| name | paper-spine-rewrite |
| description | Rewrites an existing manuscript from confirmed motivation, research, paragraph-level rationale, and evidence. (internal /paperspine step) |
PaperSpine Rewrite
Use this skill when the user already has a draft and wants a substantive
manuscript improvement.
Required Inputs
paper_rewriting_output/paper_spine_config.json
- user draft from
draft_path or the conversation
paper_rewriting_output/reference_materials/source_index.md
paper_rewriting_output/research_dossier.md
paper_rewriting_output/exemplar_learning_dossier.md
paper_rewriting_output/style_profile.md
paper_rewriting_output/sota_gap_map.md
paper_rewriting_output/citation_support_bank.md
paper_rewriting_output/confirmed_motivation.md with user confirmation
- evidence from the user's draft, figures, tables, data, or notes
If research or confirmed motivation is missing, do not rewrite. Return to
paper-spine-research and ask the user to confirm the motivation after seeing
research-grounded options.
If citation_support_bank.md is missing or shallow, return to
paper-spine-citation before final writing. Introduction, background, related
work, and Discussion claims should draw from that bank when they need
literature support.
Required Outputs
paper_rewriting_output/original_logic_map.md
paper_rewriting_output/evidence_bank.md
paper_rewriting_output/section_blueprints.md
paper_rewriting_output/writing_rationale_matrix.md
paper_rewriting_output/rewrite_matrix.md
paper_rewriting_output/logic_transfer_audit.md
- revised manuscript or revised sections
translation_zh/ package when translation_package is zh (via paper-spine-translate)
Original Logic Map
Before rewriting, map the existing manuscript in order:
| Original Unit | Current Text Role | Evidence Used | Motivation Link | Problem | Keep / Move / Rewrite / Delete |
|---|
This is required so the rewrite can be compared against the original logic, not
only against surface wording.
Writing Rationale Matrix
Before final prose, create writing_rationale_matrix.md and read
references/writing-rationale-matrix.md. The matrix is the rewrite plan. It
must be ordered by the manuscript's actual writing units, not by a fixed IMRaD
or journal-paper template.
Use this table:
| Row ID | Manuscript Unit | Original Problem or Planned Function | Motivation Link | Reference/SOTA Pattern Learned | Target Scene or Venue Norm | User Evidence or Citation Anchor | Planned Change | Final Text Check |
|---|
The first data row must deeply justify the whole-work framework or throughline:
why this controlling structure is chosen, how SOTA/target examples informed it,
how it follows the confirmed motivation, which user evidence anchors it, and how
the final manuscript will be checked against it. After that, split the draft
into the smallest useful units for this target scene:
paragraphs, paragraph groups, result/claim units, model steps, assumptions,
review synthesis blocks, competition solution blocks, headings, captions, or
other argument-bearing fragments. Do not force reports, reviews, or competition
papers into Abstract/Introduction/Methods/Results/Discussion if that is not the
right structure.
Each row must explain concrete anchors across multiple dimensions. Acceptable
reasons include: confirms or narrows the central motivation, transfers a
structural move from a strong example without copying wording, matches
target-scene expectation, moves evidence next to the claim, fixes a weak
transition, creates a front/back echo, or constrains a claim to available
evidence. If a row cannot teach the user why this writing move is better, it is
too shallow.
Humanize Tier
If paper_spine_config.json has humanize_tier set to light, medium, or
heavy, route to paper-spine-humanize before writing. The humanize skill
provides tier-specific writing constraints enforced during all prose generation.
Rewrite Rules
- Rewrite from
writing_rationale_matrix.md, not by appending sentences to old
paragraphs.
- A paragraph should survive unchanged only if the matrix explicitly says why it
already serves the confirmed motivation.
- Preserve user claims only when supported by user evidence.
- Preserve LaTeX commands, labels, citations, equations, figures, and tables
unless the user asks to change structure.
- Use
output_language from config: en for English, zh for Chinese.
- Select citations from
citation_support_bank.md only when they support a
specific sentence. Do not add citation clusters without a clear claim.
- Keep target-scene style subordinate to the confirmed motivation.
rewrite_matrix.md must map original units to final units and state whether
each change is structural, rhetorical, evidence-related, or only language.
Pre-LaTeX Gate
Before routing output to paper-spine-latex, run:
python scripts/integrity_audit.py paper_rewriting_output --markdown --write
python scripts/structured_review.py paper_rewriting_output --dispatch
integrity_audit.md must show no BLOCKED findings. After dispatch, launch
three parallel review sub-agents per review_prompts/dispatch.md. Validate
independence with structured_review.py --validate review_prompts.
Read references/writing-rationale-matrix.md,
references/motivation-thread-writing.md, references/deep-imitation-protocol.md,
and references/rewrite-matrix.md when doing substantive rewriting.