Desk Research & Industry Report — Template + Cursor Skill

This repo gives you a reusable method for running desk research and writing industry reports in Cursor: cluster research questions → query Archie (internal research) → run web/sub-agent desk research → build a “What we already know” matrix → draft an industry report with clear attribution and a “questions still need investigation” section.

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What you get when you clone this repo

1. A Cursor skill (in .cursor/skills/desk-research-industry-report/) that teaches the AI this workflow.
2. A worked example — the Project Navigator (UXDR-5551) desk research: research plan, Archie query guide, Archie responses, matrix, industry report, and cluster desk research files.

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How the skill works (important)

• Cursor skills are tied to the project folder. When you open this repo in Cursor (File → Open Folder → select the cloned repo), the skill is available inside this project. The AI will use it when you ask for desk research or an industry report.
• The skill is not installed globally on your machine. It lives in this repo’s .cursor/skills/ folder. So:
  • Option A: Use this repo as your workspace. Add your research plan here, run the workflow here, get your outputs here.
  • Option B: Copy the folder .cursor/skills/desk-research-industry-report/ into another project’s .cursor/skills/ so the skill is available in that project too.
  • Option C: Copy that same folder to ~/.cursor/skills/desk-research-industry-report/ on your computer so the skill is available in all your Cursor projects.

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Quick start (for you or your coworkers)

1. Clone this repo and open the cloned folder in Cursor (File → Open Folder).
2. In a new Cursor chat, say something like:
   • “I have a research plan with research questions. I want to do desk research and an industry report like the Project Navigator example. I’ll get data from Archie and give it to you. Use the desk research industry report workflow.”
3. The AI will:
   • Cluster your research questions and create an Archie query guide.
   • After you paste Archie’s responses, run desk research (web + optional sub-agents), build the “What we already know” matrix, and draft the industry report.

For more detail, see .cursor/skills/desk-research-industry-report/README.md.

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What’s in this repo

Item	Description
.cursor/skills/desk-research-industry-report/	The Cursor skill (SKILL.md, reference.md, README). This is what you copy if you want the skill in another project or globally.
UXDR-5551 Project Navigator Customer Interviews PLAN [WIP].md	Example research plan with research questions.
Archie-query-guide.md	Example prompts for Archie, grouped by cluster.
Archie-responses.txt	Example Archie output (paste from your internal tool).
What-we-already-know-matrix.md	Example matrix: Archie + desk research → status per RQ.
Industry-Report-Draft-Project-Navigator.md	Example industry report (attribution, citations, “questions still need investigation”).
desk-research-cluster*.md, CLUSTER5-*.md	Example cluster desk research outputs (from sub-agents).

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Sharing with coworkers

• Give them the repo: Share the GitHub repo link. They clone it, open it in Cursor, and the skill is there. They can run the workflow in this repo or copy the skill folder to their own project / ~/.cursor/skills/ as above.
• No extra install: They only need Cursor and access to this repo. Nothing to install; the skill is just files in .cursor/skills/.