Independent Research Lab · United Kingdom

Advancing AI through
open science

We investigate the foundations of machine reasoning, computational intelligence, and safe AI systems — then publish everything. Our research artefacts span LLM cognition, formal optimisation, edge inference, and high-performance computing.

25 Research Artefacts
5 Research Domains
100% Open Access
LLM ReasoningFormal OptimisationEdge InferenceComputational IntelligenceMemory-Safe SystemsAgent CognitionQuantitative MethodsVector RepresentationsOn-Device AIPrompt TheorySafe AI SystemsProgrammable DatabasesSignal ProcessingConstraint SolvingLLM ReasoningFormal OptimisationEdge InferenceComputational IntelligenceMemory-Safe SystemsAgent CognitionQuantitative MethodsVector RepresentationsOn-Device AIPrompt TheorySafe AI SystemsProgrammable DatabasesSignal ProcessingConstraint Solving

Five questions
driving our work.

Each research area addresses an open problem at the frontier of AI and computational science.

LLM Cognition & Prompt Theory

How do we formalise the relationship between prompt structure and model behaviour? We study declarative prompt specification, automatic optimisation, and routing — treating prompts as first-class research objects rather than ad-hoc strings.

Safe & Verifiable Computing

What does it take to run AI-generated code safely? Our research into memory-safe language design, container sandboxing, and NUMA-aware scheduling explores the systems foundations needed for trustworthy autonomous computation.

Formal Optimisation & Decision Science

Can natural language interface with mathematical solvers? We investigate the bridge between human intent and formally provable solutions — from constraint satisfaction to quantitative signal compilation and intelligent ranking algorithms.

Edge Intelligence & On-Device AI

What are the limits of local inference? We study on-device LLM execution, mobile agent architectures, and privacy-preserving AI — exploring how much intelligence can live at the edge without any cloud dependency.

Robotics & Autonomous Systems

How do autonomous agents reason, plan, and coordinate in the physical world? We study discrete-event simulation, deterministic RL benchmarks, and the systems engineering that turns research code into reproducible robotics experiments.

26 open-source projects.
Each one a hypothesis, tested.

Every repository is both a research contribution and a usable tool — MIT or GPL-3.0 licensed for the community.

LLM Cognition & Prompt Theory
memorg Python

Research into persistent agent memory architectures. Structured, queryable memory systems for long-running LLM agents.

MIT memory code
mpl Rust

Contracts, quality measurement, and audit trails for AI agent communication — between MCP, A2A, and your application.

MIT ★ 1 agent-protocol site code docs
mullama Python

Investigating unified local LLM serving. A drop-in Ollama replacement exploring model management and inference unification.

MIT llama.cpp code
blogus Python

Studying prompt lifecycle management. Extracts prompts from codebases and versions them as first-class dependencies.

MIT ★ 1 prompts site code docs
direktor Python

Exploring multi-modal generation pipelines. Text-to-video synthesis combining LLM scripting with generative media models.

MIT generative-ai site code docs
l0l1 Python

Studying AI-assisted data analysis with formal validation. An SQL co-pilot that learns query patterns while preserving privacy.

MIT sql site code docs
perishable TypeScript

Investigating ephemeral credential models for AI APIs. Scoped, time-limited token proxies for secure LLM access.

MIT security site code docs
promptel JavaScript

Exploring declarative prompt specification as a formal language. Write once, run anywhere — treating prompts as portable, typed artefacts.

MIT ★ 1 prompts site code docs
route-switch Go

Research into cost-quality optimisation for LLM routing. Implements MIPROv2-based automatic prompt tuning and model selection.

MIT MIPROv2 site code docs
Safe & Verifiable Computing
gpuemu Rust

Catch silently-wrong CUDA/Triton kernels before they ship — a GPU-less correctness oracle that finds the bugs a single-shape torch.allclose check misses.

MIT gpu site code docs
memista Rust

Research into lightweight vector similarity search. SQLite-backed approximate nearest neighbour retrieval in pure Rust.

GPL-3.0 ★ 2 vector-db site code docs
tessera Python

Open-source privacy protocol for authenticated, metadata-private messaging — Schnorr zero-knowledge proofs, per-recipient blinded pseudonyms, and (ε,δ)-differentially-private cover traffic. No central authority.

MIT privacy site docs
zviz Zig

Research into minimal-overhead sandboxing for untrusted code execution. Lightweight container isolation in pure Zig.

MIT ★ 1 sandboxing site code docs
embedcache Rust

Studying caching strategies for high-dimensional vector computations. Eliminates redundant embedding recomputation at scale.

GPL-3.0 caching site code docs
liath Lua

Exploring programmable database architectures with embedded scripting. Lua-native data storage for AI workflow prototyping.

GPL-3.0 database code
liath-rs Rust

Liath reimplemented in Rust with RocksDB. Studying performance characteristics of pluggable storage engines with Lua query interfaces.

