Conduct a literature review across papers in the library. Takes a research question, finds relevant papers, reads them in parallel via subagents, and synthesizes findings with cross-paper comparisons and citations.
Conduct a literature review on: $ARGUMENTS
search_library with the query "$ARGUMENTS" to search metadata,
keywords, and summaries.search_paper_text to search full text for relevant passages.If no papers are found, tell the user and suggest adding papers with
/add-paper. Stop here.
For each relevant paper, launch a general-purpose subagent using the Task
tool. Launch all subagents in a single message so they run concurrently.
Each subagent prompt should be (fill in bibtex_key and the research question):
Read the paper with bibtex key "{bibtex_key}" using the
read_paperMCP tool and extract information relevant to this research question: "{question}"IMPORTANT: Only report findings, methods, and claims that appear in the paper text returned by
read_paper. Do not supplement with outside knowledge about this paper or its authors. If a section is missing or illegible, say so. Every claim must be traceable to specific text you read.
- Call
read_paperwithbibtex_key,start_line=1,end_line=500to get the first chunk and total line count.- If the paper has more than 500 lines, call
read_paperfor all remaining chunks in parallel (500-line chunks).- Read the full paper and extract:
- Relevant findings: What does this paper say about the research question? Include specific results, numbers, and quotes where useful.
- Methodology: How did the authors approach this topic?
- Key definitions: Any definitions or frameworks relevant to the question.
- Data and measurement: What data sources and measures are used?
- Connections: How does this paper relate to or cite other work on this topic?
- Return a structured summary focused on the research question. Include specific section references (e.g., "Section 3.2") and page/line numbers for key claims so the user can look them up.
Once all subagents return, synthesize their findings into a coherent review:
Overview: 2-3 sentence summary of what the literature says about the research question.
Key findings by theme: Group findings across papers by theme rather than paper-by-paper. For each theme:
Methodological approaches: Compare how different papers approach the question. Note differences in data, measurement, identification, etc.
Gaps and open questions: What aspects of the research question are not well-addressed by the available papers? What contradictions remain unresolved?
Paper-level details: A brief table or list of each paper reviewed with its bibtex key, main contribution, and relevance to the question.
ingest_paper
only saves metadata — to also get the PDF, call download_paper with the
bibtex key after ingesting.