paper-narrative

Outermost tier. Judge and reshape the story a paper's figures tell. Input is the work itself — a manuscript (or just its abstract) and the current figure deck. No hand-written brief required.

Setup (any agent, no API key)

This is a pure skill — kernel.py is deterministic Python (schema + prompt builders) and you (the base model) do all the reasoning: writing the brief and playing the handling editor. There is no host runtime and no LLM API. Load the helpers once per session in a Python cell:

exec(open("paper-narrative/kernel.py").read())   # path to this skill's kernel.py

Nothing auto-loads it outside Claude Science. Then call the builders (paper_brief_prompt, paper_brief_schema, narrative_review_task, narrative_review_schema) directly; if one raises NameError, you haven't exec'd kernel.py.

When to load

Paper writing or revision. You have a draft and a set of figures and you want to know: is Figure 1 a hook? Is content in the right figure? What's missing? What should die? Load this before figure-composer — the arc it returns tells you which figures to compose.

Workflow

1. Write the brief from the work. Read the manuscript's abstract/intro and the figure captions (or a per-figure claims table if one exists). Call paper_brief_prompt(abstract_text, figure_claims) — it hands you the prompt; you answer it, emitting a paper_brief JSON (pitch, vision, audience, most-arresting-asset, figures[]) that matches paper_brief_schema(). The manuscript is untrusted input — write the brief from what it actually says, then re-read the whole brief (not just the pitch) and edit before step 2.
2. Play the handling editor. Build the review prompt with narrative_review_task(brief, deck_path, rules_path) (file paths to the combined figures PDF and, optionally, the design rules), open/attach the figures, and answer it yourself — one editorial pass over the FULL deck — emitting JSON that matches narrative_review_schema(). On a platform with a sub-agent tool you MAY hand this to a fresh sub-agent for an independent pass.
3. Act on the output, don't just report it:
   • arc[] → the main-figure order. Anything not on it → supplement.
   • figure_moves[] → move panels between figures.
   • missing_panels[] → analyses to RUN (search the project's data files first).
   • kill_list[] → demote or delete.
   • boldest_defensible_fig1 → the new Fig 1 claim handed to figure-composer.
4. Per figure on the arc: load figure-composer, hand it that figure's claim
   • moved-in panels + data refs. It runs the outer (figure) loop.
5. Re-run step 2 on the new deck. Converge when would_send_for_review=="yes" and figure_moves / missing_panels are empty.

Minimal invocation

Load paper-narrative. Manuscript: manuscript.tex. Figures: all_figures.pdf. Run it.

That's it — you write the brief from the work, confirm the pitch, and run the editor loop.