugin update diogenes@diogenes

After updating, run /reload-plugins to activate the new version in your current session.

Documentation: Configure auto-updates, CLI commands

Note: Auto-updates are disabled by default for third-party marketplaces. To enable them, go to /plugin → Marketplaces tab and configure auto-update for this marketplace.

As a standalone prompt (any AI interface)

Copy the contents of standalone/research.md and paste it into any AI conversation — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any capable LLM. Then provide your claims, queries, and/or axioms. The prompt includes both the research methodology and the output format. It was developed and tested with Claude but uses no Claude-specific features.

• With file system access: results are written as a directory of linked markdown files.
• Without file system access: results are displayed in the conversation and offered as a single downloadable HTML file with internal navigation.

Usage

# Run research from a file (claims, queries, axioms, or any combination)
/research run file=claims.md output=research/ai-trust

# Run research interactively
/research run

# Re-run previous research (isolation enforced — no access to prior results)
/research rerun research/ai-trust

# Extract verifiable claims from a document
/research extract articles/my-article/drafts/draft.md

# Fact-check a document (extract claims + verify in one step)
/research fact-check articles/my-article/drafts/draft.md output=research/my-article-claims

# Fact-check in batch mode (no confirmation prompts)
/research fact-check article.md output=research/check confirm=no

MCP Server (optional)

The Diogenes MCP server exposes Python-based web search and page fetching tools that Claude Code can use instead of its built-in AI web search. This is optional — the plugin works without it. The MCP server reduces token consumption during the search phase by ~93%.

Without MCP: The AI uses its built-in web search tool. Works out of the box, but search-heavy research consumes more tokens.

With MCP: The AI calls dio_search and dio_fetch instead. Searches are executed by Python via Serper.dev (or Brave/Google), and only the results (titles, URLs, snippets) are returned to the AI.

Requires: A configured search provider with a valid API key. The default provider is Serper.dev (free tier: 2,500 searches/month). Brave Search and Google Custom Search are also supported. See Configuration for setup.

MCP Setup

1. Install the package:

   pip install diogenes
   

2. Configure your search provider API key (see Configuration).

3. Register the MCP server with Claude Code:

   # Add for all projects (user scope)
   claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user diogenes -- dio-mcp
   

4. Restart Claude Code. The MCP tools are now available in all sessions.

To verify: run claude mcp list and confirm diogenes appears.