| name | scholar-writing |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| description | End-to-end academic paper writing workflow. Takes a research repository and produces a publication-ready LaTeX manuscript for top ML/AI conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, AAAI, COLM). Covers repo understanding, structure planning, section drafting, citation management, anti-AI polishing, and conference formatting. Triggers on "write paper", "draft paper", "scholar writing", "paper writing workflow". |
| allowed-tools | Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, WebSearch, WebFetch, TodoWrite, AskUserQuestion, Task |
| session-mode | run |
| contract | {"consumes":[],"produces":[{"path":"outputs/delivery.json","kind":"delivery-manifest","alias":"latest-paper-delivery","role":"primary"}],"gates":{"entry":[],"exit":[]}} |
<required_reading>
@~/.maestro/workflows/run-mode.md
</required_reading>
Scholar Writing
End-to-end workflow for writing publication-ready ML/AI papers from research repositories. Integrates paper writing craft, citation verification, and anti-AI polishing into a structured 6-phase pipeline.
Run Lifecycle
Follow ~/.maestro/workflows/run-mode.md. If an orchestrator injected run_id / run_dir in the birth packet, use them and do NOT call maestro run create. Otherwise self-start before Phase 1:
maestro run create scholar-writing --session <YYYYMMDD-scholar-writing-{topic}> --intent "<short phrase>"
Session slug is ASCII-only, ≤64 chars. The paper itself lives in the user's outputDir (a working area in the user's repo, like source code — not the Run truth source). Write the workflow synthesis and the delivery manifest (paths to paper.tex / paper.pdf / references.bib, verification status, remaining action items) to {run_dir}/report.md, and the machine-readable delivery-paths list to {run_dir}/outputs/delivery.json — the contract registers it as the primary artifact latest-paper-delivery, and the runtime only scans {run_dir}/outputs/, so a manifest written anywhere else is invisible. Close per the Final Checklist.
{ "paper_tex": "", "paper_pdf": "", "references_bib": "", "sections": [], "verified": false, "open_items": [] }
Pre-load (before execution)
- Codebase docs: If
.workflow/codebase/ARCHITECTURE.md exists, read for project context
- Specs:
maestro load --type spec --category coding — load coding conventions
- Wiki knowledge:
maestro search "academic writing research paper" --json — top 5 entries as prior context
- All optional — proceed without if unavailable
Architecture Overview
User: "Write a paper from this repo"
|
v
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SKILL.md (Orchestrator) │
│ Collect preferences → Dispatch phases → Track progress │
└──────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
|
┌───────┼───────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┐
v v v v v v v
┌──────┐┌──────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────────┐
│ P1 ││ P2 ││ P3 ││ P4 ││ P5 ││ P6 │
│ Repo ││Struct││ Section ││ Citation ││ Anti-AI ││ Conference │
│ Under││Plan ││ Drafting ││ Manage ││ Polish ││ Formatting │
└──┬───┘└──┬───┘└────┬─────┘└────┬─────┘└────┬─────┘└──────┬───────┘
│ │ │ │ │ │
v v v v v v
repo outline full draft verified polished paper.tex
context + plan .bib file prose (camera-ready)
Key Design Principles
- Proactive drafting: Deliver complete drafts, then iterate on feedback. Do not block on every section.
- Never hallucinate citations: Every citation must be verified via WebSearch and Google Scholar. Mark unverifiable references as
[CITATION NEEDED].
- Narrative-first writing: A paper is a story with one clear contribution. Define the What/Why/So What before writing.
- Anti-AI polish is mandatory: All prose passes through pattern detection and humanization before final output.
- Conference-aware from start: Target venue influences page limits, required sections, and framing.
Interactive Preference Collection
Before dispatching to any phase, collect these preferences:
Questions to ask the user:
1. Research Repository
"Where is the research repo? (path or URL)"
→ repoPath
2. Target Conference
Options: NeurIPS | ICML | ICLR | ACL | AAAI | COLM | Other
→ targetConference
3. Paper Type
Options: Full Paper | Short Paper | Workshop Paper
→ paperType
4. Output Directory
"Where should the paper be written? (default: ./paper/)"
→ outputDir
5. Existing Materials
"Any existing drafts, notes, or outlines to build on? (path or 'none')"
→ existingMaterials
6. Writing Language
Options: English | Chinese | Bilingual
→ writingLanguage
Store responses as paperPreferences context for all phases.
Auto Mode Defaults
When workflowPreferences.autoYes === true:
- Use detected repo path from cwd
- Default to NeurIPS format, Full Paper, English
- Output to
./paper/
- Skip confirmation prompts within phases
Execution Flow
COMPACT DIRECTIVE: Context compression MUST check TodoWrite phase status.
The phase currently marked in_progress is the active execution phase -- preserve its FULL content.
Only compress phases marked completed or pending.
