apaper-plugin

An academic paper-authoring toolkit for AI coding agents. It bundles writing and figure skills together with the apaper-mcp paper-research MCP server so a single setup gives your agent everything it needs to search the literature, draft IEEE-style prose, and generate publication- quality figures.

Install it as a Claude Code plugin, load the standalone npm plugin in OpenCode, add its Cordis entry to a DeepSeek Harness agent preset, or add the skills and MCP server to OpenAI Codex (or any other agent supported by the skills CLI).

What's inside

Skills (skills/)

Sourced from isomoes/skills:

MCP server (.mcp.json)

Wires up @ai4paper/apaper-mcp, which exposes tools for searching IACR / DBLP / Google Scholar / arXiv, collecting BibTeX entries, and downloading papers. The server is launched on demand via npx -y @ai4paper/apaper-mcp, so no global install is needed.

OpenCode plugin (index.ts)

The npm package exports an OpenCode plugin that registers the packaged skills and the Python apaper-mcp server automatically. The MCP server runs through uvx, so it stays independently updated without being reimplemented in JavaScript.

Install for DeepSeek Harness

The npm package exports a native Cordis plugin at @ai4paper/apaper-plugin/dsh. That single plugin registers both packaged skills and connects apaper-mcp through the Harness MCP client. The MCP process is launched on demand with npx -y @ai4paper/apaper-mcp, so no Python or global install is required.

First install the package into the Harness profile you run (replace web if you use another profile):

dsh plugin --profile web add @ai4paper/apaper-plugin

Create an APaper agent preset

Installing the npm package makes it available to the selected Harness profile, but does not automatically grant it to every agent. Activate it through a user preset:

1. Open the Harness GUI and go to Settings → Agent Presets.

2. Find the shipped Standard preset and choose Copy.

3. Give the copy an ID such as apaper and a display name such as APaper. Never edit the shipped Standard preset directly.

4. Open the copied preset's agent.cordis.yml from its preset card.

5. Append this one plugin row and save the file:

   - id: apaper-plugin
     name: '@ai4paper/apaper-plugin/dsh'
   

6. Create a new session and select APaper in the agent-preset selector before starting the conversation.

Ready-to-copy metadata, the Cordis fragment, and a short guide are included in dsh/preset-example/. The Cordis file there is only the APaper-specific fragment: append it to a copied Standard preset rather than using it as the complete agent.cordis.yml.

That single row activates both packaged skills and the MCP server. The model will receive the writing and creating-figures skills, plus MCP tools named mcp__apaper-mcp-v2-<instance>__<tool-name>. The small instance suffix keeps copied or updated preset generations from colliding inside one DSH process.

The npm installation and preset are profile-wide, so the same APaper preset can be used with any workspace. To limit it to one project, select APaper only for sessions opened on that project and use another preset elsewhere. Existing sessions keep the preset with which they started; changing or selecting a preset affects new sessions only.

For local development, install this checkout into the target profile instead:

dsh plugin --profile web add /absolute/path/to/apaper-plugin

Then rebuild or restart the profile after changing the package code. Editing a preset composition affects newly created sessions; it does not recompose an active conversation.

Install for Claude Code

From a marketplace (recommended)

This repo ships its own .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, so you can add it as a marketplace and install in two commands:

/plugin marketplace add ai4paper/apaper-plugin
/plugin install apaper-plugin@apaper

The bundled MCP server is registered automatically. Once the plugin is enabled, the skills are namespaced under the plugin name, e.g. /apaper-plugin:writing.

Install for OpenCode

Install uv so the plugin can launch the Python MCP server, then install the npm plugin:

opencode plugin @ai4paper/apaper-plugin

Alternatively, add it directly to opencode.json or opencode.jsonc:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "plugin": ["@ai4paper/apaper-plugin"]
}

OpenCode loads both bundled skills directly from the npm package. The plugin also registers apaper-mcp with the command uvx apaper-mcp. An existing mcp.apaper-mcp configuration is preserved, so you can override or disable the server in your own config. Restart OpenCode after changing the plugin configuration.

Install for Codex

Codex doesn't use the Claude plugin system, so the skills and MCP server are added separately.

Skills — via the skills CLI

Use the skills CLI (npx skills) to copy the skills into Codex. No global install — npx fetches it on demand:

# Install both skills for Codex (project-local, under .agents/skills/)
npx skills add ai4paper/apaper-plugin -a codex

# Install globally instead (under ~/.codex/skills/)
npx skills add ai4paper/apaper-plugin -a codex -g

# Pick specific skills by name
npx skills add ai4paper/apaper-plugin -a codex --skill writing creating-figures

Add -y to skip the confirmation prompt, or --list to preview the available skills without installing.

MCP server — via config.toml

Register apaper-mcp in Codex's config (~/.codex/config.toml for all projects, or .codex/config.toml inside a trusted project):

[mcp_servers.apaper-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@ai4paper/apaper-mcp"]

Or add it from the command line, which writes the same entry for you:

codex mcp add apaper-mcp -- npx -y @ai4paper/apaper-mcp

Run /mcp in the Codex TUI to confirm the server is connected.

Local development

Clone this repo and point Claude Code at it directly:

git clone https://github.com/ai4paper/apaper-plugin
claude --plugin-dir ./apaper-plugin

After editing skills or the manifest, run /reload-plugins in Claude Code to pick up the changes without restarting.

Run the OpenCode plugin tests and inspect the npm package contents with:

npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run pack:check

Release publishing uses npm trusted publishing through GitHub OIDC. See prompt/release.md for the first manual publish and subsequent tag-release process.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.