paper-summary

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

1. Read the PDF using the built-in pdf skill. Extract text, abstract, section headings, and any display equations relevant to the contribution.
2. 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.
3. Fill the template below. Use literal quotes from the PDF for Pull-quotes; paraphrase drops the qualifier that matters.
4. Save to literature/<bibkey>.md where <bibkey> is firstauthor-year (e.g., wachter-biegler-2006).
5. 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.