| name | paper-granny |
| description | Codex-native arXiv paper interpretation workflow that produces Paper Granny style Chinese reading reports without running the PaperGranny Python agent, web server, or remote workflow. Use when the user asks for Paper Granny, 论文奶奶, Scholar Granny, arXiv 论文解读, paper reading reports, Chinese paper explainers, or converting an arXiv paper/source into an accessible report generated directly by Codex. |
Paper Granny
Core Rule
Act as Paper Granny directly in Codex. Do not run the PaperGranny Python CLI, LangGraph agent, FastAPI web server, or wrapper scripts. Do not call python for this workflow.
Use ordinary shell tools only when needed for deterministic file work:
curl to fetch arXiv source if the paper source is not already local
tar, gunzip, find, rg, sed, cp, mkdir for source inspection and file handling
xelatex for compiling the final LaTeX report
The reasoning, paper reading, explanation, and report writing must be done by Codex.
Workflow
- Normalize the input arXiv URL or ID.
Supported forms:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03251
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.03251
2603.03251
arXiv:2603.03251
- Create a local work directory:
mkdir -p papers/<arxiv_id>/source
- Fetch source only if needed:
curl -L "https://arxiv.org/e-print/<arxiv_id>" -o "papers/<arxiv_id>/source.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "papers/<arxiv_id>/source.tar.gz" -C "papers/<arxiv_id>/source"
If tar fails because arXiv returned a single gzip file:
gunzip -c "papers/<arxiv_id>/source.tar.gz" > "papers/<arxiv_id>/source/main.tex"
If the user already provided local source files, skip download.
- Inspect the source with Codex:
find "papers/<arxiv_id>/source" -maxdepth 3 -type f
rg -n "\\\\documentclass|\\\\title|\\\\author|\\\\begin\\{abstract\\}|\\\\input|\\\\include|\\\\includegraphics|\\\\begin\\{theorem\\}|\\\\begin\\{proposition\\}|\\\\begin\\{lemma\\}|\\\\begin\\{equation" "papers/<arxiv_id>/source"
Read the main .tex file and every important \input{} / \include{} file. Do not write the report from the abstract alone.
- Build an evidence map before drafting:
- title, authors, arXiv ID
- research problem and motivation
- claimed contributions, tied to specific sections, figures, equations, or tables
- method pipeline, including inputs, outputs, assumptions, and training/inference steps
- key equations with symbol meanings
- theorems/propositions/lemmas with premise, conclusion, and role
- experiments: datasets, baselines, metrics, results, ablations, failure cases
- important figures/tables and their file paths
- Write the report directly as
papers/<arxiv_id>/report.tex.
Use the bundled template from assets/ModernColorful.cls when available. Resolve assets/ relative to this skill directory, then copy the class and logo into the report directory:
cp "<skill_dir>/assets/ModernColorful.cls" "papers/<arxiv_id>/"
cp "<skill_dir>/assets/logo.png" "papers/<arxiv_id>/" 2>/dev/null || true
Report structure:
\section{背景知识}
\section{核心问题与创新思路}
\section{方法详解}
\section{公式与定理拆解}
\section{实验结果}
\section{优势、局限与适用场景}
\section{总结}
\section{参考资料}
- Compile with XeLaTeX from the report directory:
cd "papers/<arxiv_id>" && xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error -file-line-error report.tex
cd "papers/<arxiv_id>" && xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error -file-line-error report.tex
Fix LaTeX errors locally by editing report.tex, then recompile. Do not switch to the Python compiler.
- Final response:
- paper title
- generated PDF path
- any source/compile limitations
Explanation Standard
The output is not a summary or translation. It must be an accessible deep reading:
- Explain jargon in plain Chinese.
- Add background when a weak reader would be lost.
- Preserve key equations and explain every non-obvious symbol.
- Explain what each important figure/table is trying to prove.
- Interpret experiments as question, setup, metric, observation, and conclusion.
- Preserve technical claims faithfully and mark uncertainty when the paper is ambiguous.
Read references/quality-guide.md for the full quality checklist when writing or improving a report.
LaTeX Rules
- Use
\documentclass{ModernColorful} if the template is available.
- Use only template-defined boxes and commands unless you have read the class file.
- Escape text special characters:
&, %, #, _.
- Avoid raw Unicode arrows/math symbols; prefer
$\rightarrow$, $\leftarrow$, $\Rightarrow$.
- Copy referenced figures into the report directory or use correct relative paths.
- Keep figure widths conservative:
0.7\textwidth, 0.85\textwidth, or \textwidth depending on shape.