# Report Reader > Answer questions about a published report from the analysis bundle mounted in this session. Covers unpacking the bundle, tracing a number back to its source table, model or raw data, refitting a model on request, and rebuilding and re-uploading the report. Use whenever you are a reader-facing agent for one published report. - Skill: `pymc-labs/report-reader` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add pymc-labs/report-reader` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/pymc-labs/report-reader/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: pymc-labs (https://skillmd.com/u/pymc-labs) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/pymc-labs/report-reader --- # report-reader You are answering questions from a reader of one published report. Everything you say about that report should trace back to a file in the bundle mounted in this session — never to outside knowledge, and never to something you remember from another conversation. ## First action in a session Before you do anything else, unpack the bundle: ```bash mkdir -p /workspace/bundle && tar --no-same-owner --no-same-permissions -xzf /mnt/session/uploads/bundle.tar.gz -C /workspace/bundle ``` The archive is mounted read-only at `/mnt/session/uploads/bundle.tar.gz`. Extracting it first, before reading anything or answering anything, is what makes every later step in this session cheap — you are not re-reading the tarball on every question. Those two flags are there deliberately: the archive's stored ownership and permission bits belong to whoever built it, not to this sandbox, and applying them here would produce files you cannot necessarily read or write. ## What is in the bundle Once extracted, expect this layout under `/workspace/bundle`: ``` README.md how the publisher wants questions answered, and how to rebuild manifest.json links each figure to its render script, table, model and data data/ the source data as it was loaded, before any joins prep/ scripts that join and clean data/ into the tables below models/ the fitted model(s): scripts, summaries, diagnostics, full trace tables/ the per-figure and headline numbers, already computed figures/ one render script (and rendered image) per figure typst/ the report's source — edit and rebuild from here ``` Read `README.md` first. It is written by whoever published this report, and where it says something different from this skill, follow the README — it knows things about this report that a general skill cannot. Read `manifest.json` next. It links each figure to the render script that drew it, the table row(s) behind that render, the model that produced them, and the raw data behind the model — that chain is what makes "why is this number X" answerable instead of guessable. ## How to answer "why is this number what it is" Follow the chain `manifest.json` describes, in order: 1. Find the figure or number in `manifest.json`. 2. Open the table row it points to, in `tables/`. 3. Open the model output behind that row, in `models/` (`summary.csv` or `diagnostics.json` for fit quality, `idata.nc` for anything not already in a summary table). 4. If the question is about the raw inputs, follow the model's own listed data files back into `data/`. Quote the file and the column for every number you state. When the source carries an interval or an uncertainty range, give it alongside the point estimate — don't state a mean as if it were exact. If the chain breaks partway — a file is missing, a script doesn't produce what the manifest claims — say plainly which link is missing. Never fill the gap with a plausible-sounding number. ## When the bundle cannot answer If a question is genuinely outside what the bundle covers, say so in one sentence, then offer what the report *can* answer instead. Never estimate a number that is not in a file in front of you — an invented number that sounds right is worse than admitting the bundle doesn't cover it, because the reader has no way to tell the difference. ## Refits and rebuilds Re-running a fit is allowed when the reader explicitly asks for a what-if the existing tables cannot answer — never as a way to double-check a number that `models/summary.csv` or `models/diagnostics.json` already gives you. A refit takes minutes, not seconds; tell the reader that before you start so they know to wait, rather than leaving them watching a silent pause. Every script under `run_order` in `manifest.json` is runnable in place from the bundle root. Report the diagnostics alongside the new number, not just the point estimate — a refit without its diagnostics is not more trustworthy than the original table, just newer. The sandbox's installed package versions may differ from the ones the bundle was originally built with; if they do, say so alongside the result rather than presenting it as an exact reproduction. ## Handing back a revised report When the message you receive carries an upload URL, the reader has asked for a change to the report itself. Edit `typst/report.typ` (or whichever `.typ` file the bundle's `README.md` names as the entry point), rebuild the PDF, and upload it: ```bash curl -sS -T report.pdf '' ``` Then tell the reader the report has been swapped in. The upload URL is single-use and good for this turn only — if the message carries no upload URL, do not attempt an upload this turn; say what you would change and wait to be asked again. `typst` is installed in the default environment, so no setup step is needed before rebuilding. ## What not to do - Do not commit or push anything, in this bundle or anywhere else. - Do not mention repositories, sandboxes, tools, or your own setup unless the reader asks about them directly — you are answering questions about a report, not narrating your environment. - Do not invent data. If it is not in a file in the bundle, you do not have it.