Paper to Skill

Convert a paper into a reusable knowledge-source skill with a focused SKILL.md and optional references.

When to Use

• A user provides a paper PDF and wants persistent reuse across sessions.
• A user wants a paper distilled into actionable guidance, caveats, and decision rules.
• A user wants project-specific terminology/thresholds from a paper auto-loaded when relevant.

Inputs to Collect

1. Paper source: uploaded PDF, local file path, or URL.
2. Project context: what decisions/tasks the paper should guide.
3. Trigger language: how users naturally ask for this topic.
4. Priority sections: any must-include sections/results.

If project context is unclear, continue anyway and infer likely trigger contexts from the paper.

Workflow

Step 1: Extract text

Use the most reliable extraction path for the source:

• Uploaded PDF in context: read it directly.
• Local PDF path: prefer Marker for academic papers.
• URL: fetch content; for arXiv use

  https://arxiv.org/html/<id>

  when possible.

Recommended command (no install required):

# Marker (best default for academic PDFs)
uvx marker_single path/to/paper.pdf --output_dir /tmp/paper_out/

Fallback extraction:

uv run --with pdfplumber python - <<'PY'
import pdfplumber
from pathlib import Path

pdf_path = Path("paper.pdf")
out_path = Path("/tmp/paper.md")

with pdfplumber.open(pdf_path) as pdf:
    text = "\n\n".join(page.extract_text() or "" for page in pdf.pages)
out_path.write_text(text)
print(out_path)
PY

For scanned PDFs, use OCR (

uvx marker_single --force_ocr

).

Step 2: Analyze for reusable knowledge

Extract only what improves future decisions:

• Core contribution (what is novel and why it matters)
• Paper-specific concepts/terms/notation
• Quantitative findings (exact numbers/thresholds)
• Conditions and assumptions
• Failure modes and practical caveats
• Direct "when X do Y" guidance

Step 3: Distill (do not summarize loosely)

Include high-signal, project-relevant knowledge only:

• Include: claims, methods, numbers, decision rules, limitations.
• Exclude: generic background, boilerplate, verbose related-work prose.
• Organize by usage context, not paper section order.

Step 4: Create the skill directory

Create:

<paper-slug>/
├── SKILL.md
└── references/
    ├── full-content.md   (optional)
    ├── figures.md        (optional)
    └── proofs.md         (optional)

Keep

SKILL.md

compact (<500 lines). Move long details into

references/

and link them.

Step 5: Write SKILL.md

Use this structure:

---
name: <paper-slug>
description: >
  Provides <domain knowledge> from <Paper Title> (<Year>).
  Use when working on <task A>, <task B>, or <task C>.
  Also trigger when user mentions <term 1>, <term 2>, <term 3>.
---

# <Paper Title>
**<Authors> · <Venue> · <Year>** · [<DOI/arXiv>](<link>)

## What this paper contributes
...

## Key concepts
...

## Main findings
...

## How to apply this
...

## Caveats and failure modes
...

## Quick reference
...

Step 6: Validate quality

• Description matches real user/project wording.
• Includes paper-specific knowledge, not generic field lore.
• Includes key numbers/thresholds when relevant.
• Includes caveats/failure modes.
• Keeps SKILL.md concise and actionable.

Deliverable

Provide:

1. Skill install location (default: project-local

   .agents/skills/<paper-slug>/

   ).
2. Claude compatibility symlink at

   .claude/skills/<paper-slug>

   pointing to

   .agents/skills/<paper-slug>

   .
3. 2-3 example prompts that should trigger the skill.
4. Any optional references that should be loaded on-demand.

Use this setup command:

mkdir -p .agents/skills .claude/skills
ln -sfn ../../.agents/skills/<paper-slug> .claude/skills/<paper-slug>