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Agent skill

Focs Related Work

by brycewang-stanford in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

A skill your agent uses when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC…

MITAuto-check passedResearch & Science

Install Focs Related Work

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills focs-related-work --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/FOCS-Skills/skills/focs-related-work .claude/skills/focs-related-work && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
focs-related-work
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
712 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC…

  • Works in 4 steps: Every bibliography entry checked against… → Every "best known bound" claim paired… → Every reliance on an external theorem… → …
  • Citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins
  • SKILL.md covers The lineage table, Citing theory literature…, Concurrent and independent work and Self-citation under double-blind, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Focs Related Work is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC record, citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins, handling concurrent preprints, and keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Research & Science, covering Literature review, Academic paper search and Citation management. It works with arXiv. The repository describes itself as: Journal-specific Claude Code/Codex skill packs covering mainstream journals — AER, QJE, Nature, Cell, 管理世界, 经济研究 & 200+ more — your fast track to getting published. ｜ 覆盖主流期刊的… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins
  • Handling concurrent preprints
  • Keeping self-citation double-blind-safe

Example prompts

  • “/focs-related-work”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Every bibliography entry checked against dblp or the publisher page — no
  2. Every "best known bound" claim paired with a citation dated within the
  3. Every reliance on an external theorem carries theorem number and version
  4. arXiv swept for the last six months of your keywords; concurrent work

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 932eb23. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bibtex).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Focs Related Work loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 81 tokens; SKILL.md has 712 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~81
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills at commit 932eb23, republished under its MIT licence (© brycewang-stanford). 712 words, ~1,404 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/focs-related-work/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
focs-related-work
description
Use when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC record, citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins, handling concurrent preprints, and keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.

At FOCS the bibliography sits inside the guaranteed-read set — the 2026 CFP promises committee attention to the abstract, the references, and the first ten pages (checked 2026-07-08). Theory reviewers routinely open a submission's reference list first, to place the paper in a lineage they already know. This skill treats related work as lineage engineering, not as a courtesy section.

The lineage table

For each headline theorem, reconstruct its history as a table before writing a word of prose. The table becomes the skeleton of the related-work section and a private audit of your novelty claim:

YearBound / resultVenue + version of recordTechnique
1998$O(n^2)$FOCS '98 → journal '01spectral partition
2011$O(n^{1.5})$STOC '11 (arXiv v3 = full)flow rounding
2023$O(n^{1+o(1)})$, randomizedFOCS '23 (arXiv only full proofs)(their name)
this workdeterministic $O(n^{1+o(1)})$—(your name)

Rules the table enforces: the "version of record" column forces you to learn where each proof actually lives (the conference version often omits it); the technique column reveals whether your delta is a new bound or a new method — the committee weighs those differently.

Citing theory literature correctly

  • Pin versions. When a proof you rely on exists only in a preprint, cite the specific arXiv version, because v4 may have repaired — or broken — the lemma you use:
bibtex
@misc{doe-widget-2024,
  author        = {Jane Doe and Wei Ren},
  title         = {Widget Sparsifiers in Almost-Linear Time},
  year          = {2024},
  eprint        = {2403.01234v3},
  archiveprefix = {arXiv},
  note          = {Full version of a FOCS 2024 paper; Lemma 5.2 cited
                   from v3 -- statement differs in v1--v2}
}
  • Distinguish the twins. FOCS and STOC records are chronically confused in bibliographies; verify every conf/focs/ vs conf/stoc/ attribution on dblp rather than copying a .bib entry from a survey. A committee member who catches a misattributed classic discounts the rest of your scholarship.
  • Cite both versions when both matter. Standard theory form: cite the conference announcement for priority and the journal/arXiv full version for the proofs, in one entry ("Conference version in FOCS 2019; full version in SIAM J. Comput. 2022").
  • ECCC has first-class status in complexity; treat an ECCC technical report as citable and version-pinned exactly like arXiv.

