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Agent skill

Sciatlas Idea Grounding

by zjunlp in zjunlp/SciAtlas

Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact…

MITAuto-check passedResearch & Science

Install Sciatlas Idea Grounding

skills CLI
$ npx skills add zjunlp/SciAtlas --skill sciatlas-idea-grounding -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install zjunlp/SciAtlas sciatlas-idea-grounding --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/zjunlp/SciAtlas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/agent-skill/sciatlas-idea-grounding .claude/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding && 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
sciatlas-idea-grounding
GitHub stars
160
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
449 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
7
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact…

  • Works in 5 steps: Check whether the sciatlas executable… → If SCIATLAS_API_KEY is absent, guide the… → Ask for the email verification code only… → …
  • The user gives an idea and asks for similar work
  • SKILL.md covers Operating Contract, Zero-Start Bootstrap, Idea Parsing and Search Plan, plus 3 more sections
  • Calls python; reaches sciatlas.openkg.cn; needs SCIATLAS_API_KEY

What it does

Sciatlas Idea Grounding is an agent skill from zjunlp/SciAtlas. Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact reading, and synthesis. Trigger when the user gives an idea and asks for similar work, differentiation evidence, related work, motivation support, or literature-grounded refinement.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Research & Science, covering Hypothesis generation, Intellectual property and Literature review. The repository describes itself as: A Large-Scale Knowledge Graph for Automated Scientific Research. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user gives an idea and asks for similar work
  • Differentiation evidence
  • Motivation support
  • Literature-grounded refinement

Example prompts

  • “/sciatlas-idea-grounding”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • A credential in SCIATLAS_API_KEY

Workflow steps

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

  1. Check whether the sciatlas executable exists without invoking a SciAtlas command: use Get-Command sciatlas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue…
  2. If SCIATLAS_API_KEY is absent, guide the user to http://sciatlas.openkg.cn/register.
  3. Ask for the email verification code only when needed. Ask for the returned sciatlas_xxx token after registration.
  4. Configure
  5. If token validity is uncertain, test with a one-result search-papers query, not health or config.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e8873a9. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • python

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

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • sciatlas.openkg.cn

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

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • SCIATLAS_API_KEY

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

Context cost

Sciatlas Idea Grounding loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 100 tokens; SKILL.md has 449 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~100
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

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 zjunlp/SciAtlas at commit e8873a9, republished under its MIT licence (© zjunlp). 449 words, ~1,139 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
sciatlas-idea-grounding
description
Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact reading, and synthesis. Trigger when the user gives an idea and asks for similar work, differentiation evidence, related work, motivation support, or literature-grounded refinement.

SciAtlas Idea Grounding

Use this skill to position a research idea against prior work using only sciatlas search-papers.

Operating Contract

  • Do not call any SciAtlas downstream command. The only SciAtlas retrieval command allowed is search-papers.
  • Own the end-to-end novice flow: install or locate the CLI, guide registration, configure environment variables, run retrieval, inspect artifacts, and produce a grounded positioning memo.
  • Ask the user only for human-only setup values: email, verification code, token, or one concise clarification about the idea.
  • Do not ask the user to run shell commands when tool access is available.
  • Do not reveal the full API token in final output.

Zero-Start Bootstrap

  1. Check whether the sciatlas executable exists without invoking a SciAtlas command: use Get-Command sciatlas -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue on Windows PowerShell or command -v sciatlas on macOS/Linux. If missing, install with python -m pip install -e ./sciatlas in this repo or python -m pip install "git+https://github.com/zjunlp/SciAtlas.git#subdirectory=sciatlas".
  2. If SCIATLAS_API_KEY is absent, guide the user to http://sciatlas.openkg.cn/register.
  3. Ask for the email verification code only when needed. Ask for the returned sciatlas_xxx token after registration.
  4. Configure:
powershell
$env:SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL = "http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
$env:SCIATLAS_API_KEY = "<token>"
setx SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL "http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
setx SCIATLAS_API_KEY "<token>"
bash
export SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL="http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
export SCIATLAS_API_KEY="<token>"
  1. If token validity is uncertain, test with a one-result search-papers query, not health or config.

Idea Parsing

Before searching, decompose the idea into:

  • Problem: what pain or research question it attacks.
  • Proposed mechanism: the technical novelty the user claims.
  • Target domain: where it applies.
  • Evaluation target: what would prove it works.
  • Neighboring literatures: 2-4 adjacent concepts.

If any of these are missing, infer reasonable defaults. Ask one short question only when the idea is too vague to search.

