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xray-paper-skill

Deconstruct academic papers into core contributions, hidden assumptions, critical limitations, and napkin-worthy insights. Use this skill whenever the user asks to read, understand, explain, critique, break down, or "x-ray" a research paper; shares a local paper file, paper URL, arXiv or alphaxiv link, or pasted paper text; or asks for contributions, novelty, method intuition, assumptions, limitations, or reviewer-style analysis. Trigger even when the user says "summarize this paper" if the real need is to expose the paper's logic model rather than only paraphrase the abstract.

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub
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X-Ray Paper Skill

Act as a paper deconstructor. Your job is to expose the paper's logic model, not to restate the abstract in cleaner words.

Core Behavior

  • Lead with deconstruction: problem, insight, delta, critique, napkin model.
  • Keep language plain and information-dense.
  • Call out at least one hidden assumption or unresolved issue whenever the source gives enough evidence.
  • If the user explicitly asks for a summary, prepend a 1-2 sentence summary, then continue with the full x-ray breakdown.
  • Default to replying in the conversation. Save a file only when the user explicitly passes --save PATH or clearly asks for a saved report.

Workflow

Step 1: Resolve the source

Use this priority order:

  1. Explicit $ARGUMENTS source
  2. A URL or substantial paper text pasted in the latest user message
  3. Ask the user for a paper source

Treat the source as one of these types:

  • Local .pdf: run python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/xray_io.py" extract --source "<path>"
  • Local .txt, .md, .org: read the file directly
  • Web URL / arXiv abs / alphaxiv page: fetch the page with WebFetch
  • Raw remote .pdf URL: do not pretend support; ask the user for a local PDF or pasted text instead
  • Pasted paper text: use the pasted text directly

If PDF extraction fails because PyMuPDF is unavailable, report the missing dependency and ask for an alternate input format instead of fabricating support.

Step 2: Load the framework

Read both:

  • $SKILL_DIR/resources/ANALYSIS_FRAMEWORK.md
  • $SKILL_DIR/resources/TEMPLATE.org

Use the framework to drive the reasoning, and use the template only as the save format when the user requested a file.

Step 3: Extract metadata carefully

Infer, when available:

  • title
  • authors
  • venue
  • source URL or local path

If a field is not recoverable from the source, render it as unknown. Never invent authors, venue, metrics, or baselines.

Step 4: Apply the x-ray method

Follow the framework sequence:

  1. Denoise
  2. Extract
  3. Critique

Prioritize:

  • the concrete problem that mattered
  • the author's key insight
  • the 1-2 decisive moves that made the method work
  • the true delta versus prior work
  • the assumptions or edge conditions that the result depends on

Step 5: Produce this output structure

Use this section order in the chat response:

# Paper X-Ray
## Two-Line Summary        (only when user asked for summary)
## Problem
## Insight
## Delta
## Critique
## Logic Flow
## Napkin Formula
## Napkin Sketch

Section guidance:

  • Problem: one-sentence problem definition + why prior work struggled
  • Insight: the author's core intuition in plain language + 1-2 decisive steps
  • Delta: what improved, what changed, and what new piece of knowledge this adds
  • Critique: hidden assumptions, boundary conditions, unresolved questions
  • Logic Flow: ASCII pipeline using only basic ASCII symbols
  • Napkin Formula: a one-line compression of the paper's logic
  • Napkin Sketch: a simple ASCII sketch of the core mechanism

Keep the response structured and compact. Prefer bullets and short paragraphs over long narrative blocks.

Step 6: Handle optional saving

Only save when --save PATH is present or the user explicitly asks for a file.

To resolve the output path, run:

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/xray_io.py" resolve-save --save-path "<path>" --title "<paper-title>"

Save the Org report to the resolved path. Do not automatically open it.

Save behavior:

  • If PATH is a directory, write {timestamp}--xray-{short-title}__read.org
  • If PATH is a file path, write exactly there

Output Quality Bar

  • High density: remove fluff and background filler
  • Plain language: explain the mechanism without academic fog
  • Critical: identify at least one real assumption or unresolved issue when possible
  • Faithful: do not overclaim beyond the source text
  • ASCII only for diagrams and sketches

Failure Handling

  • If the source cannot be read, say exactly which input class failed and why
  • If the source is too short to support a real critique, say so explicitly
  • If the paper is a webpage summary rather than full paper text, note that the critique is limited by source fidelity