scientific-database-accesslisted

# Scientific Database Access ## Purpose Scientific data sources expose *several independent access routes* (public website, documented API, official bulk export, third-party mirror, single-object lookup). One route being gated, dead, or credential-walled is **not** evidence that the others are. This skill is the general procedure for finding the correct authorized route, recording the evidence for that finding, and refusing to plan a fallback until access has actually been tested. **Anti-pattern this skill exists to prevent:** pre-scripting an `unavailable_source` fallback (or any other failure-branch plan) *before* probing the source at all. Treating an assumed or historical failure as equivalent to a fresh, dated probe is the single most common and most expensive mistake in this space — see `references/anti-pattern-premature-fallback.md`. ## Procedure 1. **Enumerate routes before probing any of them.** For the target source, list separately: interactive website, documented/official API, bulk export or dump, third-party mirror, and single-object/individual-record lookup. Do not let one route's status stand in for another's. 2. **Probe access before planning any fallback.** Never write or reuse a "this source is unavailable" branch until you have made a live request (or read a current, dated contract) for the specific route in question. If a memory, task doc, or teammate claims a source is down/gated, treat that as a *hypothesis to re-check*, not a f