research-lit

Research Literature Review

Research topic: $ARGUMENTS

Step 0: Argument Resolution

Before starting the workflow, determine whether $ARGUMENTS is a file path or a plain text topic.

1. Detect file path: Check if $ARGUMENTS (after trimming quotes/whitespace) looks like a file path — i.e., ends with .md, .txt, .pdf, or contains / or \.
2. If it's a file path:
   • Read the file using the Read tool.
   • Extract the research topic, context, constraints, and any scope guidance from the file content.
   • Use the file content as the RESOLVED_TOPIC for all subsequent steps.
   • Preserve any inline overrides appended after the path (e.g., spec.md — sources: local): split on — and pass overrides through.
3. If it's plain text: Use $ARGUMENTS directly as the RESOLVED_TOPIC.

From this point forward, all references to $ARGUMENTS in the workflow mean RESOLVED_TOPIC (the file content or the original text).

Constants

• PAPER_LIBRARY — Local directory containing user's paper collection (PDFs). Check these paths in order:
  1. papers/ in the current project directory
  2. literature/ in the current project directory
  3. Custom path specified by user in CLAUDE.md under ## Paper Library
• MAX_LOCAL_PAPERS = 20 — Maximum number of local PDFs to scan (read first 3 pages each). If more are found, prioritize by filename relevance to the topic.

💡 Overrides:

• /research-lit "topic" — paper library: ~/my_papers/ — custom local PDF path
• /research-lit "topic" — sources: local — only search local PDFs
• /research-lit "topic" — sources: web — only search the web (skip all local)
• /research-lit "topic" — sources: local, web — local PDFs + web search

Data Sources

This skill checks multiple sources in priority order. All are optional — if a source is not configured or not requested, skip it silently.

Source Selection

Parse $ARGUMENTS for a — sources: directive:

• If — sources: is specified: Only search the listed sources (comma-separated). Valid values: local, web, all.
• If not specified: Default to all — search every available source in priority order.