Data

Tools

Indexes

Applications

Experiments

Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

https://github.com/aniketkrs/research-paper

Three complementary agent skills for academic research: WRITES papers, FINDS papers on a topic, READS any paper as a visual experience (mind maps, flowcharts, plain-English). Runtime-neutral, works with 50+ agents. Install: npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper
https://github.com/aniketkrs/research-paper

academic-writing agent-skills anthropic apa arxiv citations claude-code claude-skill harvard ieee literature-review multi-agent research-paper thesis whitepaper

Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation

Three complementary agent skills for academic research: WRITES papers, FINDS papers on a topic, READS any paper as a visual experience (mind maps, flowcharts, plain-English). Runtime-neutral, works with 50+ agents. Install: npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

          
# research-paper



> Three agent skills for academic research, in one repo. **Find** real papers,

> **read** any paper as a visual experience, and **write** new papers grounded

> in real sources. Runtime-neutral — works with 50+ AI coding agents.



```bash

npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper

```



After install, in any compatible agent session:



```

/research "graph neural networks for fraud detection" --style ieee

/find-paper "retrieval-augmented generation" --years last-3

/read-paper https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762

```



> **Date freshness:** every paper run starts by checking today's actual

> date (via `date -u +%Y-%m-%d` or runtime context). Year-range flags

> like `--years last-3` are computed from today, not from the model's

> training cutoff. The skill never silently uses stale data — see

> [`instructions/freshness.md`](skills/research-paper/instructions/freshness.md)

> in any of the three skills.



[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](LICENSE)

[![Skills: 3](https://img.shields.io/badge/skills-3-green.svg)](#the-three-skills)

[![Tests: 116/116](https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-116%2F116-brightgreen.svg)](tests/)



---



## What this is



Three small, focused skills that work together — or independently — to

make academic-paper work fast, rigorous, and not boring.



| | Skill | One-line job |

|---|---|---|

| ✍️ | **`research-paper`** | **Writes** new papers — research papers, lit reviews, theses, whitepapers, surveys, policy briefs |

| 🔎 | **`get-research-paper`** | **Finds** real existing papers — searches arXiv, Scholar, PubMed, Semantic Scholar |

| 📖 | **`read-research-paper`** | **Reads** any paper (URL / arXiv / DOI / PDF / DOCX / PPTX / image) and renders it visually |



All three are runtime-neutral. They install with one command and work

with **Claude Code, OpenCode, Cursor, Cline, Codex, Aider, Amp,

Antigravity, AiderDesk, Augment, IBM Bob,** and 50+ other agent

runtimes via [`npx skills`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/skills).



---



## Install



### One command — all three skills, no prompts



```bash

npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper --yes --skill '*'

```



The `--yes --skill '*'` flags install all three skills in one shot

without prompting. The installer auto-detects every agent runtime on

your machine and places the skills in the universal `.agents/skills/`

directory.



### Verify



```bash

npx skills list

```



Expected: **`research-paper`, `get-research-paper`, `read-research-paper`** all listed.



### Other install options



```bash

# Install only one skill

npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper --yes --skill research-paper



# Pin to a version

npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper#v2.4.0 --yes --skill '*'



# User-scope (global) instead of project-scope

npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper --yes --skill '*' --global



# Direct from GitHub (no skills CLI; this installer also installs all skills by default)

npx -y github:aniketkrs/research-paper install

```



For per-platform manual install (Claude Desktop, claude.ai web,

Anthropic API/SDK, etc.), see

**[INSTALLATION.md](INSTALLATION.md)**.



---



## The three skills



### ✍️ research-paper — writes new papers



Produces publication-ready research papers, literature reviews,

theses, whitepapers, surveys, and policy briefs.



**Trigger it:**

```

/research "topic" --style ieee --depth comprehensive

/literature-review "topic" --systematic --sources 50

/whitepaper "topic" --audience technical

/thesis "Chapter 3: Methodology" --style harvard

/policy "topic" --depth standard

```



…or in plain English: *"write a research paper on graph neural networks

for fraud detection"*.



**Produces:**

- 10 paper formats: arXiv, IEEE, ACM, Nature, Harvard, lit-review,

  thesis chapter, whitepaper, survey, policy brief.