Concurrent and independent work

Theory's arXiv-first culture makes collisions visible early. House norms:

  • A preprint appearing before your submission date must be engaged, even if only weeks old; "we were unaware" reads as "we did not check arXiv".
  • Genuine independence is stated plainly and generously: one paragraph, what they prove, what you prove, where the techniques differ. Committees reward gracious handling and punish burying.
  • If the concurrent result subsumes yours, say so to yourselves honestly before the committee does — a partially-subsumed paper can survive on its technique if the overview says which parts remain novel (focs-writing-style).
Show full SKILL.md (300 more words)Show less

Self-citation under double-blind

FOCS has run double-blind for multiple cycles. The operating rule: your own prior work is ordinary literature. Cite it in the third person, with no possessives, and never structure the paper so that understanding it requires knowing the prior paper is yours. If your submission is the strengthening of your own arXiv preprint, cite the preprint as an independent object; the CFP's stated aim is unbiased first judgment, not unbreakable anonymity — but the prose must not do the unmasking itself.

The reference list as a guaranteed-read surface

Because FOCS promises committee attention to the references themselves, treat the bibliography's form as reviewed prose:

  • Consistent venue naming (decide once: "FOCS 2014" or "55th FOCS" — not both), full author lists, and no "et al." truncation in entries.
  • Dead giveaways of haste — [Anonymous, 2023] placeholders, duplicate entries with different keys, arXiv entries for papers long since published — each costs credibility with the one reader who sees only abstract, references, and ten pages.
  • Order citations within a bracket chronologically so lineage sentences read as history: "[12, 31, 7]" forces the reviewer to reconstruct the timeline you should have presented.
  • A reference list that omits the obvious experts is also a signal — the committee infers whom you expect as reviewers, and gaps look strategic even when they are accidental.

Pre-submission citation audit

  1. Every bibliography entry checked against dblp or the publisher page — no entries inherited untested from other papers' .bib files.
  2. Every "best known bound" claim paired with a citation dated within the last year — improvements you missed are the most common review correction.
  3. Every reliance on an external theorem carries theorem number and version (this doubles as the checkability audit in focs-reproducibility).
  4. arXiv swept for the last six months of your keywords; concurrent work engaged, not omitted.

© brycewang-stanford, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in FOCS-Skills/skills/focs-related-work of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

Focs Related Work next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Focs Related Work compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Focs Related Work this skillbrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills1.2k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Literature Reviewneflibata-feng/MyArxiv-Agent12620 repos~5.9kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Systematic Literature Review Builderbytedance/deer-flow84k2 repos~4.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Paper Research on arXivXiaomiMiMo/MiMo-Code14k—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Literature Review AgentAr9av/PaperOrchestra6791 repos~5.2kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Arxiv MCP Serverblazickjp/arxiv-mcp-server3.2k—~353Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Focs Related Work

What does Focs Related Work do?

A skill your agent uses when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC…. Focs Related Work is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when building the related-work and citation apparatus of a FOCS (IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science) paper — tracing result lineages across the FOCS/STOC record, citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins, handling concurrent preprints, and keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.

When should I use Focs Related Work?

Focs Related Work fits situations like: citing arXiv/ECCC full versions with version pins; handling concurrent preprints; keeping self-citation double-blind-safe.

How do I install Focs Related Work in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (FOCS-Skills/skills/focs-related-work in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .claude/skills/focs-related-work in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Focs Related Work in Codex?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (FOCS-Skills/skills/focs-related-work in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .agents/skills/focs-related-work in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Focs Related Work in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill focs-related-work -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/focs-related-work, .gemini/skills/focs-related-work, .github/skills/focs-related-work and .opencode/skills/focs-related-work in your project.

What does Focs Related Work need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Focs Related Work is instructions for the agent only.

Does Focs Related Work access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Focs Related Work safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Focs Related Work use?

Focs Related Work is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Focs Related Work use?

About 1.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Focs Related Work?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Focs Related Work: Literature Review (neflibata-feng/MyArxiv-Agent, 126 stars), Systematic Literature Review Builder (bytedance/deer-flow, 84k stars), Paper Research on arXiv (XiaomiMiMo/MiMo-Code, 14k stars) and Literature Review Agent (Ar9av/PaperOrchestra, 679 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Focs Related Work?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,231 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2,387 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 27, 2026.

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.