opensci-skill

---

name: opensci-skill description: Help an agent familiarize itself with any scientific Python library or codebase so it can write a high-quality opensci skill for that library. Use when creating, auditing, or refactoring opensci skills for published packages, source-only repositories, namespace packages, or mixed-layout projects. Content is optimized for agent consumption. Trigger keywords: write skill, create skill, new skill, opensci skill, skill for library, audit skill, skill quality, scientific skill, library skill, familiarize library, api dictionary, symbol index, function lookup.

opensci-skill

A meta-skill for familiarizing an agent with a scientific Python library and producing a high-quality opensci skill for it. All content and outputs are optimized for agent consumption, not human readers.

Target Output Structure

Every opensci library skill must follow this layout exactly:

<library-name>/
├── SKILL.md                  # Navigator entrypoint — required
├── assets/                   # Gathered artifacts from scripts — agent-readable
│   ├── version.txt           # Library version, Python version, build date (Step 0)
│   ├── module-map.md         # Output of map-modules.py (Step 1)
│   ├── api-dump.md           # Output of extract-api-patterns.py (Medium/Heavy)
│   ├── symbol-index.md       # Dictionary index (Step 2.5)
│   ├── symbol-index.jsonl    # Machine-readable symbol registry (Step 2.5)
│   ├── symbol-cards/         # Per-module symbol cards (Step 2.5)
│   │   ├── <module>.md
│   │   └── ...
│   └── docs-cache/           # Output of fetch-docs.py or fetch-local-rst.py
│       ├── index.md
│       └── ...
├── references/
│   ├── <domain-1>.md         # Deep content, loaded on demand
│   ├── <domain-2>.md
│   └── ...                   # One file per functional domain
└── scripts/                  # Optional: runnable helpers copied from opensci-skill/scripts/
    └── <helper>.py

Forbidden files (never create inside a skill folder): README.md, CHANGELOG.md, INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md

---

Step 0 — Choose Depth Mode

Before doing anything else, select a mode and confirm with the user:

Mode	Source	Speed	When to use
Light	Docs/web only — no code execution	Fast	Public library with good online docs
Medium	Docs + verified code examples	Moderate	Need confirmed API behavior
Heavy	Full source traversal + paper links	Slow	Niche lib, sparse docs, or research code

Prompt: "Which depth mode? Light (docs only) / Medium (docs + verified examples) / Heavy (full source traversal)"

Default for autonomous execution (no user interaction possible): use Medium — verified examples without full source traversal.

All subsequent steps are mode-conditional. Sections marked [Light+] apply to all modes; [Medium+] apply to Medium and Heavy; [Heavy] apply to Heavy only.

Step 0.5 — Environment + Install Permission Gate [Light+]

Before any pip install / conda install action, explicitly confirm execution environment and install policy with the user.

Required prompt (single turn is fine):

"For this skill build, which environment should I use? (a) existing env with no new installs, (b) specific venv/conda env, (c) create a new env, (d) allow installs in current env. If installs are allowed, which package manager should I use?"

Record the decision in assets/version.txt:

environment: <env name/path>
python_executable: <path or `python`>
install_permission: yes|no
install_scope: none|current-env|named-env|new-env
package_manager: pip|conda|mamba|uv|other

Safety default: if no explicit permission is provided, assume install_permission: no and continue with docs/source-only paths where possible.

If installs are denied: do not run install commands. Use --source workflows, hosted docs, and tag execution-only claims as [UNVERIFIED: install denied in selected environment].

Step 0.6 — Coverage Profile Gate [Light+]

Choose coverage profile before authoring content:

Profile	Goal	Typical output size	Recommended for
Workflow	High-quality guidance for common tasks only	Small/medium	Task-focused assistants
Dictionary	Broad symbol lookup across public API	Large	Knowledge-base style assistants
Hybrid	Workflow references + dictionary assets	Medium/large	Default for robust agents

Required prompt:

"Coverage profile? Workflow / Dictionary / Hybrid. Dictionary/Hybrid will generate symbol index assets for broad API lookup."

Record decision in assets/version.txt:

coverage_profile: workflow|dictionary|hybrid

Default for autonomous execution: coverage_profile: hybrid.

