| name | sciatlas-quick-paper-search |
| description | Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to a small evidence-backed paper search result. Trigger when the user wants a quick paper check, first-pass literature evidence, a retrieval smoke test, or help deciding which deeper SciAtlas agent skill to use next. |
SciAtlas Quick Paper Search
Use this skill to deliver a small, evidence-backed paper search from a blank machine. The only SciAtlas retrieval command allowed in this skill is sciatlas search-papers.
Operating Contract
- Do not call any SciAtlas downstream, author, support, report, config, health, or skill-management command for retrieval. The only SciAtlas retrieval command allowed is
search-papers.
- Run setup commands yourself when tool access is available. Do not ask a novice user to run shell commands unless you are blocked by missing permissions or missing human-only information.
- Ask the user only for values a program cannot know: email address, verification code, returned API token, or a clarification when the topic is genuinely ambiguous.
- Never print the full API token in the final answer. Mask it if you must mention it.
- If any step fails, explain the exact blocker in plain language, fix what you can, and continue until a
search-papers run succeeds or the user must provide a missing human value.
Zero-Start Bootstrap
- Check whether the CLI executable exists without invoking a SciAtlas command: use
Get-Command sciatlas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue on Windows PowerShell or command -v sciatlas on macOS/Linux.
- If
sciatlas is unavailable:
- If this repository is present, install locally with
python -m pip install -e ./sciatlas.
- Otherwise install from GitHub with
python -m pip install "git+https://github.com/zjunlp/SciAtlas.git#subdirectory=sciatlas".
- Check whether
SCIATLAS_API_KEY is present in the current shell environment.
- If no token is configured, guide the user through registration:
- Open or provide
http://scinet.openkg.cn/register.
- Ask the user for the email only if the registration page or flow needs it and you cannot fill it yourself.
- Ask for the email verification code when it arrives.
- Ask the user to paste the returned
sciatlas_xxx token. The token is shown only once.
- Configure the current shell before running retrieval:
Windows PowerShell:
$env:SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL = "http://scinet.openkg.cn"
$env:SCIATLAS_API_KEY = "<token>"
setx SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL "http://scinet.openkg.cn"
setx SCIATLAS_API_KEY "<token>"
macOS/Linux:
export SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL="http://scinet.openkg.cn"
export SCIATLAS_API_KEY="<token>"
- If a token check is needed, do not call
health or config; run a tiny search-papers request with --top-k 1.
Search Recipe
Turn the user's request into one precise query:
--query: the research topic in natural English.
--keyword "high:<core term>": the main concept that must stay central.
--keyword "middle:<supporting term>": optional nearby concept.
--time-range: include only when the user asked for recent work or a period.
--top-k 3 for a quick answer; use --report-max-items 3.
Example:
sciatlas search-papers --retrieval-mode hybrid --query "open world agent" --keyword "high:open world agent" --top-k 3 --top-keywords 0 --max-titles 0 --max-refs 0 --bias-exploration low --ranking-profile precision --report-max-items 3
Reading Artifacts
After the command finishes:
- Locate the run directory from stdout, or use the newest folder under
runs/.
- Read
summary.txt first for a quick status.
- Read
report.md for user-facing paper descriptions.
- Read
response.json only when report.md lacks title, year, venue, abstract, score, or URL details.
- Build an evidence ledger with columns: rank, title, year, authors if available, why it matched, strongest clue, URL/ID.
Synthesis Method
Write the result as a decision aid, not a dump of titles:
- State the search intent in one sentence.
- List the top papers with 1-2 evidence sentences each.
- Explain the pattern across the results: shared problem, shared method, datasets or evaluation style if visible.
- Flag weak evidence clearly, for example "the title matches but the abstract is missing."
- Recommend the next action:
- use
sciatlas-literature-review for a broader related-work section;
- use
sciatlas-idea-grounding if the user has a concrete idea;
- use
sciatlas-idea-evaluate if the user wants a go/no-go critique;
- use
sciatlas-idea-generate if the user wants new research directions;
- use
sciatlas-trend-report for timeline analysis;
- use
sciatlas-researcher-review for author-centered profiling.
Deliverable
Return:
- Search command used, with token omitted.
- 3-paper evidence table.
- 3-5 sentence synthesis.
- Suggested next skill or next
search-papers query.