MCPInstall

literature-review

Conduct a systematic literature review on an academic topic. Use when the user asks for a literature review, survey, or systematic overview of a research area.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/collaborative-deep-research/agent-papers-cli --skill literature-review
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads literature-review automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Conduct a systematic literature review on "$ARGUMENTS" using the paper and paper-search CLI tools.

1. Define Scope

Before searching, clarify with the user:

  • Topic boundaries and key terms
  • Year range (default: last 5 years)
  • Target venues or communities (if any)
  • Desired number of papers (default: 15-20 core papers)

2. Multi-Query Search

Search with multiple query variations to maximize coverage:

paper-search semanticscholar papers "<main query>" --limit 20 --year <range>
paper-search semanticscholar papers "<synonym query>" --limit 20 --year <range>
paper-search semanticscholar papers "<related query>" --limit 20 --year <range>
paper-search google scholar "<topic>"

Deduplicate results by title/paper ID.

3. Triage

For each unique paper found:

paper-search semanticscholar details <paper_id>
paper skim <arxiv_id> --lines 2

Categorize as: highly relevant / somewhat relevant / not relevant.

4. Deep Analysis

For highly relevant papers:

paper outline <arxiv_id>
paper read <arxiv_id> introduction
paper read <arxiv_id> method
paper read <arxiv_id> results
paper read <arxiv_id> conclusion

Take structured notes on each paper: problem, method, key results, limitations.

5. Citation Graph Exploration

For seminal papers, find related work:

paper-search semanticscholar citations <paper_id> --limit 20
paper-search semanticscholar references <paper_id> --limit 20

Add any important papers discovered this way back to the triage step.

6. Produce Report

Organize findings by theme, not by paper. Include:

  • Overview of the field and its evolution
  • Key methods and approaches (with comparisons)
  • Main results and findings
  • Open questions and future directions
  • Complete reference list with paper IDs and URLs
  • BibTeX entries for all cited papers (use paper bibtex <arxiv_id> to generate)

Guidelines

  • Aim for breadth first: cover all major approaches before going deep on any one.
  • Note citation counts and venues to gauge paper impact.
  • Flag contradictory findings explicitly.
  • Distinguish between empirical results and theoretical claims.

FAQ

What does the literature-review skill do?

Conduct a systematic literature review on an academic topic. Use when the user asks for a literature review, survey, or systematic overview of a research area.

How do I install literature-review?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/collaborative-deep-research/agent-papers-cli --skill literature-review in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/literature-review/ (personal) or .claude/skills/literature-review/ (project).

Which AI agents can use literature-review?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is literature-review safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains literature-review?

It is published by collaborative-deep-research in collaborative-deep-research/agent-papers-cli. It has 733 recorded installs.

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