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wubing2023/paperspine

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

220PythonAudience · researcherComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

Skill suite for Codex and Claude Code that drives a structured academic-paper rewrite or build, producing a full audit trail of motivation, evidence, and rationale.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((PaperSpine))
    Inputs
      Existing manuscript
      Raw notes
      Figures
      Target venue
    Outputs
      main.tex
      references.bib
      writing_rationale_matrix
      docx pdf
    Workflows
      Rewrite mode
      Build mode
      Translation pass
    Tech Stack
      Python
      LaTeX
      Claude skills
      Codex skills
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Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Rewrite an existing draft for a target journal with a documented rationale matrix

USE CASE 2

Build a conference paper from raw notes, figures, and experiment summaries

USE CASE 3

Generate paired English and Chinese versions of a technical report

What is it built with?

PythonLaTeXPowerShellMarkdown

How does it compare?

wubing2023/paperspinenvlabs/mobilitygenklotzkette/claude-fuer-deutsches-recht
Stars220207255
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Last pushed2026-02-17
MaintenanceMaintained
Setup difficultymoderatehardeasy
Complexity3/54/52/5
Audienceresearcherresearcherpm founder

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 1h+

Installer is PowerShell-only and the full pipeline expects LaTeX plus a complete artifact set before producing main.tex.

MIT license, allowing free use, modification, and redistribution with attribution.

In plain English

PaperSpine is a writing skill suite for two AI coding hosts, Codex and Claude Code, aimed at people writing academic or technical papers. The pitch is that it is not a polishing tool. Before the agent writes anything, it is asked to learn the target scene, for example a specific journal or conference style, and to study strong recent examples in the same field. Then every unit of the manuscript it plans or changes is recorded with a reason. The supported target scenes are journal papers, conference papers, course or technical reports and reviews, and competition papers. There are two equally weighted workflows. One is rewriting an existing manuscript without treating the task as cosmetic editing. The other is building a paper from a folder of raw materials such as notes, figures, PDFs, data summaries, partial drafts, and experiment descriptions. Output can be in English or Chinese, and English runs can also produce a translation package containing Chinese versions of the intermediate artifacts and the final Markdown. The repository is laid out so that dist/codex/paper-spine is a single bundled skill folder for Codex, while dist/claude/skills/ contains a flat suite of seven smaller skills for Claude Code (intake, research, rewrite, build, latex, audit, and an orchestrator), plus slash-command helpers under dist/claude/commands/. Shared scripts and references sit in src/. A Windows PowerShell installer (install.ps1) copies the right pieces into either ~/.codex/skills/ or ~/.claude/skills/, and there is also a Claude Code plugin manifest under .claude-plugin so users can install via /plugin marketplace add and /plugin install. A complete run produces an audit trail under paper_rewriting_output/ rather than just a final document. The artifacts include a research dossier, motivation candidates and a confirmed motivation, a source inventory, an evidence bank, a figure asset map, a claim register, a section blueprint, a rewrite matrix, a revision audit, and the final paper as main.tex with references.bib and optional .docx and .pdf outputs. The central artifact is writing_rationale_matrix.md, which has to explain unit by unit what each section does, how it serves the confirmed motivation, what was learned from examples, what evidence supports it, and what final checks should pass. Quality is enforced by Python scripts: artifact_check.py validates the artifact set, latex_guard.py checks the LaTeX file, and word_guard.py checks the Word output. The README also lists what PaperSpine tries to prevent, including sentence-by-sentence polishing with no logic change, treating different genres as the same, writing before confirming the motivation, and adding unsupported claims. License is MIT.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show the seven Claude Code skills in PaperSpine and the order an orchestrator should call them in
Prompt 2
Walk me through install.ps1 placing the skill bundle into ~/.claude/skills on Windows
Prompt 3
Explain what writing_rationale_matrix.md must contain for each section before LaTeX generation
Prompt 4
List what artifact_check.py validates and how to fix a missing evidence_bank artifact

Frequently asked questions

What is paperspine?

Skill suite for Codex and Claude Code that drives a structured academic-paper rewrite or build, producing a full audit trail of motivation, evidence, and rationale.

What language is paperspine written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, LaTeX, PowerShell.

What license does paperspine use?

MIT license, allowing free use, modification, and redistribution with attribution.

How hard is paperspine to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 1h+ to a first successful run.

Who is paperspine for?

Mainly researcher.

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