Built by Artur Ferreira @ The GEO Lab · 𝕏 @TheGEO_Lab · LinkedIn · Reddit
Anti-hallucination research skill for Claude Code. Makes responses shorter and more conservative but dramatically more trustworthy.
Based on Anthropic's official hallucination reduction techniques.
Claude is excellent at research — but default behaviour optimises for helpfulness, which sometimes means filling gaps with plausible-sounding content rather than admitting uncertainty. This skill flips the trade-off: accuracy over completeness, silence over speculation.
This is not a default mode. It significantly constrains creativity. Use it when factual accuracy is non-negotiable.
Claude gets explicit permission — and a strict obligation — to say "I don't know" rather than fabricate a plausible answer. Every gap in knowledge is surfaced, not papered over.
For any task involving documents or sources, Claude extracts word-for-word quotes first, then builds analysis anchored to those quotes. No analysis without evidence.
Every factual statement must point to a source or get an explicit "I can't verify this" disclaimer. After generating a response, Claude runs a self-audit — any claim that fails verification is retracted publicly, not quietly removed.
Every grounded research response follows this structure:
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sources Consulted | Every source used, with access method |
| Key Extractions | Direct quotes organised by theme |
| Analysis | Synthesis with inline citations to extractions |
| Confidence Assessment | High / Medium / Low / Unknown per finding |
| Retractions | Claims that failed self-audit, with explanation |
- ✅ Fact-checked analysis
- ✅ Document-based Q&A ("based on this document...")
- ✅ Source-verified research
- ✅ Citation-backed answers
- ✅ Any task where accuracy > creativity
- ❌ Creative writing or brainstorming
- ❌ Code generation or debugging
- ❌ Casual conversation
- ❌ Exploratory research (use the research skill instead)
- ❌ Opinion-based or speculative questions
git clone https://github.com/arturseo-geo/grounded-research-skill.git ~/.claude/skills/grounded-researchnpx skills add arturseo-geo/grounded-research-skillgrounded-research/
└── SKILL.md # Complete skill — single file, always loaded
This is intentionally a single-file skill. No references directory, no complex structure. The entire technique fits in one document — adding more files would dilute the constraint.
The skill modifies Claude's behaviour through three complementary constraints:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. UNCERTAINTY GATE │
│ "Do I actually know this?" │
│ If no → say "I don't know" │
│ If yes → proceed to extraction │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2. EXTRACTION LAYER │
│ Pull word-for-word quotes from sources │
│ These become the ONLY foundation for │
│ analysis — no quotes, no claims │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 3. CITATION AUDIT │
│ Every claim → must have a source │
│ No source found → retract publicly │
│ Retraction is not failure — it's integrity │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| High | Multiple sources confirm, direct quotes support |
| Medium | Single source, or inference from strong evidence |
| Low | Limited evidence, reasonable inference but unverified |
| Unknown | No evidence found — explicitly flagged |
This skill is deliberately minimal. Contributions should keep it that way.
Welcome:
- Improvements to the constraint logic
- Better examples of the technique in action
- Edge case handling
Not welcome:
- Adding reference files (keep it single-file)
- Relaxing the constraints
- Adding features that compromise accuracy for convenience
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Built and maintained by Artur Ferreira · Part of the The GEO Lab toolkit.
- Reduce hallucinations — Anthropic's official documentation on hallucination reduction techniques
- Agent Skills specification by Anthropic (Apache 2.0)
All skill content is original writing. MIT licence.
Found this useful? ⭐ Star the repo and connect: 🌐 thegeolab.net · 𝕏 @TheGEO_Lab · LinkedIn · Reddit
Single-file skill implementing Anthropic's three hallucination reduction techniques: admit uncertainty, extract quotes before analysis, cite every claim with self-audit.
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MIT — see LICENSE
Built and maintained by Artur Ferreira · Part of the The GEO Lab toolkit · MIT License