Capture library version (all modes, mandatory)

Immediately after mode selection, before reading any source or docs, record the library version:

# Preferred — works even if __version__ is dynamic (lazy_loader, hatch-vcs, etc.)
python -c "import importlib.metadata; print(importlib.metadata.version('<pip-name>'))"

# Fallback — works if __version__ is directly set
python -c "import <pkg>; print(<pkg>.__version__)"

Write the result to assets/version.txt:

library: <pkg>
version: X.Y.Z
python: 3.XX
built: YYYY-MM-DD

Version sanity check: If importlib.metadata.version(...) raises PackageNotFoundError, or if __version__ returns "0+unknown" or "0.0.0", the package is not properly installed. Only install if install_permission: yes; otherwise continue in docs/source mode and mark execution-dependent claims [UNVERIFIED]. A "0+unknown" result typically indicates a hatch-vcs or setuptools-scm dynamic version that was never written because the package was not installed from source with git tags visible.

Build-toolchain fallback: If editable install fails because compiled dependencies are unavailable (C/C++/Fortran/Rust toolchains, system headers, CUDA, etc.), install the published wheel instead (pip install <pip-name>) and continue in --package mode only if install permission is granted. Record this in assets/version.txt:

install_mode: wheel
editable_install: failed (<short reason>)

Preflight dependencies for docs tooling [Light+]

Before running fetch-docs.py, ensure converter dependencies are available in the selected environment:

python -m pip install --upgrade requests html2text

fetch-docs.py can run without html2text, but markdown quality drops when it falls back to basic tag stripping. If installs are not allowed, proceed without --require-html2text and note reduced fidelity in assets/version.txt.

Why: API behavior, parameter names, and return types can differ across versions. Every generated file must be stamped with the version it was built against.

---

Step 1 — Build Module Map [Light+]

Run map-modules.py to produce assets/module-map.md in the target skill's assets/ folder.

# If package is pip-installable:
python opensci-skill/scripts/map-modules.py --package <library> --output <library>/assets/module-map.md

# If working from source (editable install recommended, permission required):
# [REQUIRES install_permission: yes]
pip install -e /path/to/library
python opensci-skill/scripts/map-modules.py --package <library> --output <library>/assets/module-map.md

# If source-only (not installable):
python opensci-skill/scripts/map-modules.py --source /path/to/library/<pkgname> --output <library>/assets/module-map.md

src/ layout: Modern libraries (e.g., hatch/flit projects) place the package inside src/<pkgname>/. If the repo has no top-level <pkgname>/ directory, look for src/<pkgname>/__init__.py. Pass --source /path/to/library/src/<pkgname> (not src/). With --package, install first (pip install -e .) only when install permission is granted.

lazy_loader detection: If map-modules.py stdout reports API mode : lazy_loader detected, the .pyi stub file (e.g., <pkg>/__init__.pyi) is the ground truth for the public API — do NOT rely on __init__.py alone. Open the .pyi file directly for the full symbol list; it defines __all__ and all import sources.

Flat __all__ (submodule-list only): If __all__ contains only submodule names (e.g., ['connectome', 'datasets', 'image', ...]) and no function symbols, the public API lives one level deeper. For each submodule in __all__, also inspect <pkg>/<submodule>/__init__.py to find its function-level exports. Record symbols as <pkg>.<submodule>.<fn> in assets/module-map.md.

Also manually inspect __init__.py (and __init__.pyi if present) and record in assets/module-map.md:

• Eager star-imports (from .submod import *) — these populate the top-level namespace
• Lazy __getattr__ entries — only loaded on attribute access (import side-effect: none until accessed)
• __all__ — the explicit public API contract
• Submodule list and approximate line counts (large files >500 lines are important to flag)

---

Step 2 — Gather Documentation [Light+]

Light mode — crawl web docs

# Preferred (html2text available):
python opensci-skill/scripts/fetch-docs.py \
    --url https://<docs-host>/<docs-path>/ \
    --lib <library> \
    --output <library>/assets/docs-cache \
    --require-html2text

# If install_permission=no and html2text is unavailable:
python opensci-skill/scripts/fetch-docs.py \
    --url https://<docs-host>/<docs-path>/ \
    --lib <library> \
    --output <library>/assets/docs-cache

Use the canonical documentation URL for that library (ReadTheDocs, docs.scipy.org, project docs site, etc.), not a hardcoded hostname pattern. If no hosted docs exist (README-only project), skip fetch-docs.py and rely on local docs/source/docstrings.

Large library docs (scipy, scikit-learn, pandas, etc.): the default --max-pages 100 covers only a fraction of large doc sites. For comprehensive coverage use --max-pages 300 or higher, or target a subsection URL (e.g., https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/) to focus on API pages.

