/actor-profiling

name: actor-profiling
description: Understand who the user is — background, resources, constraints, and
  deep motivations. Produces an ActorProfile that informs all downstream decisions.
  Use this tactic at the start of any crystallization process to build a model of
  the user's capabilities, limitations, and intent.
dependencies:
  sops:
  - ask-constraints
  - ask-intentionality
  - clarify-resources
  - explore-resume

Actor Profiling

Build a comprehensive model of the user as a research actor — who they are, what they have, what constrains them, and why they're doing this.

Available SOPs

| SOP | Purpose | Execution | |-----|---------|-----------| | explore-resume | Background, skills, projects, publications, research experience | dialogue (once only) | | clarify-resources | Compute, timeline, collaboration, data, environment | dialogue | | ask-constraints | Venue targets, methodology preferences, avoidance areas, advisor requirements | dialogue | | ask-intentionality | Deep WHY probing — motivation, risk tolerance, innovation preference, etc. | dialogue |

Methodology Guidance

The goal is to construct an ActorProfile with enough information to inform field exploration and goal decomposition. How you get there is your decision.

**Typical flow:** 1. `explore-resume` first (one-time, never re-run) 2. `clarify-resources` → `ask-constraints` → `ask-intentionality`

**But you may:**

• Return to `ask-intentionality` at any point when you discover a deeper WHY to probe
• Interleave `clarify-resources` when intentionality probing reveals resource-related gaps
• Skip or abbreviate SOPs when the user's initial message already provides the information

**End condition:** You judge that you have enough information to construct a meaningful ActorProfile. In cold-start scenarios, "enough" may mean just establishing boundaries (what the user won't do) rather than specifics.

Cold-Start Special Case

When the user doesn't know what they want or can do, the ActorProfile captures boundaries rather than commitments:

• "User has experience in NLP and GNN, won't jump to physics/chemistry"
• "Timeline is flexible, no hard deadline"
• "Motivated by interest, not graduation pressure"

This is sufficient — later tactics will help narrow within these boundaries.

Output (Tactic-Level Aggregation)

After running the SOPs you deem necessary, synthesize an ActorProfile:

ActorProfile {
  background: { skills, projects, publications, researchExp }
  resources: { compute, timeline, collaboration, data, environment }
  constraints: { venue, methodology, avoidance, advisor }
  intentionality: {
    motivation, successDefinition,
    riskTolerance, innovationPreference,
    independencePreference, timeUrgency, learningWillingness
  }
  boundary: "..."  // what the user definitely won't do
}

This is a conceptual schema, not a JSON requirement. Express it in whatever format serves the downstream context best.

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Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

| SOP | When to use | | --- | --- | | ask-constraints | Understand hard boundaries on the user's research — target venues, methodology preferences, areas to avoid, advisor/team requirements. Not limited to ML/AI — works for any research domain. | | ask-intentionality | Deep WHY probing inspired by i* Intentionality modeling. Understand the user's motivation, success definition, risk tolerance, innovation preference, independence preference, time urgency, and learning willingness. The most important SOP in actor-profiling — understanding WHY drives everything downstream. | | clarify-resources | Understand what resources the user has available for research — compute, timeline, collaboration, data access, experimental environment. Every item accepts 'TBD' as a valid answer. | | explore-resume | Understand the user's background comprehensively — technical stack, project experience, research experience, publications, research directions. Allows user to express interest beyond their resume. Execute once only, never re-run. |

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