roymondliao/paper-prereq-analyzer

Overview

This skill analyzes an arXiv paper and produces a prioritized list of prerequisite papers you should read first. It extracts references, classifies their importance, and augments the list with related work discovered via PASA searches. The output is a saved Markdown report with recommended reading order and summary statistics.

How this skill works

The skill accepts an arXiv URL or paper ID, validates the input, and reads the paper (title, abstract, sections, full references, and key topics). It then classifies each reference by importance and topic, marks methodology citations, and optionally runs PASA queries to find additional relevant papers. Finally it generates and saves a Markdown prerequisite report named ./prereq-report-{paper-id}.md.

When to use it

• You need a compact roadmap before reading a dense or technical arXiv paper.
• Preparing a literature review or reading list for a new topic area.
• Prioritizing which background papers to study before implementing a method.
• Checking which references are foundational versus peripheral.

Best practices

• Provide a valid arXiv URL or just the paper ID to avoid input errors.
• Use the HTML abs URL when possible; if references fail to extract, try the PDF link.
• Be prepared for PASA search delays — the skill continues with references if PASA times out.
• Review the generated report and follow the suggested reading order rather than reading references arbitrarily.

Example use cases

• Turn a newly surfaced arXiv paper into a study plan with high/medium/low prerequisite lists.
• Quickly identify methodology sources cited in the paper to reproduce experiments.
• Augment a paper’s reference list with recent related work discovered via PASA.
• Create a syllabus segment that sequences prerequisite readings for a seminar.