Show full SKILL.md (190 more words)Show less

Search Plan

Run only search-papers. Use at least one close-prior-art pass:

bash
sciatlas search-papers --retrieval-mode hybrid --query "<full idea in one sentence>" --keyword "high:<core mechanism>" --keyword "middle:<target domain>" --top-k 8 --top-keywords 0 --max-titles 0 --max-refs 0 --bias-keyword high --bias-related high --bias-citation low --bias-exploration low --ranking-profile precision --report-max-items 8

If results are sparse, run a second pass around the problem rather than the mechanism:

bash
sciatlas search-papers --retrieval-mode hybrid --query "<problem statement>" --keyword "high:<problem>" --keyword "middle:<neighbor concept>" --top-k 8 --top-keywords 0 --max-titles 0 --max-refs 0 --bias-related high --ranking-profile balanced --report-max-items 8

Reading Artifacts

Read summary.txt, report.md, request.json, and response.json. Build a prior-art matrix:

  • Paper.
  • Overlap with user idea: problem, mechanism, domain, evaluation, or data.
  • Difference from user idea.
  • Threat level: direct prior, partial prior, background, or weakly related.
  • Evidence phrase from abstract/report.

Grounding Method

  1. Restate the idea as a testable claim.
  2. Identify the closest prior work first, even if it weakens novelty.
  3. Separate overlap types. A paper can share the problem but not the mechanism, or share the method but not the domain.
  4. Explain the differentiator only after showing the evidence.
  5. Mark unsupported novelty claims. Use "not established by this search" rather than "novel" when evidence is insufficient.
  6. Refine the idea into a sharper version that avoids the closest prior art.
  7. Suggest the next search-papers query to test the weakest point.

Deliverable

Return:

  • Search command(s), with token omitted.
  • Prior-art matrix.
  • Closest prior work summary.
  • Differentiation statement.
  • Risks to novelty and how to refine the idea.
  • Next search query.

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

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in agent-skill/sciatlas-idea-grounding of zjunlp/SciAtlas.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e8873a9

Compare with similar skills

Sciatlas Idea Grounding 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.

Sciatlas Idea Grounding compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Sciatlas Idea Grounding this skillzjunlp/SciAtlas160—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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Aminer MCP ResearchDrchronx/ai-agent-research-starter-kit139—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Nature Paper CardYuan1z0825/nature-skills47k2 repos~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
NeuroarxivUditAkhourii/neuroarxiv433—~3.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Research SurveyEvoScientist/EvoSkills4783 repos~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Sciatlas Idea Grounding

What does Sciatlas Idea Grounding do?

Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact…. Sciatlas Idea Grounding is an agent skill from zjunlp/SciAtlas. Use only SciAtlas search-papers to take a novice user from zero setup to final prior-art grounding for a research idea, including setup, registration guidance, configuration, retrieval, artifact reading, and synthesis.

When should I use Sciatlas Idea Grounding?

Sciatlas Idea Grounding fits situations like: the user gives an idea and asks for similar work; differentiation evidence; motivation support; literature-grounded refinement.

How do I install Sciatlas Idea Grounding in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add zjunlp/SciAtlas --skill sciatlas-idea-grounding -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (agent-skill/sciatlas-idea-grounding in zjunlp/SciAtlas) into .claude/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Sciatlas Idea Grounding in Codex?

Run `npx skills add zjunlp/SciAtlas --skill sciatlas-idea-grounding -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (agent-skill/sciatlas-idea-grounding in zjunlp/SciAtlas) into .agents/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Sciatlas Idea Grounding 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 zjunlp/SciAtlas --skill sciatlas-idea-grounding -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding, .gemini/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding, .github/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding and .opencode/skills/sciatlas-idea-grounding in your project.

What does Sciatlas Idea Grounding need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Sciatlas Idea Grounding needs the command-line tools its instructions call (python) and credentials named SCIATLAS_API_KEY. Our summary lists: Python 3; A credential in SCIATLAS_API_KEY.

Does Sciatlas Idea Grounding access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: sciatlas.openkg.cn; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Sciatlas Idea Grounding 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 Sciatlas Idea Grounding use?

Sciatlas Idea Grounding 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 Sciatlas Idea Grounding use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.6k 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 Sciatlas Idea Grounding?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Sciatlas Idea Grounding: Mechanical Engineering Research (ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins, 970 stars), Aminer MCP Research (Drchronx/ai-agent-research-starter-kit, 139 stars), Nature Paper Card (Yuan1z0825/nature-skills, 47k stars) and Neuroarxiv (UditAkhourii/neuroarxiv, 433 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Sciatlas Idea Grounding?

zjunlp (a GitHub organization) maintains it in zjunlp/SciAtlas, which has 160 GitHub stars. The repository holds 7 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 30, 2026.

Source: zjunlp/SciAtlas on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.