Setup Paper

Scaffold a new academic paper from the repo's LaTeX boilerplate template. The template includes 6 table exemplars, 1 figure, and 2 equation styles — all tagged [REMOVE] — so Claude has maximum context on formatting conventions.

Examples

• /setup-paper "My Paper Title" — basic scaffold with placeholder authors
• /setup-paper "My Paper Title" --authors "John Smith (MIT), Jane Doe (LSE)" — with authors
• /setup-paper "My Paper Title" --authors "John Smith (MIT)" --topic "asset pricing anomalies" — with topic-aware filler

Workflow

Phase 1: Parse Arguments

Extract from $ARGUMENTS:

• Title (required): first quoted string or all text before --
• --authors (optional): comma-separated "Name (Affiliation)" pairs
• --topic (optional): one-line description for smarter filler generation

If title is missing, use AskUserQuestion to prompt.

Phase 2: Resolve Target Directory

Determine where to write main.tex and references.bib:

1. If cwd is inside projects/<name>/ (any depth), target = projects/<name>/latex/
2. If cwd already ends with /latex/, target = cwd
3. Otherwise, ask the user which project to target or whether to write to cwd

Create the target directory if it does not exist.

Phase 3: Locate Boilerplate

Find the repo root by walking up from cwd looking for boilerplate/template_main.tex. The boilerplate lives at:

<repo_root>/boilerplate/template_main.tex
<repo_root>/boilerplate/template_references.bib

If the boilerplate files are not found, stop and tell the user.

Phase 4: Copy and Transform

1. Read boilerplate/template_main.tex
2. Read boilerplate/template_references.bib
3. Write both to the target directory as main.tex and references.bib
4. Update the \bibliography{} line: replace template_references with references

Phase 5: Replace Placeholders

Find and replace these [REMOVE] placeholders in main.tex:

Find	Replace with
[REMOVE] Your Paper Title Here	User's title
[REMOVE] First Author\thanks{...} block	Generated from --authors (see below)
[REMOVE] Second Author\thanks{...} block	Remove if only one author, or replace
[REMOVE] We gratefully acknowledge...	[REMOVE] Acknowledgments go here. (keep tag)
[REMOVE] This paper studies... (abstract)	Topic-aware filler if --topic, else keep
[REMOVE] Keyword One; ...	[REMOVE] Keyword One; Keyword Two; Keyword Three. (keep tag)
[REMOVE] G12; C12.	[REMOVE] G12; C12. (keep tag)

Also replace the Internet Appendix title: | [REMOVE] Your Paper Title Here (in IA section) | User's title |

Author block generation from --authors "Name1 (Affil1), Name2 (Affil2)":

\author{
{\normalsize Name1\thanks{{\scriptsize
Affil1; \url{name1@university.edu}}}}
\and
{\normalsize Name2\thanks{{\scriptsize
Affil2; \url{name2@university.edu}}}}
}

If no --authors provided, leave the template's placeholder authors intact.

Phase 6: Write Filler Content

If --topic is provided, rewrite the introduction filler (~250 words) to:

• Open with a concrete claim about the topic
• Follow motivation → gap → contribution → roadmap structure
• Cite \citet{FamaFrench_1992}, \citet{FamaFrench_1993}, and \citet{FamaFrench_2015}
• Tag every sentence with [REMOVE]

Also write 2–3 sentence [REMOVE]-tagged filler for Data, Methodology, Results, and Conclusion sections that references the topic.

If no --topic, leave the template's default filler intact.

Do NOT remove the example tables, figures, or equations. These serve as formatting exemplars.

Phase 7: Compile

Run the standard build cycle using the pdflatex path from canonical local state reported by tools/bootstrap.py audit:

cd {target_dir} && pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex && bibtex main && pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex && pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

Report any errors or warnings. If pdflatex is not available, skip compilation and note it in the summary.

Phase 8: Summary

Print the structured summary below.

Table Exemplar Index

The template includes 7 table styles for reference:

Label	Archetype	Location	Pattern
tab:example_panel	Panel results + t-stats	Data	\scalebox{0.75}, 2 panels, \cmidrule, \addlinespace
tab:example_descriptive	Summary statistics	Data	\scalebox{0.85}, no panels, percentiles
tab:example_definitions	Lookup / definitions	Data	p{6cm} text column, \texttt{} mnemonics
tab:example_decomposition	Multi-leg decomposition	Results	\scalebox{0.72}, Long/Short/L-S groups
tab:example_comparison	Compact comparison	Results	\scalebox{0.78}, Mean + Alpha side-by-side
tab:example_summary	Appendix summary	Appendix A	No scaling, counts + aggregate stats
tab:ia_example	IA subsample results	Internet Appendix	\scalebox{0.80}, Roman numeral numbering (IA.I)

Output

PAPER SETUP COMPLETE
====================

Title: {title}
Authors: {author list or "template placeholders (replace [REMOVE] tags)"}
Topic: {topic or "none"}
Target: {target_dir}
Files created:
  {target_dir}/main.tex       (from boilerplate/template_main.tex)
  {target_dir}/references.bib (from boilerplate/template_references.bib)

Compile: SUCCESS / FAILED / SKIPPED (pdflatex not available)
Pages: {N}

Section keys (for /write-section):
  introduction, data, methodology, results, conclusion, appendix-a, internet-appendix

Table exemplars (7):
  tab:example_panel, tab:example_descriptive, tab:example_definitions,
  tab:example_decomposition, tab:example_comparison, tab:example_summary,
  tab:ia_example

[REMOVE] items: {count} across {N} sections

Next steps:
  1. Search for [REMOVE] and replace all filler content with your text
  2. Add your .bib entries to references.bib (FF 1992/1993/2015 included as demos)
  3. Keep example tables as formatting reference until you replace with your own
  4. Run /build-paper to recompile after edits