Scholar LaTeX Organizer

Transform messy conference LaTeX template .zip files into clean, Overleaf-ready submission templates. Official templates often contain excessive examples and disorganized files — this skill converts them into templates ready for writing.

Pre-load (before execution)

1. Codebase docs: If .workflow/codebase/ARCHITECTURE.md exists, read for project context
2. Specs: maestro load --type spec --category coding — load coding conventions
3. Wiki knowledge: maestro search "academic writing research paper" --json — top 5 entries as prior context
4. All optional — proceed without if unavailable

Architecture Overview

User: "Organize this LaTeX template"
         |
         v
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  SKILL.md (Orchestrator)                                      │
│  Collect preferences → Dispatch phases → Track progress       │
└──────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           |
   ┌───────┼───────────┬──────────────┐
   v       v           v              v
┌──────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────────┐
│ P1   ││ P2       ││ P3           │
│Extract││ Cleanup  ││ README &     │
│ &    ││ &        ││ Finalize     │
│Analyze││ Organize ││              │
└──┬───┘└────┬─────┘└──────┬───────┘
   │         │             │
   v         v             v
 analysis   clean        output/
 + plan     structure    (Overleaf-ready)

Key Design Principles

1. Analyze-then-confirm: First present findings, then execute after user approval.
2. Preserve template integrity: Keep all .sty/.cls files unchanged — only clean up .tex content.
3. Section separation: Split monolithic main.tex into modular text/ files.
4. Conference-aware: Detect document class and apply conference-specific configurations.

Interactive Preference Collection

Before dispatching to any phase, collect these preferences:

Questions to ask the user:

1. Template Source
   "Where is the template .zip file? (path)"
   → templatePath

2. Conference Info
   "Conference name or submission page URL (for extracting requirements)"
   → conferenceInfo

3. Output Directory
   "Where should the organized template go? (default: ./output/)"
   → outputDir

4. Section Structure
   Options: Standard (intro/related/method/experiments/conclusion) | Custom
   → sectionStructure

Store responses as organizerPreferences context for all phases.

Auto Mode Defaults

When workflowPreferences.autoYes === true:

• Use .zip file from cwd or recent downloads
• Standard section structure
• Output to ./output/
• Auto-detect conference from template
• Skip confirmation prompts

Execution Flow

> COMPACT DIRECTIVE: Context compression MUST check TodoWrite phase status. > The phase currently marked in_progress is the active execution phase — preserve its FULL content. > Only compress phases marked completed or pending.

TodoWrite Setup

LaTeX Template Organization:
- [ ] Phase 1: Extract & Analyze — extract zip, identify files, diagnose issues
- [ ] Phase 2: Cleanup & Organize — create structure, clean main.tex, copy assets
- [ ] Phase 3: README & Finalize — generate README, verify compilation

Phase Sequence

Phase 1: Extract & Analyze
   └─ Ref: phases/01-extract-analyze.md
      ├─ Input: templatePath, conferenceInfo
      └─ Output: analysisResult (file inventory, main file, issues, conference type)

Phase 2: Cleanup & Organize
   └─ Ref: phases/02-cleanup-organize.md
      ├─ Input: analysisResult, sectionStructure, outputDir
      └─ Output: organized template in outputDir/

Phase 3: README & Finalize
   └─ Ref: phases/03-readme-finalize.md
      ├─ Input: analysisResult, conferenceInfo, outputDir
      └─ Output: README.md + final verification

Phase Reference Documents (read on-demand when phase executes):

| Phase | Document | Purpose | Compact | |-------|----------|---------|---------| | 1 | phases/01-extract-analyze.md | Extract and analyze template | TodoWrite driven | | 2 | phases/02-cleanup-organize.md | Clean up and restructure | TodoWrite driven + sentinel | | 3 | phases/03-readme-finalize.md | Generate README, finalize | TodoWrite driven |

Compact Rules:

1. TodoWrite in_progress → preserve full content, do not compress
2. TodoWrite completed → may compress to summary
3. sentinel fallback → phases marked with sentinel contain compact sentinel; if only sentinel remains, must immediately Read() to recover

Core Rules

1. Never modify .sty/.cls files: Style files are sacred — copy as-is.
2. Present plan before executing: Show cleanup plan and wait for user confirmation.
3. Keep Overleaf-compatible: Empty directories need placeholder files (Overleaf auto-deletes empty dirs).
4. Preserve compilation: The output must compile without errors using the detected compiler.
5. Conference-specific configs: Apply correct anonymous/review mode settings per conference.

Common Conference Templates

| Conference | Document Class | Key Config | |------------|---------------|------------| | KDD (ACM) | acmart | nonacm option for anonymous submission | | ACM Conferences | acmart | anonymous,review options | | CVPR/ICCV | cvpr | Two-column, strict page limits | | NeurIPS | neurips_20XX | Anonymous review | | ICLR | iclr20XX_conference | Two-column | | AAAI | aaaiXX | Two-column, 8 pages + refs |

Data Flow

Phase 1 ──analysisResult──→ Phase 2
Phase 1 ──analysisResult──→ Phase 3

Output structure:
  outputDir/
  ├── main.tex              (cleaned main file)
  ├── text/                 (section files)
  │   ├── 01-introduction.tex
  │   ├── 02-related-work.tex
  │   ├── 03-method.tex
  │   ├── 04-experiments.tex
  │   └── 05-conclusion.tex
  ├── figures/              (image files)
  ├── tables/               (table files + example)
  ├── styles/               (.sty/.cls files)
  ├── references.bib        (bibliography)
  └── README.md             (usage guide)

Error Handling

| Error | Action | |-------|--------| | Zip extraction fails | Check file integrity, ask user to re-download | | Main file not identifiable | List all .tex files, ask user to choose | | Missing dependency (.sty/.cls) | Warn user, suggest CTAN download | | Conference info unavailable | Fall back to template comments + documentclass detection | | Compilation fails after cleanup | Revert to minimal cleanup, report what needs manual fix |

Related Skills

• scholar-writing: Phase 6 (Conference Formatting) uses organized templates
• scholar-publish: Uses templates for camera-ready preparation