tlab

tlab-research

A Claude Code plugin providing agentic research workflows for academic economics projects.

What This Plugin Provides

Component	Count	Description
Skills	17	Research workflow commands (/tlab:commit, /tlab:lit-all, etc.)
Agents	2	Specialist agents (proofreader, verifier)
Rules	5	Project rules synced via SessionStart hook
Hooks	2	File protection + rule sync

Installation

# Add the marketplace
claude plugin marketplace add tasdemir-lab/tlab-research

# Install the plugin (project scope)
claude plugin install tlab@tlab-research --scope project

Available Skills

Project Workflow

Command	Description
/tlab:commit [msg]	Stage, commit, create PR, merge to main
/tlab:compile-latex [file]	3-pass LaTeX compilation (pdflatex/xelatex + bibtex)
/tlab:data-analysis [dataset]	End-to-end R analysis workflow
/tlab:context-status	Show session health + context usage
/tlab:deep-audit	Repository-wide consistency audit

Literature & References

Command	Description
/tlab:lit-all [topic]	Parallel multi-database literature sweep (uses paper_find_server + Zotero MCP)
/tlab:lit-check [concern]	Three-dimension literature check (methods, context, reference papers)
/tlab:lit-review-assistant [topic]	Search, summarize, and synthesize literature
/tlab:zotero-import [args]	Import references into Zotero with duplicate detection (requires Zotero MCP)
/tlab:papercheck [paper]	Extract page-anchored evidence from PDFs on specific threats (requires Antigravity CLI)

Writing & Tables

Command	Description
/tlab:proofread [file]	Grammar/typo/consistency review (report only)
/tlab:validate-bib	Cross-reference citations vs bibliography
/tlab:latex-tables	Generate publication-ready regression tables in LaTeX
/tlab:r-to-latex-tables	Convert R regression output to LaTeX tables (fixest/lm/glm)
/tlab:quarto-academic-gotchas	Troubleshoot Quarto theorem numbering, cross-refs, and includes

Review & Ideation

Command	Description
/tlab:review-paper [file]	Referee-style manuscript review with rubric scoring
/tlab:review-r [file]	R code review for quality, reproducibility, and domain correctness
/tlab:econ-ideate [data|corpus|resume|status]	8-phase research idea pipeline (requires NotebookLM CLI + Zotero MCP)

Example Prompts

econ-ideate

# Data-first: start from a dataset, find research questions
/tlab:econ-ideate data data/raw/turkstat_lfs_2005_2022.csv --topic-hint "labor market effects of policy"

# Corpus-first: start from a topic, find gaps with data
/tlab:econ-ideate corpus --topic "wage subsidies and employment duration" --from-zotero almp-article

# Resume a previous run that paused at the gap-data matrix
/tlab:econ-ideate resume 20260604-wage-subsidies

lit-all

/tlab:lit-all topic:"staggered difference-in-differences" years:2018-2025

# Or just describe what you need:
"Search all databases for papers on the employment effects of active labor market policies in developing countries"

papercheck

# Check how a specific paper handles a specific threat
"Check whether Autor-Dorn-Hanson (2013) address migration as a confounder — controls vs robustness vs placebo? Use page-anchored quotes."

# Check multiple papers for the same concern
"Do Sjogren & Vikstrom (2015) and Card et al. (2018) address anticipation effects? How exactly?"

lit-check

# Ask a methodological question — the skill classifies the dimension automatically
"How do papers handle pre-trends in staggered DiD?"
"What's the standard for weak instrument testing in labor economics?"
"Should I cluster standard errors at the firm or industry level?"

zotero-import

/tlab:zotero-import --doi 10.1257/aer.20161500
/tlab:zotero-import --file refs.bib
# Or paste BibTeX directly after invoking:
/tlab:zotero-import

review-paper

# Review your own manuscript
/tlab:review-paper paper/index.qmd

# Review an external paper PDF
/tlab:review-paper lit/papers/referee_report_target.pdf

data-analysis

# Full pipeline from exploration to publication-ready output
/tlab:data-analysis data/final/matched_panel.rds

# Or describe the analysis goal:
/tlab:data-analysis "Run DiD on the matched panel, with event study plots and robustness to alternative matching"

Optional MCP Servers

Some skills use MCP servers for database access. Skills degrade gracefully when servers are absent.