Sciatlas Idea Grounding

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:

$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>"

export SCIATLAS_API_BASE_URL="http://sciatlas.openkg.cn"
export SCIATLAS_API_KEY="<token>"

5. 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.

Search Plan

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

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:

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.