ResearchTwin

ResearchTwin: Federated Agentic Web of Research Knowledge

ResearchTwin is an open-source, federated platform that transforms a researcher's publications, datasets, and code repositories into a conversational Digital Twin. Built on a Bimodal Glial-Neural Optimization (BGNO) architecture, it enables dual-discovery where both humans and AI agents collaborate to accelerate scientific discovery.

Live at [researchtwin.net](https://researchtwin.net) | [Join the Network](https://researchtwin.net/join.html) | [Read the Paper (arXiv)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00080)

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Project Vision

The exponential growth of scientific outputs has created a "discovery bottleneck." Traditional static PDFs and siloed repositories limit knowledge synthesis and reuse. ResearchTwin addresses this by:

• Integrating multi-modal research artifacts from Semantic Scholar, Google Scholar, GitHub, and Figshare
• Computing a real-time [S-Index](https://github.com/martinfrasch/s-index) metric (Quality × Impact × Collaboration) across all output types
• Providing a conversational chatbot interface for interactive research exploration
• Exposing an Inter-Agentic Discovery API with Schema.org types for machine-to-machine research discovery
• Enabling a federated, Discord-like architecture supporting local nodes, hubs, and hosted edges

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Architecture Overview

BGNO (Bimodal Glial-Neural Optimization)

Data Sources          Glial Layer          Neural Layer         Interface

┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ │Semantic Scholar│───▶│ │ │ │ │ Web Chat │ │Google Scholar │───▶│ SQLite │───▶│ RAG with │───▶│ Discord │ │GitHub API │───▶│ Cache + │ │ Claude API │ │ Agent API │ │Figshare API │───▶│ Rate Limit │ │ │ │ Embed │ └──────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └────────────┘

• Connector Layer: Pulls papers (S2+GS with deduplication), repos (GitHub), datasets (Figshare), and ORCID metadata
• Glial Layer: SQLite caching with 24h TTL, rate limiting, S2+GS title-similarity merge (0.85 threshold)
• Neural Layer: RAG with Claude — context assembly, prompt engineering, conversational synthesis
• Interface Layer: D3.js knowledge graph, chat widget, Discord bot, REST API

Federated Network Tiers

Inter-Agentic Discovery API

Machine-readable endpoints with Schema.org @type annotations:

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Getting Started

Hosted (Tier 3) — Zero Setup

1. Visit researchtwin.net/join.html
2. Register with your name, email, and research identifiers
3. Your Digital Twin is live immediately

Local Node (Tier 1) — Full Control

git clone https://github.com/martinfrasch/researchtwin.git

cd researchtwin pip install -r backend/requirements.txt cp node_config.json.example node_config.json

Edit node_config.json with your details

python run_node.py --config node_config.json

Docker Deployment

cp .env.example .env  # Add your API keys

docker-compose up -d --build

Required API keys: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (for Claude RAG) Optional: S2_API_KEY, GITHUB_TOKEN, DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN, SMTP credentials

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Repository Structure

researchtwin/

├── backend/ │ ├── main.py # FastAPI endpoints (REST + Discovery API) │ ├── researchers.py # SQLite researcher CRUD + token management │ ├── database.py # SQLite schema, WAL mode, migrations │ ├── models.py # Pydantic models for all endpoints │ ├── rag.py # RAG context assembly for Claude │ ├── qic_index.py # S-Index / QIC computation engine │ ├── email_service.py # SMTP service for profile update codes │ ├── connectors/ # Data source connectors │ │ ├── semantic_scholar.py │ │ ├── scholarly_lib.py # Google Scholar via scholarly │ │ ├── github_connector.py │ │ └── figshare.py │ └── discord_bot/ # Discord bot with /research and /sindex ├── frontend/ │ ├── index.html # Main dashboard with D3.js knowledge graph │ ├── join.html # Self-registration page │ ├── update.html # Email-verified profile updates │ ├── privacy.html # Privacy policy │ └── widget-loader.js # Embeddable chat widget ├── run_node.py # Tier 1 local node launcher ├── node_config.json.example # Local node configuration template ├── docker-compose.yml # Docker orchestration ├── nginx/ # Nginx reverse proxy + SSL └── whitepaper.tex # LaTeX manuscript

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Ecosystem

This repository is part of the [ResearchTwin Ecosystem](https://github.com/users/martinfrasch/projects/8) project:

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Embeddable S-Index Widget

Show your S-Index on your lab website, Google Sites page, or personal homepage:

<iframe

src="https://researchtwin.net/embed.html?slug=YOUR-SLUG" width="440" height="180" style="border:none; border-radius:12px;" loading="lazy">

Replace YOUR-SLUG with your researcher slug (e.g. martin-frasch).

Google Sites: Edit page > Insert > Embed > "By URL" tab > paste https://researchtwin.net/embed.html?slug=YOUR-SLUG

WordPress: Add a Custom HTML block and paste the iframe code.

The widget displays the researcher's name, S-Index score, h-index, citation count, and paper count. Data updates automatically from live API sources.

See it in action | Full embed instructions

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Documentation

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Contributing

Contributions welcome! See the project board for tracked issues.

• New connectors (ORCID enrichment, PubMed, OpenAlex)
• Affiliation-based geographic mapping
• MCP server for inter-agentic discovery
• UI/UX improvements
• Bug fixes and optimizations

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE.

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Contact

• Platform: researchtwin.net
• Email: martin@researchtwin.net
• Issues: GitHub Issues

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*Empowering researchers and AI agents to discover, collaborate, and innovate together.*