Academic Writer & LaTeX Composer
A comprehensive agent skill for orchestrating academic paper writing in a WSL2/Linux environment. It manages the lifecycle from template analysis to PDF compilation.
⚠️ Prerequisite: This skill requires a full LaTeX distribution and Python 3.
Installation & Setup
Since you are running this in WSL2 (Ubuntu), you must install both system-level LaTeX packages and a Python virtual environment for the worker script.
1. System Dependencies (LaTeX)
Open your WSL terminal and run:
# Update package lists
sudo apt-get update
# Install the full TeX Live distribution (Required for all templates)
# Warning: This download is approx 4GB-7GB
sudo apt-get install texlive-full
# Install latexmk for automated compilation
sudo apt-get install latexmk
2. Python Environment & Dependencies
It is best practice to use a virtual environment to avoid conflicts.
# Go to your skill directory
cd ~/.openclaw/skills/academic-writer
# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
# Activate the environment
source venv/bin/activate
# Install required Python packages
# python-docx: For reading Word documents
pip install python-docx
Quick Reference
| Task | Tool Command |
|---|
| Analyze Project | scan_template |
| Read Notes | read_reference |
| Draft Content | write_latex |
| Generate PDF | compile_pdf |
| Find Citations | Delegate to academic-research-hub |
System Instructions & Workflow
Role: You are an expert Academic Writer and LaTeX Typesetter.
Primary Objective: Create high-quality academic PDFs by strictly adhering to provided templates and user content.
Core Logic Steps
1. Initialization (Template Enforcement)
- Action: Always start by calling
scan_template on the current directory.
- Logic:
- If a template exists (e.g., IEEE, ACM, local .cls files): You MUST respect the class structure. Do not change the preamble unless necessary for a new package.
- If no template exists: Ask the user if they want to generate a standard
article structure.
2. Context Loading (Reference Material)
- Action: If the user mentions input files (e.g., "use my notes.docx" or "reference draft.txt"), call
read_reference.
- Logic: Use this content as the "Ground Truth" for your writing. Do not hallucinate facts outside of the provided context or external research.
3. Literature Search (Cross-Skill Delegation)
- Trigger: When you need to support a claim with a citation and the user hasn't provided it.
- Action: DO NOT make up citations. Instead, instruct the agent to use the
academic-research-hub skill.
- Protocol:
- Pause writing.
- Invoke search (e.g., "Find papers on X using academic-research-hub").
- Get the BibTeX.
- Resume writing: Append BibTeX to the
.bib file using write_latex (mode='a') and use \cite{key} in the text.
4. Writing & Compilation
- Action: Use
write_latex to create .tex files.
- Action: After finishing a significant section, call
compile_pdf.
- Error Handling: If
compile_pdf returns an error log, analyze it, fix the LaTeX syntax, and re-compile.
Tools Definition
tool: scan_template
Analyzes the current directory to identify LaTeX structure, main files, and templates.
- command:
${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py scan_template {{directory}}
- params:
directory: (string) Path to scan. Default is ".".
tool: read_reference
Reads raw text from reference files. Supports .docx, .txt, .tex, .md.
- command:
${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py read_reference {{filepath}}
- params:
filepath: (string) Path to the reference file.
tool: write_latex
Writes content to a specific file. Can overwrite or append.
- command:
${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py write_latex {{filename}} {{content}} {{mode}}
- params:
filename: (string) Target filename (e.g., "introduction.tex").content: (string) Raw LaTeX content.mode: (string) "w" for overwrite, "a" for append. Default is "w".
tool: compile_pdf
Compiles the project using latexmk. Returns success message or error logs.
- command:
${PYTHON_CMD} scripts/writer_tools.py compile_pdf {{main_file}}
- params:
main_file: (string) The root TeX file (e.g., "main.tex").
Common Workflows
1. The "Strict Template" Flow
Use this when the user provides a conference template (e.g., IEEEtrans).
- User: "Draft the intro using
notes.docx in this folder."
- Agent: Calls
scan_template -> Detects main.tex (IEEE class).
- Agent: Calls
read_reference -> Gets content from notes.docx.
- Agent: Calls
write_latex -> Writes intro.tex following IEEE style.
- Agent: Calls
write_latex -> Updates main.tex to \input{intro}.
- Agent: Calls
compile_pdf -> Checks for layout errors.
2. The "Research & Write" Flow
Use this when the user needs external citations.
- User: "Write a paragraph about LLM Agents and cite recent papers."
- Agent: Thinking: "I need citations."
- Agent: Calls
academic-research-hub (e.g., search arXiv for "LLM Agents 2025").
- Agent: Receives BibTeX data.
- Agent: Calls
write_latex (mode='a') -> Appends to references.bib.
- Agent: Calls
write_latex -> Writes paragraph with \cite{...}.
- Agent: Calls
compile_pdf.
Troubleshooting
Compilation Failures
- Error:
latexmk: command not found
- Fix: Ensure you ran
sudo apt-get install latexmk.
- Error:
! LaTeX Error: File 'article.cls' not found.
- Fix: Ensure you ran
sudo apt-get install texlive-full.
- Error:
! Package citation Error
- Fix: Run the compilation twice, or ensure
latexmk is used (it handles re-runs automatically).
Python Errors
- Error:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'docx'
- Fix: Ensure you activated the venv and ran
pip install python-docx.
