paper-digest
v0.0.2Given an arXiv ID or URL, fetch the paper, spawn sub-agents to read its key citations, and write an executive summary under.
Installation
Paper Digest
Input
arxiv_id: bare ID like2305.11206or fullhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2305.11206(Normalise: strip the URL prefix, extract bare ID.)
Step 1 — Fetch the main paper
Try HTML first: web.fetch https://arxiv.org/html/paper_text.
- If Falis: add v1 at the end, and try again: web.fetch https://arxiv.org/html/
If the paper_text is retrieved then write the summary to ~/.openclaw/workspace/papers/<arxiv-id>.md.
Step 2 — Extract citations
Note: DO NOT DO THIS STEP INSIDE sub-agents
Within the main agent and from paper_text, identify at most 5 citations the paper most directly builds on. Prioritize:
- Papers that are explicitly extended or improved upon
- Papers used as the primary baseline for comparison
- Papers that provide the core architecture this work adopts
- Papers referred to repeatedly (not just mentioned once) or that provide essential context
For each citation, extract either the arXiv ID or the title. Then resolve to an arXiv URL:
- If an arXiv ID is in the reference → https://arxiv.org/html/<id>
- Otherwise search https://arxiv.org/search/?query=<title>&searchtype=all and take the first match.
Step 3 — Spawn sub-agents for citations
Note: Ensure that the sub-agent related task is precise and concise so the sub-agent does not have to re-read the previously read SKILLs and files.
For each resolved citation:
- Check if the file for citation exists: ~/.openclaw/workspace/papers/<arxiv-id>.md, if it does then skip and consider the sub-agent concluded.
- If the previous step fails then spawn a sub-agent with this EXACT instruction in VERBATIM:
- Fetch https://arxiv.org/html/~/.openclaw/workspace/papers/<arxiv-id>.md.
Step 4 — Write the executive summary
Check the citation summaries within ~/.openclaw/workspace/papers/ then utilize the main paper we are summarising with citation summaries and write a single markdown document in flowing prose (no bullet lists) to ~/.openclaw/workspace/digest/report_<arxiv-id>. Use this structure:
# <Title>
<What problem this solves and why it matters. Context and related references summary>
<What prior work missed and how this paper addresses that gap. Cite inline as Author et al., YEAR.
<Core method in plain terms>
<Headline result. How it differs from previous work.
<One limitation and one future direction>
<Detailed Ablations, benchmarks if present in this paper or cited references>
Rules
- Every citation must be a markdown link:
Author et al., YEAR - No bullet lists in the output — prose only.
- If a section is absent from the paper (e.g., no ablations), skip it silently.
- Do not fabricate results, metrics, or author claims.
- Citation resolution retry: If a citation URL cannot be resolved after one retry, write the citation as plain text without a link:
[Author et al., YEAR].