- 7 citation styles: Harvard, APA, IEEE, MLA, Chicago, Nature,

  arXiv-numeric. Switchable with one flag.

- Real visualizations: charts, tables, heatmaps, flowcharts, PRISMA

  diagrams, forest plots.

- Methodology section with sample-size justification and validity

  threats.

- Statistical validation with effect sizes, CIs, multiple-comparison

  correction.

- Three-persona simulated peer review (methodologist + domain expert

  + reader).

- Plain-English summary alongside the technical content.



**What it won't do:** invent citations, DOIs, or coauthors.

Unverifiable items are flagged `[UNVERIFIED]` and surfaced in

`Known-gaps.md`.



### 🔎 get-research-paper — finds papers on a topic



Searches arXiv, Google Scholar, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, DBLP,

ACM DL, IEEE Xplore, and OpenReview. Returns a curated reading list

with verified DOIs, key findings, and ready-to-cite metadata.



**Trigger it:**

```

/get-research-paper "topic" --n 25 --years 2020-2024 --depth deep

/find-paper "topic"

/papers-on "topic"

/scholar "topic"

```



…or: *"find research papers on retrieval-augmented generation"*.



**Produces:**

- A ranked reading list (`reading-list.md`) with quality scores.

- A canonical `bibliography.yaml` ready to feed the writer skill.

- A 1–3 paragraph field briefing.

- Source-quality scoring (authority + rigor + recency).

- Diversity heuristics: per-author cap, per-venue cap, ≥1 review,

  ≥1 foundational paper.

- DOI verification + retraction screening (when web tools are

  available).



### 📖 read-research-paper — reads any paper, makes it not boring



Take any paper input — arXiv URL, arXiv ID, DOI, PDF, DOCX, PPTX,

image, plain text — and render it as a visual reading experience.



**Trigger it:**

```

/read-research-paper https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762

/read-paper ./paper.pdf

/explain-paper https://doi.org/10.1145/3589334

/visualize-paper ./slides.pptx

/tldr-paper ./scan.png

```



…or: *"read this research paper [URL]"*, *"explain this paper"*,

*"make this paper visual"*.



**Produces a multi-layer Markdown rendering** with:

- One-page infographic at the top (mind map + headline numbers).

- TL;DR (5–8 sentences).

- Plain-English summary (5–10 sentences).

- Section-by-section walk-through with plain-English **alongside**

  the technical content (not replacing it).

- Method flowchart (Mermaid).

- Key-findings infographic (matplotlib when available, Markdown

  otherwise).

- Comparison table to baselines.

- Related-work timeline.

- "Why this matters" footer.

- Verification trail.



**Three-tier "don't bluff" cascade:** local cache → live fetch →

bundled corpus → model knowledge with `[UNVERIFIED]` flags. Source

tier is always declared in the output footer.



---



## Supported file formats



### Read (input)



The `read-research-paper` skill handles **any** of these as input:



| Format | Extensions | Always available? |

|---|---|---|

| Markdown, plain text, JSON | `.md`, `.markdown`, `.txt`, `.json` | ✅ |

| LaTeX | `.tex`, `.latex` | ✅ |

| HTML | `.html`, `.htm` | ✅ (with regex fallback) |

| CSV / TSV | `.csv`, `.tsv` | ✅ (basic) |

| RTF | `.rtf` | ✅ (with regex fallback) |

| **PDF** | `.pdf` | install `pdfplumber` or `pypdf` |

| **DOCX** | `.docx` | install `python-docx` |

| **PPTX** | `.pptx` | install `python-pptx` |

| **XLSX** | `.xlsx`, `.xls` | install `pandas` + `openpyxl` |

| **EPUB** | `.epub` | install `ebooklib` |

| **Images** (OCR) | `.png`, `.jpg`, `.tiff`, `.bmp` | install `pytesseract` + Tesseract |



One command to enable everything:



```bash

pip install pdfplumber python-docx python-pptx pandas openpyxl \

            beautifulsoup4 striprtf ebooklib pytesseract Pillow

