A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing…

MITAuto-check passed

Install Itcs Topic Selection

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill itcs-topic-selection -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills itcs-topic-selection --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/ITCS-Skills/skills/itcs-topic-selection .claude/skills/itcs-topic-selection && 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
itcs-topic-selection
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
813 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing…

  • Deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS
  • SKILL.md covers The routing question that…, Sibling-venue routing table, Conceptual shapes ITCS rewards and The three ITCS acceptance tests, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
  • Should be routed to STOC

What it does

Itcs Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing ITCS from its depth-first siblings by the conceptual-novelty test — is this a new question, model, or connection worth asking, rather than the deepest theorem of the year.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.8k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

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

  • Deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS
  • Should be routed to STOC
  • When distinguishing ITCS from its depth-first siblings by the conceptual-novelty test — is this a new question
  • Connection worth asking

Example prompts

  • “/itcs-topic-selection”

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.

    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

Itcs Topic Selection loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 92 tokens; SKILL.md has 813 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~92
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.8k

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). 813 words, ~1,820 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/itcs-topic-selection/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
itcs-topic-selection
description
Use when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing ITCS from its depth-first siblings by the conceptual-novelty test — is this a new question, model, or connection worth asking, rather than the deepest theorem of the year.

ITCS Topic Selection

Decide the venue before drafting, and decide it on the axis ITCS actually selects on. ITCS — the Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science conference — was founded (as Innovations in Computer Science, 2010) to reward conceptual novelty: a new model, a new question, a surprising connection, a direction the field had not thought to take. Its sibling flagships STOC and FOCS reward the deepest, most polished result on questions the field already agrees are hard. A technically strong paper whose real virtue is that it finally proves a known hard theorem is respected and then, often, routed away from ITCS as "not innovative enough" — while a bold, imperfect, genuinely new idea can be accepted here that STOC/FOCS would reject for want of depth.

The routing question that matters most

For most theory papers the decisive question is not "is this good theory?" but "does this paper give the community a new idea, or a stronger result on an existing idea?"

  • If a reader's main takeaway is "I hadn't thought to ask that / model it that way / connect those two areas" — that is an ITCS signal.
  • If the main takeaway is "they finally proved / improved / tightened X" — that is a STOC/FOCS/SODA signal, however elegant.

Both are valuable; ITCS is simply the venue whose PC is briefed to weight the first over the second. When your paper has both a new idea and deep technical results, you have a genuine choice, and the calendar and community fit break the tie.

Sibling-venue routing table

Signal in your projectBetter homeWhy
A new model, definition, question, or connection with a first result showing it is aliveITCSThe conceptual-novelty venue; "innovation" is the selection criterion, not a bonus
The deepest/tightest theorem of the year on an established questionSTOC / FOCSDepth-first general theory flagships; polish and difficulty are rewarded
A new or improved algorithm / data structure, discrete-algorithms flavorSODAAlgorithms-centered; the ACM-SIAM discrete-algorithms community
A complexity result centered on classes, lower bounds, circuit/proof complexityCCCComputational Complexity Conference; specialist depth
A broad EATCS-scope algorithms/automata/logic result, single September-ish cycleICALPTrack A/B breadth; European TCS flagship
A cryptography result with a formal model and reductionsTCC / CRYPTO / EurocryptCrypto-specialist venues; TCC especially for foundational crypto
A result too long, too incremental-over-your-own-prior, or needing full journal treatmentA journal (JACM/SICOMP/ToC/...)No conference deadline or page pressure; simultaneous journal submission is even allowed alongside ITCS

Conceptual shapes ITCS rewards

  • A new model or definition — you hand the community an object it did not have (the non-malleable-codes lineage). The definition is the contribution.
  • A new algorithmic or complexity notion — a fresh way to say what "solving" means (the pseudodeterministic lineage), reorganizing questions people already cared about.
  • A surprising connection — tools from area X attack a problem in area Y that neither had linked (the "quantum money from knots" lineage).
  • A new question at a seam — a problem two mature areas could have posed together but never did (interactive proofs meet learning; verification meets distributed networks).
  • A conceptual reframing or "manifesto-with-teeth" — a position that changes what questions look worth asking, backed by at least one theorem so it is not a mere opinion.
Show full SKILL.md (287 more words)Show less

The three ITCS acceptance tests

Sharpen a borderline verdict with three quick tests the PC will apply:

  • New-question test: after the abstract, does a reader think "I want to work on that" about a question they had not previously posed? If the reaction is instead "impressive that they proved it," the paper is depth-shaped -> STOC/FOCS.
  • Not-empty-not-everything test: a new model is only interesting if it is neither trivial nor all-powerful. Do you have at least one crisp result (a separation, a surprising possibility, an impossibility) proving the model is alive? Without it, ITCS reads the paper as a definition in search of a result.
  • Survives-the-improvement test: if someone later proves a far stronger theorem inside your model, does your framing still get credit? If yes, the idea is the contribution (ITCS). If your paper's whole value is the current bound, route to a depth venue where the bound is the point.

Evidence maturity, ITCS-style

Fit is necessary but not sufficient — but note ITCS's maturity ladder runs opposite to an empirical venue's. A preliminary, incomplete, bold exploration of a genuinely new model is more ITCS-appropriate than a fully mopped-up version whose novelty has worn off. What ITCS will not accept is a new-model paper with no result at all (a definition with nothing proved) or a "new" question that is actually a known question in disguise. The failure mode here is not "too early" (as at STOC) but "not actually new" — do the related-work delta honestly first (see itcs-related-work).