Asset triage for large outputs [Light+]

Do not read large assets end-to-end (assets/api-dump.md, full assets/docs-cache/). Use targeted retrieval:

1. Start from the current domain's symbol list.
2. Search only for matching symbols/paths in assets/.
3. Read narrow windows around matches and extract evidence.
4. Tag unresolved claims as [UNVERIFIED: verify against <source>].

This keeps context usage bounded and improves factual precision.

Medium/Heavy mode — also gather local RST [Medium+]

# First locate conf.py — common locations: doc/, docs/, doc/source/, docs/source/.
#   find /path/to/library -name conf.py -not -path "*/.*"
# Point --source at the directory that CONTAINS conf.py (not the repo root).
# If no local docs exist (README-only library), skip this step and rely on fetch-docs.py.
python opensci-skill/scripts/fetch-local-rst.py \
    --source /path/to/library/doc \
    --output <library>/assets/docs-cache

Auto-generated API pages (e.g., doc/modules/generated/, doc/api/generated/) are only present after make html has been run. If the directory is absent in a fresh checkout, skip it and fall back to source docstrings via extract-api-patterns.py.

After fetching docs, locate changelog/migration files. Common locations: CHANGELOG.md, CHANGES.rst, HISTORY.rst, NEWS.rst, RELEASES.md, doc/changes/, doc/whats_new/, docs/changelog/, doc/release_notes.rst. If location is unclear: find /path/to/library -maxdepth 3 -iname "change*" -o -iname "history*" -o -iname "news*" -o -iname "release*" | grep -v __pycache__. Append their locations to assets/version.txt:

changelog: doc/changes/   # or CHANGES.rst, HISTORY.rst, etc.

Consult the most recent changelog entry for any deprecations or API changes that affect the current version.

Sphinx-Gallery examples: Check conf.py for sphinx_gallery_conf['examples_dirs'] to find the canonical examples directory (often examples/, doc/examples/, or tutorials/). If that key is absent, scan for .py files with # %% cell markers or # sphinx_gallery_thumbnail_number headers. These are high-value real-usage patterns not typically included in RST docs. Note their paths in assets/version.txt (e.g., examples_dir: examples/) and copy representative scripts to assets/ for reference. Jupyter notebooks: Check examples/, notebooks/, and docs/tutorials/ for .ipynb files — many libraries ship tutorial notebooks instead of (or in addition to) Sphinx-Gallery scripts. Treat them as equivalent real-usage pattern sources. Note their paths in assets/version.txt (e.g., notebooks_dir: notebooks/).

Heavy mode — full source traversal [Heavy]

python opensci-skill/scripts/extract-api-patterns.py \
    --package <library> \
    --output <library>/assets/api-dump.md \
    --max-depth 2

For Heavy mode, also manually read source files for any module >500 lines. Link functions to papers where docstrings cite them (record as # Paper: <title or DOI> in assets/module-map.md).

Do NOT write from memory alone. Verify every non-trivial claim against assets/. Mark anything unverified: [UNVERIFIED: verify against <source>]

Step 2.5 — Build Dictionary Assets [Light+]

Generate symbol lookup assets for dictionary-style retrieval.

# Runtime mode (installed package; preferred for signatures):
python opensci-skill/scripts/build-symbol-index.py \
    --package <library> \
    --max-depth 2 \
    --output-index <library>/assets/symbol-index.md \
    --output-jsonl <library>/assets/symbol-index.jsonl \
    --cards-dir <library>/assets/symbol-cards

# Source mode (no installs required; AST fallback):
python opensci-skill/scripts/build-symbol-index.py \
    --source /path/to/library/<pkgname> \
    --output-index <library>/assets/symbol-index.md \
    --output-jsonl <library>/assets/symbol-index.jsonl \
    --cards-dir <library>/assets/symbol-cards

Use dictionary assets as first-line retrieval for future tasks:

1. Query assets/symbol-index.jsonl for exact symbol names.
2. Open matching assets/symbol-cards/<module>.md entries.
3. Open source files only if implementation details are required.

---

Step 3 — Domain Split [Light+]

Identify 5–10 functional domains from the module map and docs (use 2–4 for very small libraries). Each domain becomes one references/<domain>.md file.

Ask:

• What are the major user-facing workflows? (e.g., I/O, preprocessing, fitting, visualization)
• What submodules or classes anchor each workflow?
• What is out of scope for typical use?

Also check pyproject.toml for a [tool.importlinter] section — if present, its contracts precisely document the intended module layering and dependency rules, and should be treated as authoritative input to domain boundary decisions.