```



### Write (output)



The `research-paper` skill produces Markdown by default. To convert

to other formats:



| Format | Extension | Renderer |

|---|---|---|

| Markdown | `.md` | native (always) |

| HTML | `.html` | Pandoc |

| DOCX | `.docx` | Pandoc |

| LaTeX | `.tex` | Pandoc |

| **PDF** | `.pdf` | Pandoc + LaTeX engine |

| RTF | `.rtf` | Pandoc |

| EPUB | `.epub` | Pandoc |

| ODT | `.odt` | Pandoc |

| PPTX | `.pptx` | Pandoc |



Install Pandoc (and optionally LaTeX for PDFs):



```bash

# macOS

brew install pandoc                      # base

brew install --cask mactex-no-gui         # for PDF output



# Linux

apt install pandoc                        # base

apt install texlive                        # for PDF output



# Windows

choco install pandoc                       # or scoop install pandoc

choco install miktex                        # for PDF output

```



Then:



```bash

/research "topic" --output paper.pdf

/research "topic" --output paper.docx

```



**Self-test** to see what's available on your machine:



```bash

python skills/read-research-paper/toolchains/read_any_file.py --self-test

python skills/research-paper/toolchains/convert_output.py --self-test

```



Full reference: [`skills/read-research-paper/sources/file-formats.md`](skills/read-research-paper/sources/file-formats.md).



---



## End-to-end workflow



The three skills chain cleanly:



```

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│   /find-paper "topic"                                        │

│   └─→ reading-list.md + bibliography.yaml                    │

└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘

                              │

                              ▼

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│   /read-paper       (visualize ANY single paper)         │

│   └─→ paper-visual.md  (mind map + flowchart + plain English) │

└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘

                              │

                              ▼

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│   /research "topic" --bibliography ./topic/bibliography.yaml  │

│   └─→ paper-final.md → convert_output → paper.pdf / .docx    │

└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

```



Or use any one standalone — they don't require each other.



---



## Quick start



### Find papers on a topic



```

/find-paper "transformer architectures for time-series forecasting" --n 10

```



The skill returns a curated reading list with verified DOIs, key

findings per paper, and a `bibliography.yaml` ready for the writer

skill.



### Read a single paper visually



```

/read-paper https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762

```



The skill returns a multi-layer Markdown rendering with mind map,

flowchart, infographic, and plain-English alongside the technical

content. Cached locally so re-asking is instant.



### Write a paper using a curated bibliography



```

/research "predicting customer churn with graph neural networks" \

    --style ieee \

    --depth comprehensive \

    --bibliography ./gnn-fraud-detection/bibliography.yaml

```



The skill walks: plan → literature review → methodology → analysis →

visualization → drafting → citations → validation → review → ship.



### Convert the result to PDF / DOCX



```bash

python skills/research-paper/toolchains/convert_output.py \

    --input ./gnn-fraud-detection/paper-final.md \

    --to pdf \

    --out paper.pdf

```



---



## What "done" means



A paper is delivered only after passing every quality gate:



- ≥ 1500 words (configurable).

- ≥ 8 references with verified DOIs.

- ≥ 1 figure or table.

- All required sections present (abstract, intro, methodology,

  results, discussion, limitations, conclusion, references).

- Plain-English summary present.

- Reproducibility statement present.

- Future Work section present.

- Academic-quality rubric mean ≥ 4 / 5.

- All three reviewer personas score ≥ 3.0.

- All `[CITATION NEEDED]` and `[UNVERIFIED]` flags resolved or

  surfaced in `Known-gaps.md`.



Failures surface in `Known-gaps.md`. Never silent.



---



## Compatibility



`npx skills add` auto-detects and installs into 50+ agent runtimes:



| Universal | Symlink-supported |

|---|---|

| Amp, Antigravity, Cline, Codex, Cursor, +10 more | AiderDesk, Augment, IBM Bob, Claude Code, OpenCode, +35 more |



Run `npx skills add aniketkrs/research-paper --list` to see the full

list of agents detected on your machine.