Cheap reconnaissance before committing

text
[Novelty]  can you state your contribution as a NEW noun (a model, a notion, a connection)?
           -> yes, and it's checkably new in the literature = ITCS-shaped
           -> it's a better bound/algorithm on an existing noun = STOC/FOCS/SODA
[Scope]    scan the last 2-3 ITCS programs (dblp conf/innovations, LIPIcs) for kindred papers
           -> a cluster of "new model" papers in your area = a reviewer pool exists
[Calendar] ITCS has ONE deadline, early September, notification November, conference January.
           Missed it? the next depth-venue deadline may beat waiting a year for ITCS.

Decision procedure

text
[Takeaway] is the reader's takeaway a new IDEA or a stronger RESULT?
[Shape]    model / notion / connection / seam-question / reframing -> ITCS lane
[Alive]    do you have >=1 crisp result showing the model is not empty and not everything?
[Sibling]  depth on a known question -> STOC/FOCS; algorithms -> SODA; complexity -> CCC;
           crypto model -> TCC; too long/incremental -> journal (journal submission is
           even allowed simultaneously with ITCS)
[Verdict]  ITCS / sibling venue / journal, with a one-line reason naming the new noun

Run this before the writing skills; a wrong venue decision wastes every later step. When the verdict is ITCS, continue with itcs-workflow for the single-cycle calendar and itcs-writing-style for the innovation-first paper shape.

© 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 ITCS-Skills/skills/itcs-topic-selection of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

Itcs Topic Selection 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.

Itcs Topic Selection compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Itcs Topic Selection this skillbrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills1.2k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ito Computeaffaan-m/ECC275k1 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Senior Computer Visiondavila7/claude-code-templates32k3 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Senior Computer Visionalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k2 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
GCP Computesickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k2 repos~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Computer UseQwenLM/qwen-code28k—~3.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

Similar skills

  • Ito Compute

    affaan-m/ECC

    Query live GPU inventory, submit an authenticated Itô fixed-rate RFQ, inspect RFQ or procurement status, revoke device credentials, and run explicitly gated node qualification through the separately…

    275k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.7k tokens
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed
  • Senior Computer Vision

    davila7/claude-code-templates

    World-class computer vision skill for image/video processing, object detection, segmentation, and visual AI systems.

    32k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~1.4k tokens
    AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
  • Senior Computer Vision

    alirezarezvani/claude-skills

    Computer vision engineering skill for object detection, image segmentation, and visual AI systems.

    28k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~3.2k tokens
    AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
  • GCP Compute

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Manage Compute Engine instances and instance templates. An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~2.6k tokens
    DevOps & CloudAuto-check passed
  • Computer Use

    QwenLM/qwen-code

    Control local desktop applications through Computer Use for tasks that require reading or operating app UI.

    28k GitHub stars~3.6k tokensUpdated today
    Productivity & AutomationAuto-check passed
  • Codewhale Computer Use Controller

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Operates desktop apps and isolated or disposable browsers on registered computers through an observe, act, verify loop, separate from driving the user's own signed-in Chrome.

    41k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated today
    Productivity & AutomationAuto-check passed

More from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

All 2,387 skills in this repo
  • Aaag Data Analysis

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when running and reporting the analysis for an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript — spatial statistics and modeling, remote-sensing accuracy, or…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Literature Positioning

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when positioning an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript in the literature — engaging geographic scholarship across the relevant area and the…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Rebuttal

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when responding to an Annals of the American Association of Geographers decision letter (major/minor revision) — building a point-by-point response to the subject editor and…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Research Design

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when defending the research design of an Annals of the American Association of Geographers manuscript — spatial/quantitative analysis and GIScience, remote-sensing and…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Review Process

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when you need to understand how the Annals of the American Association of Geographers evaluates a manuscript — double-anonymous review routed through a subject editor by…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed
  • Aaag Submission

    brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills

    A skill your agent uses when running the final pre-submission preflight for the Annals of the American Association of Geographers via ScholarOne Manuscripts — area/article-type selection…

    1.2k GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated 11 days ago
    Auto-check passed

Questions about Itcs Topic Selection

What does Itcs Topic Selection do?

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing…. Itcs Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS or should be routed to STOC, FOCS, SODA, CCC, ICALP, TCC, or a journal, and when distinguishing ITCS from its depth-first siblings by the conceptual-novelty test — is this a new question, model, or connection worth asking, rather than the deepest theorem of the year.

When should I use Itcs Topic Selection?

Itcs Topic Selection fits situations like: deciding whether a theoretical-computer-science result belongs at ITCS; should be routed to STOC; when distinguishing ITCS from its depth-first siblings by the conceptual-novelty test — is this a new question; connection worth asking.

How do I install Itcs Topic Selection in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Itcs Topic Selection in Codex?

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

Can I use Itcs Topic Selection 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 itcs-topic-selection -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/itcs-topic-selection, .gemini/skills/itcs-topic-selection, .github/skills/itcs-topic-selection and .opencode/skills/itcs-topic-selection in your project.

What does Itcs Topic Selection need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Itcs Topic Selection is instructions for the agent only.

Does Itcs Topic Selection 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 Itcs Topic Selection 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 Itcs Topic Selection use?

Itcs Topic Selection 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 Itcs Topic Selection use?

About 1.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.3k 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 Itcs Topic Selection?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Itcs Topic Selection: Ito Compute (affaan-m/ECC, 275k stars), Senior Computer Vision (davila7/claude-code-templates, 32k stars), Senior Computer Vision (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars) and GCP Compute (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Itcs Topic Selection?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,219 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.