Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Venue Templates agent skill for academic publishing
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The venue-templates skill is an add-on for AI coding agents that prepares journal manuscripts, conference papers, research posters and grant documents. It is built around checking current venue rules before any formatting happens. This guide explains what the skill changes about the agent's behaviour, how to install it, how to trigger it with plain requests, and where you still need to verify things yourself.
Venue Templates for Academic PublishingK-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download and unzip. Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. Keep the skill folder intact.
- 2Place the skill. Move the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into the project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills instead.
- 3Name the exact target. Tell the agent the venue or funding agency, year or cycle, track, document type, submission stage and authoring format.
- 4Open the official instructions. Follow the agent's prompt to open the official author instructions, call or solicitation, and record the URL and the date you checked it.
- 5Start from the official template. Download the official template and keep its style files unchanged. Use a bundled scaffold for drafting only, unless the official source permits it.
- 6Run the checks. Use the helper scripts to count pages and check font embedding, then review margins, anonymity and required sections by hand.
What the venue-templates skill makes the agent do
Without the skill, an agent will often format a paper from memory, which can mean outdated page limits or the wrong style file. With the skill installed, the agent follows a verification-first process. It asks which venue, year and track apply, and it prompts you to check the official author instructions, call, or funding notice before giving exact requirements.
The skill also treats the LaTeX files it bundles as starting scaffolds, not official templates. It brings in writing-style guides for Nature and Science, Cell Press, medical journals, machine learning and computer science conferences, and it can help adapt your prose to a venue's audience and reviewer expectations.
- Asks for the exact venue, year or funding cycle, track, document type, submission stage and authoring format
- Records the source URL and the date the rules were checked
- Separates initial submission, revision and camera-ready rules
- Runs helper scripts that count PDF pages and report non-embedded fonts
Install the venue-templates skill
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. Then place the folder in one of these locations, depending on how you use your agent. For a personal install, use ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, use the .claude/skills/ folder inside that project.
If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
Check the requirements before you start
The skill's helper scripts need Python 3.11 or later. LaTeX is optional and only needed if you want to compile a .tex file. Poppler command-line tools are optional and are used for PDF inspection.
The skill needs network access to check current venue instructions. It cannot verify live rules offline, so an offline setup will not give you current requirements.
- Python 3.11+ (required for helper scripts)
- LaTeX (optional, for compilation)
- Poppler command-line tools (optional, for PDF inspection)
- Network access (needed to verify current venue instructions)
Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need special syntax. Describe the document and the venue in plain language, and the agent should pick up the skill when the request matches its description. Naming the venue, year and track helps the agent avoid mixing rules from similarly named venues.
Good requests name a specific target and a task. Vague requests such as 'format my paper' will prompt the agent to ask you for the missing details first.
- Check the current page limit and anonymity rules for the ICML main track I am submitting to
- Help me pick and adapt a LaTeX scaffold for a short paper
- Make a poster that matches the dimensions in the event's presenter instructions
- Inspect this submission PDF for page count and embedded fonts
- Adapt this introduction to the reviewers of a Cell Press journal
Use the bundled scripts for a NeurIPS paper
The bundled NeurIPS wrapper can be copied into a working file after you download the official style file. The source shows the helper script being run like this. Replace the file names with your own if they differ.
The wrapper depends on the official neurips_2026.sty file, so do not skip that download.
python scripts/customize_template.py \
--template neurips_article.tex \
--output my_neurips_2026_paper.texValidate your draft and know the limits
The helper reports non-embedded fonts as failures and counts PDF pages. It cannot prove margin, font-size, excluded-section or anonymity compliance. A zero exit status only means no automated failure was found. Manual checks still matter.
Review the paper checklist, supplementary material, anonymity of linked code and data, and the rules for rebuttal and camera-ready versions separately. Supplementary archives and notebook outputs can reveal author identity even when the PDF is clean.
- Confirm page limits for the main text and the total file
- Check that margins, fonts, line spacing and paper size match the official rules
- Inspect supplementary files and linked code for identifying details
- Verify disclosures, required statements and checklists
What people use it for
- Checking whether a conference's current main track page limit and anonymity rules apply to your draft
- Drafting a first journal manuscript in a numeric Elsevier elsarticle layout while confirming the publisher's requirements
- Preparing a research poster that must match the dimensions in an event's presenter instructions
- Adapting a summary or abstract to Nature, Cell Press or medical journal style conventions
- Inspecting a submitted PDF for page count and non-embedded fonts before upload
Frequently asked questions
Is the venue-templates skill free to use?
The skill is published under the MIT licence, as listed on this page. Check the licence file in the downloaded ZIP for the full terms before you reuse or redistribute it.
Do I need LaTeX to use this skill?
No. LaTeX is optional and only needed for compiling .tex files. The skill also works for writing guidance, checking rules and inspecting PDFs without it.
Does the skill replace the official author instructions?
No. The skill's own guidance says its reference files do not override official sources and may be out of date. Always verify page limits, deadlines and style files on the publisher or agency site before you submit.
Can I use the skill for NIH or NSF grant forms?
It can help plan and draft narrative components, but it warns against recreating biosketches or current-support forms in LaTeX. Those must be entered in agency systems such as SciENcv or Research.gov where required, and combined .tex files should not be submitted as agency forms.
Why does the agent need internet access?
The skill needs network access to check current venue instructions. Without it, the agent cannot confirm live rules, so it is not suited to offline use.
How does it compare with simply asking a chatbot to format my paper?
A general chatbot may use outdated rules from memory. This skill is designed to ask for the exact venue and track, point you to official sources and run page-count and font checks, but it still leaves the final decision to you.
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Our verdict
This skill suits researchers, students and lab members who want formatting and page rules checked against current official sources before submitting a journal paper, conference paper or poster. It is not a substitute for the publisher's or agency's own instructions, and it is not suited to filling in grant forms inside agency systems or to offline work.
Download the skill