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

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.