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Paper Workbench

  • 29 installs
  • 16 repo stars
  • Updated August 3, 2026
  • bahayonghang/my-claude-code-settings

paper-workbench is a Claude Code skill that normalizes papers into a paper-record and routes them into scan, deep-read, synthesis, and review modes for literature work.

About

paper-workbench is a literature workbench that normalizes papers from arxiv, DOI, PDF, or landing pages into a machine-readable paper-record, then routes them into reading modes like scan, deep-read, card, synthesis, and review. A researcher uses it to skim, deeply read, compare, or build a literature review across many papers. It keeps normalization separate from analysis and never invents page numbers or quotes.

  • Single entrypoint for paper intake: scan, deep-read, card, synthesis, review, plus json/interpret/xray modes
  • Normalizes arxiv, DOI, PDF, and landing-page sources into a reusable paper-record via normalize_paper.py
  • Drives multi-paper synthesis and literature-review outlines against a researcher-profile

Paper Workbench by the numbers

  • 29 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #939 of 1,879 Documentation skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Aug 4, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
At a glance

paper-workbench capabilities & compatibility

Capabilities
paper interpretation · paper interpretation flow · research
Use cases
research · documentation
From the docs

What paper-workbench says it does

Unified entrypoint for paper intake, strategic reading, multi-paper synthesis, and review construction.
SKILL.md
Do not use this skill when the primary job is to implement a paper from its methods into working code. That implementation work is out of scope for this skill.
SKILL.md
npx skills add https://github.com/bahayonghang/my-claude-code-settings --skill paper-workbench

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Listed on Skillselion
Installs29
repo stars16
Last updatedAugust 3, 2026
Repositorybahayonghang/my-claude-code-settings

What it does

Skim, deep-read, compare, or synthesize a set of papers and build a literature-review outline or gap map.

Who is it for?

Reading, comparing, and synthesizing multiple papers into a literature review or gap map.

Skip if: Implementing a paper's method as working code, which it says is out of scope.

When should I use this skill?

When you want to skim, deep-read, card, compare, synthesize, or build a literature review from papers, DOIs, PDFs, or existing paper JSON.

What you get

Normalized paper-record artifacts plus mode outputs like deep reads, cross-paper synthesis, and review outlines.

  • normalized paper-record JSON
  • literature-synthesis artifact
  • review-outline artifact

By the numbers

  • 8 routing modes (scan, deep-read, card, synthesis, review, json, interpret, xray)
  • bundled scripts: normalize_paper.py, workbench_io.py, xray_io.py

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Paper Workbench

Unified entrypoint for paper intake, strategic reading, multi-paper synthesis, and review construction.

Keep paper-record as the normalization layer. Do not merge high-level analysis back into the normalized record.

In the python commands below, <skill-dir> is this skill's base directory,
announced when the skill loads. Substitute that literal path; it is not an
environment variable. Bundled scripts self-locate, so only the path needs to
resolve.

When to use

Use this skill when the job is to:

  • read one paper quickly
  • deeply deconstruct one paper
  • compare or synthesize multiple papers
  • build a review outline or gap map
  • normalize paper sources into reusable machine-readable artifacts

Do not use this skill when the primary job is to implement a paper from its methods into working code. That implementation work is out of scope for this skill.

Public interfaces

  • paper-record — normalized single-paper facts
  • researcher-profile — user research anchor
  • paper-deep-read — single-paper strategic analysis artifact
  • literature-synthesis — cross-paper integration artifact
  • review-outline — literature-review planning artifact

Accepted inputs

  • arXiv IDs and arXiv URLs
  • AlphaXiv URLs
  • DOI strings or doi.org/... URLs
  • local academic PDFs or text files
  • remote PDF URLs
  • paper landing pages that expose a PDF
  • existing paper-record JSON
  • existing researcher-profile, paper-deep-read, literature-synthesis, or

review-outline JSON

Routing workflow

1. Resolve the input class from $ARGUMENTS, the latest user message, or a pasted JSON artifact. 2. If the request is paper-level and not already normalized, run scripts/normalize_paper.py first. 3. Determine the mode from explicit user intent or the defaulting rules below. 4. If the chosen mode is profile-sensitive, load the supplied researcher-profile or collect only the missing fields. 5. Produce the requested mode output. 6. Persist artifacts only when the user asked to save them.