Large library scope (>100 submodules, e.g., scipy, scikit-learn, pandas):

• For coverage_profile: workflow, keep narrative coverage to 5–10 high-value submodules and add a ## Scope note listing out-of-scope areas.
• For coverage_profile: dictionary|hybrid, still generate broad symbol index assets (symbol-index.*, symbol-cards/) even if narrative references remain scoped.

---

Step 4 — Write references/ Files

Use references/reference-file-template.md as the skeleton. For each file:

• Mode-conditional depth (see depth table at top of template)
• One cohesive functional domain per file
• TOC if file will exceed 100 lines
• No links to other references/ files (one level deep)
• Data-dependency fallback: if examples require .hdf5, .fif, or other data files, provide a synthetic-data fallback block:

# DATA DEPENDENCY: real usage requires an external data file (e.g., .hdf5, .fif, .zarr).
# Synthetic fallback for API verification:
import numpy as np
data = np.random.rand(100, 3)          # mimics real input shape/dtype
result = <library>.<function>(data)    # replace with real file-loading call
# e.g.: result = <library>.load('<datafile>')

If the API expects a library-specific container (not a raw ndarray), build a minimal valid typed object instead of forcing NumPy input. Prefer official toy datasets or constructors when available.

# Typed fallback pattern for structured APIs
# Example idea: construct the smallest valid object accepted by the function.
# Do not pass bare NumPy arrays when the API expects a rich container type.
obj = <library>.<ContainerClass>(<minimal_valid_fields>)
result = <library>.<function>(obj)

Optional-dependency fallback: If a function requires an optional install extra (e.g., <library>[plot], <library>[viz], <library>[io]), either (a) wrap the example in try/except ImportError with an explanatory comment, or (b) prefix the example with # REQUIRES: pip install <pkg>[<extra>]. Use the [REQUIRES: pkg[extra]] annotation tag in the signature block (defined in references/reference-file-template.md).

# REQUIRES: pip install <library>[<extra>]
try:
    from <library> import <optional_module>
    <optional_module>.<function>(data)
except ImportError:
    print("Install <library>[<extra>] for this feature.")

---

Step 5 — Write Target Skill's SKILL.md

Use references/skill-template.md as the skeleton. Non-negotiable rules:

Rule	Detail
Frontmatter fields	name and description only — no other fields
name format	^[a-z][a-z0-9-]*$, matches directory name, no --, ≤64 chars
description role	Primary trigger — include what + when + concrete keywords, ≤1024 chars
Coverage profile	assets/version.txt includes coverage_profile and generated outputs follow that profile
Body size	≤500 lines total
Runnable snippets	All Quick Start code must run without modification, or have explicit data-dependency fallback
Dictionary assets	For `coverage_profile: dictionary
Reference depth	One level only — references/*.md may not chain to other reference files
Confidence tagging	[UNVERIFIED: verify against <source>] on any unconfirmed claim
No trigger section in body	Never add "When to Use" or "Trigger" section to SKILL.md body
Token economy	Keep niche/library-specific content aggressively; cut generic Python boilerplate
No forbidden files	Never create README.md, CHANGELOG.md, etc. inside skill folders
## Version section	Target skill's SKILL.md must contain a ## Version section with exact version string (see references/skill-template.md). All Quick Start code blocks must include a comment: # tested against <pkg>==X.Y.Z

---

Step 6 — Quality Gate

Run through references/authoring-checklist.md before declaring done. Every item must pass. Zero exceptions.

For Medium/Heavy modes, execute snippet verification before delivery:

python opensci-skill/scripts/verify-snippets.py --root <library> --fail-fast

For coverage_profile: dictionary|hybrid, verify dictionary assets exist and are populated before delivery.

---

References

• references/authoring-checklist.md — Pre-delivery quality gate (run before every commit)
• references/skill-template.md — Copy-paste SKILL.md skeleton for a new library skill
• references/reference-file-template.md — Copy-paste skeleton for a single references/<domain>.md
• scripts/fetch-docs.py — Crawl official docs site → assets/docs-cache/
• scripts/fetch-local-rst.py — Walk local Sphinx RST directory → assets/docs-cache/
• scripts/extract-api-patterns.py — Extract public API signatures → assets/api-dump.md
• scripts/build-symbol-index.py — Build symbol-index.jsonl + symbol-cards/ dictionary assets
• scripts/map-modules.py — Map package structure and __init__.py imports → assets/module-map.md
• scripts/verify-snippets.py — Execute fenced Python blocks in SKILL.md + references/*.md