GPL-3.0 RocksDB code
numaperf Rust

Investigating topology-aware scheduling for latency-critical workloads. NUMA-first memory allocation and thread placement in Rust.

MIT NUMA site code docs
polymathy Rust

Investigating the transformation of keyword search into semantic answer generation. Async chunking and embedding pipelines in Rust.

GPL-3.0 search site code docs
Formal Optimisation & Decision Science
savanty Python

Bridging natural language and constraint satisfaction. Describe optimisation problems in English, receive mathematically guaranteed solutions via formal solvers.

MIT solver site code docs
sigc Rust

Research into compiling quantitative trading signals from visual specifications. From alpha hypothesis to verified executable in minutes.

MIT ★ 2 🍴 2 quant site code docs
compere Python

Studying efficient ranking under sparse feedback. Multi-armed bandit algorithms for achieving better orderings with fewer pairwise comparisons.

MIT MAB site code docs
Edge Intelligence & On-Device AI
llamafu Dart

Investigating on-device LLM inference limits. Running full language models on mobile hardware via Flutter with zero cloud dependency.

MIT Flutter code
anouk JavaScript

Studying LLM integration patterns for browser extensions. A framework for rapid development of AI-augmented web experiences.

MIT browser-extension site code docs
slorg JavaScript

Research into deliberative search interfaces. A SvelteKit engine that reasons about query intent before retrieving results.

MIT SvelteKit site code docs
ukkin Dart

Exploring mobile-first agent architectures. On-device AI agents that browse, observe, and automate tasks autonomously.

MIT ★ 1 Flutter code
Robotics & Autonomous Systems
waremax Rust

High-fidelity discrete-event simulation for warehouse robotics — RMFS, AMRs, task allocation, and reinforcement-learning benchmarks in Rust.

MIT robotics site code docs

Research that ships.
Science that scales.

Skelf Research operates at the boundary between academic inquiry and real-world systems. We believe the most important questions in AI today — about reasoning, safety, efficiency, and privacy — are best answered by building working prototypes and publishing everything.

Our methodology is simple: identify an open problem, construct a hypothesis as software, stress-test it against real workloads, and release the results. Every repository is a peer-reviewable experiment.

01

Hypotheses as Software

Each project encodes a research question. The codebase is the proof — runnable, testable, and falsifiable.

02

Open Science by Default

25 public repositories. Every experiment is reproducible, every finding is auditable by the global research community.

03

Systems-Level Rigour

We choose Rust, Zig, and Go not for fashion but for falsifiability — deterministic performance makes claims measurable.

04

Privacy as a Research Constraint

On-device inference and zero-trust architectures aren’t add-ons — they’re design constraints that shape better science.

Join the research.
Shape what's next.

We welcome academic collaborators, research partners, and funders who believe the hardest problems in AI deserve open, rigorous, reproducible investigation.

Frequently asked questions about Skelf Research

What is Skelf Research?

Skelf Research is an independent AI research laboratory based in the United Kingdom. We investigate the foundations of machine reasoning, computational intelligence, and safe AI systems, and publish all of our work as open-source software. We have 25 production-grade open-source projects organised into five research pillars: LLM Cognition & Prompt Theory, Safe & Verifiable Computing, Formal Optimisation & Decision Science, Edge Intelligence & On-Device AI, and Robotics & Autonomous Systems.

What does Skelf Research publish?

We publish 25 public repositories spanning prompt specification (promptel, blogus), agent memory (memorg), agent communication protocols and audit (mpl), local LLM serving (mullama), on-device inference (llamafu, ukkin), code sandboxing (zviz), NUMA-aware scheduling (numaperf), embedded vector search (memista, embedcache, polymathy), programmable databases (liath, liath-rs), LLM routing (route-switch), English-to-constraint-satisfaction (savanty), bandit ranking (compere), trading signal compilers (sigc), browser extension LLMs (anouk), deliberative search (slorg), and warehouse-robotics simulation (waremax). All repositories are MIT or GPL-3.0 licensed.

Where is Skelf Research based?

Skelf Research is based in the United Kingdom. We work with academic collaborators, research partners, and funders globally who believe the hardest problems in AI deserve open, rigorous, reproducible investigation.

Is Skelf Research open source?

Yes. Every project is open source under MIT or GPL-3.0. Our methodology is "hypotheses as software" — every research question is encoded in a runnable, testable, peer-reviewable repository. There is nothing hidden behind a paywall.

How can I use a Skelf project in production?

Each project ships a README, a quickstart, a reference, and an examples folder. Production users should consult the docs site at docs.skelfresearch.com. Projects are versioned, semver-tagged, and released as crates / npm packages / pub packages / pip packages depending on the language.

How is Skelf Research different from a typical AI startup?

We are a research lab, not a startup. We do not sell a product, raise venture capital, or run a hosted service. Our output is peer-reviewable software, not proprietary technology. The lab is funded by the founders and supported by academic and research partnerships.