Academic Writer

SKILL.md

---
name: academic-writer
description: "Professional LaTeX writing assistant. Capabilities include: scanning existing LaTeX templates, reading reference materials (Word/Text), drafting content strictly following templates, and compiling PDFs. Triggers include: 'write thesis', 'draft section', 'compile pdf', 'check latex format'. Designed to work in tandem with 'academic-research-hub' for citation retrieval."
license: Proprietary
permissions:
  - shell:exec
env:
  PYTHON_CMD: python3
---

# Academic Writer & LaTeX Composer

A comprehensive agent skill for orchestrating academic paper writing in a WSL2/Linux environment. It manages the lifecycle from template analysis to PDF compilation.

⚠️ **Prerequisite:** This skill requires a full LaTeX distribution and Python 3.

## Installation & Setup

Since you are running this in WSL2 (Ubuntu), you must install both system-level LaTeX packages and a Python virtual environment for the worker script.

### 1. System Dependencies (LaTeX)
Open your WSL terminal and run:

```bash
# Update package lists
sudo apt-get update

# Install the full TeX Live distribution (Required for all templates)
# Warning: This download is approx 4GB-7GB
sudo apt-get install texlive-full

# Install latexmk for automated compilation
sudo apt-get install latexmk
```

### 2. Python Environment & Dependencies
It is best practice to use a virtual environment to avoid conflicts.

```bash
# Go to your skill directory
cd ~/.openclaw/skills/academic-writer

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate the environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Install required Python packages
# python-docx: For reading Word documents
pip install python-docx
```

---

## Quick Reference

| Task | Tool Command |
|------|--------------|
| **Analyze Project** | `scan_template` |
| **Read Notes** | `read_reference` |
| **Draft Content** | `write_latex` |
| **Generate PDF** | `compile_pdf` |
| **Find Citations** | *Delegate to `academic-research-hub`* |

---

## System Instructions & Workflow

**Role:** You are an expert Academic Writer and LaTeX Typesetter.

**Primary Objective:** Create high-quality academic PDFs by strictly adhering to provided templates and user content.

### Core Logic Steps

#### 1. Initialization (Template Enforcement)
*   **Action:** Always start by calling `scan_template` on the current directory.
*   **Logic:**
    *   **If a template exists (e.g., IEEE, ACM, local .cls files):** You MUST respect the class structure. Do not change the preamble unless necessary for a new package.
    *   **If no template exists:** Ask the user if they want to generate a standard `article` structure.

#### 2. Context Loading (Reference Material)
*   **Action:** If the user mentions input files (e.g., "use my notes.docx" or "reference draft.txt"), call `read_reference`.
*   **Logic:** Use this content as the "Ground Truth" for your writing. Do not hallucinate facts outside of the provided context or external research.

#### 3. Literature Search (Cross-Skill Delegation)
*   **Trigger:** When you need to support a claim with a citation and the user hasn't provided it.
*   **Action:** **DO NOT** make up citations. Instead, instruct the agent to use the **`academic-research-hub`** skill.
*   **Protocol:**
    1.  Pause writing.
    2.  Invoke search (e.g., "Find papers on X using academic-research-hub").
    3.  Get the BibTeX.
    4.  Resume writing: Append BibTeX to the `.bib` file using `write_latex` (mode='a') and use `\cite{key}` in the text.

#### 4. Writing & Compilation
*   **Action:** Use `write_latex` to create `.tex` files.
*   **Action:** After finishing a significant section, call `compile_pdf`.
*   **Error Handling:** If `compile_pdf` returns an error log, analyze it, fix the LaTeX syntax, and re-compile.

---

## Tools Definition

### tool: scan_template
Analyzes the current directory to identify LaTeX structure, main files, and templates.
- **command**: `${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py scan_template {{directory}}`
- **params**:
  - `directory`: (string) Path to scan. Default is ".".

### tool: read_reference
Reads raw text from reference files. Supports `.docx`, `.txt`, `.tex`, `.md`.
- **command**: `${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py read_reference {{filepath}}`
- **params**:
  - `filepath`: (string) Path to the reference file.

### tool: write_latex
Writes content to a specific file. Can overwrite or append.
- **command**: `${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py write_latex {{filename}} {{content}} {{mode}}`
- **params**:
  - `filename`: (string) Target filename (e.g., "introduction.tex").
  - `content`: (string) Raw LaTeX content.
  - `mode`: (string) "w" for overwrite, "a" for append. Default is "w".

### tool: compile_pdf
Compiles the project using `latexmk`. Returns success message or error logs.
- **command**: `${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py compile_pdf {{main_file}}`
- **params**:
  - `main_file`: (string) The root TeX file (e.g., "main.tex").

---

## Common Workflows

### 1. The "Strict Template" Flow
Use this when the user provides a conference template (e.g., IEEEtrans).

1.  **User:** "Draft the intro using `notes.docx` in this folder."
2.  **Agent:** Calls `scan_template` -> Detects `main.tex` (IEEE class).
3.  **Agent:** Calls `read_reference` -> Gets content from `notes.docx`.
4.  **Agent:** Calls `write_latex` -> Writes `intro.tex` following IEEE style.
5.  **Agent:** Calls `write_latex` -> Updates `main.tex` to `\input{intro}`.
6.  **Agent:** Calls `compile_pdf` -> Checks for layout errors.

### 2. The "Research & Write" Flow
Use this when the user needs external citations.

1.  **User:** "Write a paragraph about LLM Agents and cite recent papers."
2.  **Agent:** *Thinking:* "I need citations."
3.  **Agent:** **Calls `academic-research-hub`** (e.g., search arXiv for "LLM Agents 2025").
4.  **Agent:** Receives BibTeX data.
5.  **Agent:** Calls `write_latex` (mode='a') -> Appends to `references.bib`.
6.  **Agent:** Calls `write_latex` -> Writes paragraph with `\cite{...}`.
7.  **Agent:** Calls `compile_pdf`.

---

## Troubleshooting

### Compilation Failures
*   **Error:** `latexmk: command not found`
    *   **Fix:** Ensure you ran `sudo apt-get install latexmk`.
*   **Error:** `! LaTeX Error: File 'article.cls' not found.`
    *   **Fix:** Ensure you ran `sudo apt-get install texlive-full`.
*   **Error:** `! Package citation Error`
    *   **Fix:** Run the compilation twice, or ensure `latexmk` is used (it handles re-runs automatically).

### Python Errors
*   **Error:** `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'docx'`
    *   **Fix:** Ensure you activated the venv and ran `pip install python-docx`.