TodoWrite Setup
Paper Writing Workflow:
- [ ] Phase 1: Repo Understanding — explore repo, identify contribution
- [ ] Phase 2: Structure Planning — plan outline, define narrative
- [ ] Phase 3: Section Drafting — write all sections
- [ ] Phase 4: Citation Management — find, verify, format citations
- [ ] Phase 5: Anti-AI Polish — remove AI patterns, humanize prose
- [ ] Phase 6: Conference Formatting — apply template, compile
Phase Sequence
Phase 1: Repo Understanding
└─ Ref: phases/01-repo-understanding.md
├─ Input: repoPath, existingMaterials
└─ Output: repoContext (contribution, results, existing citations)
Phase 2: Structure Planning
└─ Ref: phases/02-structure-planning.md
├─ Input: repoContext, targetConference, paperType
└─ Output: paperOutline (section plan, narrative arc, page budget)
Phase 3: Section Drafting
└─ Ref: phases/03-section-drafting.md
├─ Input: repoContext, paperOutline, writingLanguage
└─ Output: draftSections (all sections as LaTeX content)
Phase 4: Citation Management
└─ Ref: phases/04-citation-management.md
├─ Input: draftSections, repoContext.existingCitations
└─ Output: verifiedBib (references.bib), updatedDraft (citations resolved)
Phase 5: Anti-AI Polish
└─ Ref: phases/05-anti-ai-polish.md
├─ Input: updatedDraft
└─ Output: polishedDraft (humanized prose, AI patterns removed)
Phase 6: Conference Formatting
└─ Ref: phases/06-conference-formatting.md
├─ Input: polishedDraft, verifiedBib, targetConference
└─ Output: paper.tex (complete manuscript ready for compilation)
Phase Reference Documents (read on-demand when phase executes):
Compact Rules:
- TodoWrite
in_progress → preserve full content, do not compress
- TodoWrite
completed → may compress to summary
- sentinel fallback → phases marked with sentinel contain compact sentinel; if only sentinel remains after compression, must immediately
Read() to recover before continuing
Core Rules
- Citation integrity: NEVER generate BibTeX from memory. Always verify via WebSearch + Google Scholar. Mark unverifiable as
[CITATION NEEDED].
- One contribution: The paper tells one story. Every section supports the central narrative.
- Proactive delivery: Write full drafts, flag uncertainties. Do not block waiting for per-section approval.
- Conference compliance: Respect page limits, required sections, and anonymization requirements.
- Anti-AI mandatory: All prose must pass anti-AI pattern detection before final output.
Input Processing
User input is parsed into paperPreferences:
REPO: [path to research repository]
CONFERENCE: [NeurIPS | ICML | ICLR | ACL | AAAI | COLM]
TYPE: [Full | Short | Workshop]
OUTPUT: [output directory path]
MATERIALS: [path to existing drafts or 'none']
LANGUAGE: [English | Chinese | Bilingual]
If user provides free text like "write a paper about my transformer project", extract:
- Repo path from context or ask
- Default conference to NeurIPS
- Default type to Full Paper
- Default language to English
Data Flow
Phase 1 ──repoContext──→ Phase 2
Phase 2 ──paperOutline──→ Phase 3
Phase 1 ──repoContext──→ Phase 3
Phase 3 ──draftSections──→ Phase 4
Phase 4 ──updatedDraft + verifiedBib──→ Phase 5
Phase 5 ──polishedDraft──→ Phase 6
Phase 4 ──verifiedBib──→ Phase 6
Data persistence: The paper artifacts live in outputDir/ — a working area in the
user's repo (analogous to source code), NOT the Run truth source. The Run records
synthesis + a delivery manifest (see Run Lifecycle above).
outputDir/.writing/ (paper workspace, user-owned)
├── repo-context.md (Phase 1 output)
├── paper-outline.md (Phase 2 output)
├── drafts/ (Phase 3 output)
│ ├── abstract.tex
│ ├── introduction.tex
│ ├── methods.tex
│ ├── experiments.tex
│ ├── related-work.tex
│ ├── conclusion.tex
│ └── appendix.tex
├── references.bib (Phase 4 output)
├── polished/ (Phase 5 output)
│ └── (same structure as drafts/)
└── paper.tex (Phase 6 output)
{run_dir}/report.md (workflow synthesis + delivery manifest)
{run_dir}/outputs/ (delivery-paths list pointing into outputDir/)
TodoWrite Pattern
Phase Start (Attach)
When Phase N begins:
→ Mark Phase N as in_progress in TodoWrite
→ Add sub-tasks for Phase N steps
→ Execute sub-tasks sequentially
Phase End (Collapse)
When Phase N completes:
→ Mark all Phase N sub-tasks as completed
→ Collapse to summary: "Phase N complete: [key output]"
→ Mark Phase N+1 as in_progress
Post-Phase Updates
Between phases, update a running paper-notes document:
# Paper Writing Notes (accumulated)
## Contribution (Phase 1)
[One-sentence contribution statement]
## Outline (Phase 2)
[Section structure with page budgets]
## Draft Status (Phase 3)
[Section completion status]
## Citation Status (Phase 4)
[Verified count / placeholder count]
## Polish Status (Phase 5)
[Anti-AI score per section]
Written to: outputDir/.writing/paper-notes.md
Error Handling
| Error | Action |
|---|
| Repo path invalid | Ask user for correct path |
| Cannot identify contribution | Present top 3 candidates, ask user to choose |
| Citation not found | Mark [CITATION NEEDED], continue, report at end |
| LaTeX compilation fails | Fix common errors (missing packages, encoding), retry once |
| Anti-AI score below 35 | Re-polish section, flag for manual review |
| Page limit exceeded | Suggest specific cuts (move proofs to appendix, condense related work) |
Coordinator Checklist
Before Each Phase
After Each Phase
Final Checklist
Related Skills
- scholar-ideation: Use before this skill to develop research ideas
- scholar-experiment: Use before this skill to run experiments
- scholar-review: Use after this skill to review/revise the paper
