paper

Scientific paper writing (Claude Code plugin)

Specialised Claude Code assistance for writing scientific papers in LaTeX (MNRAS, A&A, ApJ, JCAP, PRD). Captures the recipes and pitfalls learned writing real submissions.

What you get

• /paper:explain — always-on knowledge skill. Auto-loads when the conversation is about writing a paper. Covers project layout, citation style, figure pipelines (matplotlib + native TikZ), bibtex, the Makefile/latexmk build, and common pitfalls (abstract citations, TikZ key clashes, matplotlib \textbf without usetex, bibtex @article needing journal=).

• /paper:scaffold <path> [--journal=mnras|aa|apj] — bootstrap a new paper repo with the recommended layout: class file vendored from CTAN, paper.tex skeleton, Makefile, placeholder figures so the document compiles immediately, README, LICENSE, .gitignore.

• /paper:refs <topic1> <topic2> ... | <arxiv_id> ... — populates references.bib via the valency-mcp server (arxiv + CrossRef-backed search + bibtex export). Handles rename to short cite keys, fixes common bibtex issues (@article without journal=, HTML tags in titles, etc.).

• /paper:build [--pages=N-M] [--clean] — runs latexmk, surfaces only the errors that matter, reports PDF page count and undefined-reference count. Can render specific pages to PNG for visual review.

• paper-writer subagent — specialist for end-to-end paper writing tasks. Use for heavy multi-step work where draft + figure-generation + build-iteration output would otherwise flood the main thread.

Compose with

This plugin pairs naturally with valency-mcp (for references) and your favourite plotting/code plugin.

Install

In any Claude Code session, run these three commands:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/borisbolliet/paper-claude-plugin.git
/plugin install paper@paper-claude-plugin
/reload-plugins

After /reload-plugins, /paper:explain, /paper:scaffold, /paper:refs, /paper:build show in /help and the paper-writer subagent appears in the Agent picker.

To update later (after I push a new commit):

/plugin uninstall paper@paper-claude-plugin
/plugin marketplace remove paper-claude-plugin
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/borisbolliet/paper-claude-plugin.git
/plugin install paper@paper-claude-plugin
/reload-plugins

Environment

• LaTeX: TeX Live 2024 or newer (MacTeX on macOS is fine). latexmk, pdflatex, bibtex, pdfinfo, pdftoppm, pdftotext should be on $PATH.
• Python (for figure generation): your favourite venv, with at least matplotlib.
• valency-mcp connected (for /paper:refs).

Try it

/paper:scaffold ~/GitHub/my-paper --journal=mnras --title="My great paper"
/paper:refs CosmoPower Tinker mass function FFTLog Hamilton no-U-turn sampler
/paper:build --pages=1-3

Layout

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json    # single-plugin marketplace
plugins/paper/
  .claude-plugin/plugin.json       # plugin manifest
  skills/
    explain/SKILL.md               # always-on knowledge
    explain/reference.md           # loaded on demand
    scaffold/SKILL.md              # /paper:scaffold
    refs/SKILL.md                  # /paper:refs
    build/SKILL.md                 # /paper:build
  agents/
    paper-writer.md                # subagent

License

MIT