survey-visuals_skill

Overview

This skill drafts non-prose visual artifacts for a literature survey: timelines and figure specifications grounded in evidence and citation keys from citations/ref.bib. It produces concrete, checkable outputs (outline/timeline.md and outline/figures.md) that a human can render without additional narrative. The outputs are citation-first and strictly free of TODOs or scaffolding.

How this skill works

It reads outline/outline.yml and outline/claim_evidence_matrix.md to select recurring comparison axes and candidate milestones from papers/paper_notes.jsonl. The skill writes a timeline with year -> milestone bullets (each with at least one citation key) and 2–4 figure specs listing purpose, drawable elements, and supporting citation keys from citations/ref.bib. Only citation keys present in citations/ref.bib are used.

When to use it

• You have an outline + claim/evidence matrix and need non-prose visuals (NO PROSE).
• You want a verified timeline of field milestones with citation markers for the writing stage.
• You need figure specs that a designer or author can draw directly from evidence.
• You want to avoid drafting narrative while ensuring visuals are evidence-backed.
• Skip when you only care about prose or when citations/ref.bib is missing.

Best practices

• Pick 2–3 recurring comparison axes from the outline before drafting visuals.
• Prefer fewer, higher-signal milestones; ensure each year bullet has >=1 citation marker.
• Keep figure specs as draw-instructions: purpose, required elements, and supporting citations.
• Do not include narrative explanations or TODO markers in outputs.
• Verify all citation keys against citations/ref.bib; remove any key not present.

Example use cases

• Generate an evidence-backed timeline for the Methods section showing technical milestones by year.
• Produce a multi-panel figure spec comparing evaluation metrics across model families with citation annotations.
• Draft a process flow diagram spec that links algorithmic innovations to key papers for a survey figure.
• Create a deployment timeline mapping datasets, benchmarks, and releases to supporting citations.