Mode quick guide

Single-paper modes

  • scan
  • Use for “先快速扫一下”, “预判”, or fast worth-reading decisions
  • deep-read
  • Use for “精读这篇”, “深度阅读”, “解构这篇”
  • card
  • Use for “只做卡片”
  • interpret
  • Compatibility path for a lightweight explanation
  • xray
  • Compatibility path for compact critique
  • json
  • Return the normalized paper-record

Cross-paper modes

  • synthesis
  • Use for “整合这几篇”, “对比分析”, “找研究空白”
  • review
  • Use for “搭综述框架”, “写这一段”

Defaulting rules

  • If the user explicitly asks for a machine-readable or saved schema artifact,

default to json

  • If the user provides a single paper and asks to read or analyze it without a

more specific mode, default to scan

  • If the user provides 3 or more papers and asks for integration, default to

synthesis

  • If the user provides exactly 2 papers and asks for integration, run a

comparison-oriented synthesis and mark any gap mapping as provisional

Normalize first

For any paper-like input, run:

python "<skill-dir>/scripts/normalize_paper.py" \
  --source "<paper-source>" \
  --lang "<lang>" \
  --fulltext "<auto|prefer|never>"

Use --save only when the user asked to persist the normalized JSON.

Profile workflow

Before deep-read, card, synthesis, or review, prefer a researcher-profile.

If missing, collect only these fields:

  • research_field
  • core_question
  • thesis (optional)
  • target_tier
  • stage

If the user clearly wants no back-and-forth, proceed with a generic profile-light analysis and explicitly mark that personalization is limited.

If the user wants persistence, create or update the profile with:

python "<skill-dir>/scripts/workbench_io.py" init-profile \
  --path "<profile-path>" \
  --research-field "<field>" \
  --core-question "<question>" \
  --thesis "<optional-thesis>" \
  --target-tier "<target-tier>" \
  --stage "<stage>"

Artifact persistence

When the user asks to save a deep read, synthesis, or review plan, write a JSON artifact plus an optional Markdown or Org sidecar:

python "<skill-dir>/scripts/workbench_io.py" save-artifact \
  --workspace "<workspace-dir>" \
  --artifact-type "<paper-deep-read|literature-synthesis|review-outline>" \
  --title "<artifact-title>" \
  --payload-file "<json-payload-file>" \
  --profile-path "<optional-profile-path>" \
  --source-record "<path-to-paper-record>" \
  --sidecar-file "<optional-md-or-org>"

Output rules

  • Separate 作者观点 from 系统分析
  • Never invent page numbers, quotations, or empirical details
  • If a requested quote or page anchor is missing, use [信息待核实]
  • synthesis and review must integrate arguments across papers rather than

serially summarizing each paper

  • review paragraphs must use PEEL as a micro-argument structure, not a

citation list

  • If the input evidence is too thin for the requested mode, downgrade the claim

strength instead of pretending full coverage

Edge cases

  • Mixed raw sources + existing JSON artifacts:
  • normalize raw sources first, then merge at the artifact layer
  • More than one paper but user asks for deep-read:
  • either choose the clearly primary paper or ask which one to focus on
  • DOI metadata only and no reachable full text:
  • return the strongest metadata available and mark missing full-text facts

References

  • references/routing.md — source classification and routing logic
  • references/schema.md — canonical paper-record contract
  • references/artifacts.mdresearcher-profile and higher-level artifacts
  • references/migration.md — compatibility and alias mapping
  • references/ANALYSIS_FRAMEWORK.md — x-ray five-dimension critique framework
  • references/template-paper.org — Org sidecar template for deep-read / interpret output
  • references/template-xray.org — Org sidecar template for x-ray critique output
  • references/modes/json.md — machine-readable output rules
  • references/modes/interpret.md — lightweight explanation path
  • references/modes/xray.md — compact critique path
  • references/modes/scan.md — single-paper quick triage
  • references/modes/deep-read.md — full single-paper deconstruction
  • references/modes/card.md — literature card only
  • references/modes/synthesis.md — cross-paper integration
  • references/modes/review.md — literature-review planning and writing

Related skills

FAQ

What modes does paper-workbench support?

Single-paper scan, deep-read, card, interpret, xray, json, and cross-paper synthesis and review modes.

What sources can it ingest?

arXiv IDs and URLs, AlphaXiv URLs, DOIs, local or remote PDFs, landing pages exposing a PDF, and existing paper-record or artifact JSON.

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