| name | paper-summary |
| origin | workshop |
| description | Produce a structured summary of an academic paper from its PDF, in
the workshop's literature/<bibkey>.md format. Use when the user has
a new paper to add to the project's literature/ directory, asks
"what does this paper say?", or asks for a structured intake of a
PDF for the lab. Always pair with a verified BibTeX entry; never
emit citations from memory.
|
Paper-summary skill
Use this skill when:
- The user provides a PDF of a paper and asks for a summary.
- The user is adding a new entry to
literature/.
- The user asks for a structured intake or a 1-page brief of a paper.
How to invoke
- Read the PDF using the built-in
pdf skill. Extract text, abstract, section headings, and any display equations relevant to the contribution.
- Verify the citation. Use an
arxiv or semantic-scholar MCP if available. If neither is available, fall back to extracting the title/authors/year from the PDF metadata or first page; mark the BibTeX as unverified until the user confirms.
- Fill the template below. Use literal quotes from the PDF for Pull-quotes; paraphrase drops the qualifier that matters.
- Save to
literature/<bibkey>.md where <bibkey> is firstauthor-year (e.g., wachter-biegler-2006).
- If a project
LOGBOOK.md exists and the paper is being added because of an active decision, ask the user whether to add a citation in the relevant LOGBOOK.md section.
Template
The output file must have this structure exactly. Sections marked with † are required; others may be omitted with a *not applicable* note.
# <Paper Title>
**Authors:** <names>
**Year:** <yyyy>
**Venue:** <journal/conference/preprint>
**BibTeX key:** <firstauthor-year>
**DOI / arXiv ID:** <link>
**Verified via:** <arxiv|semantic-scholar|local PDF metadata|unverified>
## Contribution (one paragraph) †
What does this paper claim, in plain language. One paragraph; no equations.
## Main result †
The headline theorem or method. State precisely; quote the assumptions verbatim.
## Assumptions †
The conditions under which the main result holds. Quote where possible.
## Method / proof sketch
The core technique. Optional but useful.
## Limitations
What the paper does NOT claim. Often in the conclusion or future-work section.
## Fit to our problem †
Why we read this paper. What we will use from it. What we won't.
## Pull-quotes
Up to five literal quotes (page numbers in parentheses) for sentences we
might want to cite or refute. Each quote in quotation marks.
## BibTeX
```bibtex
@article{<bibkey>,
author = {...},
title = {...},
journal = {...},
year = {...},
doi = {...},
}
## Constraints
- **Never emit a citation from memory.** If the citation cannot be verified, the BibTeX block must be marked `unverified` and the user must be told.
- **Pull-quotes must be literal.** No paraphrasing. Page numbers required. If the source has no page numbers (preprint, web), use section IDs.
- **Fit to our problem must reference the project's `LOGBOOK.md` or `plans/` if relevant.** A paper read for no reason is a paper that won't be cited.
- **Don't summarize what you can't verify.** If the PDF text extraction is partial (scanned PDF, OCR errors), say so explicitly and stop.
## Example output
See `examples/example-output.md` for a complete worked summary in the right shape.