---



## Repo structure



```

research-paper/

├── README.md, LICENSE, CHANGELOG.md, INSTALLATION.md, package.json

├── bin/install.js               ← direct npx installer

├── tests/test-runner.js         ← 116/116 tests pass

├── docs/                        ← architecture, design decisions, FAQ

└── skills/

    ├── research-paper/          ← writes papers (106 files)

    ├── get-research-paper/      ← finds papers (20 files)

    └── read-research-paper/     ← reads any paper (26 files)

```



Each skill is self-contained — manifest, instructions, prompts,

templates, schemas, toolchains, examples, sources, tests.



---



## Optional Python toolchain



The skills work with **just** filesystem read/write. They emit

Markdown tables and Mermaid diagrams as the always-available default.



To enable real charts, statistical validation, multi-format file I/O,

and Pandoc output:



```bash

# Charts + statistical validation (research-paper)

pip install pandas numpy scipy statsmodels matplotlib seaborn pyyaml



# Multi-format file reading (read-research-paper)

pip install pdfplumber python-docx python-pptx openpyxl \

            beautifulsoup4 striprtf ebooklib pytesseract Pillow



# Multi-format output (research-paper) - install Pandoc + LaTeX system-wide

# macOS:    brew install pandoc && brew install --cask mactex-no-gui

# Linux:    apt install pandoc texlive

# Windows:  choco install pandoc miktex

```



When any tool is missing, the skill detects it and falls back —

never silent failure, always a clear "install X to enable" message.



---



## Extending



The skills are modular. Each one is a folder with a clear extension

boundary.



- **Add a new venue** (e.g., LNCS): drop a template in

  `templates/.md` + register in `manifest.json`.

- **Add a new citation style**: extend

  `citation_engine/citation-styles.md` and

  `toolchains/format_bibliography.py`.

- **Add a new chart type**: extend

  `visualization_engine/decision-engine.md` and

  `toolchains/generate_charts.py`.

- **Add a new file format**: extend

  `read-research-paper/toolchains/read_any_file.py` and

  `read-research-paper/sources/file-formats.md`.



Full extension guide: [`docs/extending.md`](docs/extending.md).



---



## Tests



Lightweight test suite in `tests/test-runner.js`:



```bash

node tests/test-runner.js

```



Covers:

- File structure (every required file present).

- SKILL.md frontmatter (valid YAML).

- manifest.json (valid JSON, required fields).

- JSON Schemas (paper-schema, citation-schema, visual-paper schema, etc.).

- Python toolchain self-tests (graceful degradation).

- Citation pipeline smoke test against fixtures.



**116/116 tests pass.**



---



## Troubleshooting



| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |

|---|---|---|

| Skill never activates | Restart your agent session after install | |

| Charts come out as Markdown only | Python plotting deps missing | `pip install pandas matplotlib seaborn` |

| Can't read a `.pdf` | PDF library missing | `pip install pdfplumber` |

| Can't read a `.docx` | DOCX library missing | `pip install python-docx` |

| Can't OCR an image | OCR not installed | `pip install pytesseract Pillow` + install Tesseract |

| Can't convert to PDF | Pandoc / LaTeX missing | install Pandoc + a LaTeX engine |

| Skill activates for unrelated requests | Trigger patterns too broad | edit `manifest.json → trigger.patterns` |

| Output truncated mid-section | Context pressure | switch to multi-file output (`--depth comprehensive`) |



---



## License



MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).



## Contributing



Issues and PRs welcome at

[github.com/aniketkrs/research-paper](https://github.com/aniketkrs/research-paper).



When filing an issue, please include:

- Your runtime (Claude Code, OpenCode, etc.)

- The slash command or prompt that triggered the issue

- The contents of `Known-gaps.md` if any

- The relevant `validation-report.md` if any



---



## Versioning



| Version | Highlights |

|---|---|

| **2.3.0** | Multi-format file I/O: read PDF/DOCX/PPTX/XLSX/EPUB/images; write PDF/DOCX/HTML/LaTeX/EPUB/RTF/ODT/PPTX |

| 2.2.0 | Added `read-research-paper` skill (visual paper reading) |

| 2.1.0 | Added `get-research-paper` skill (paper discovery) |

| 2.0.x | Initial release of `research-paper` skill (paper writing) |



See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for the full history.