Sauna Skills

                    ---
name: "Paper Explainer"
description: "User wants to understand an academic paper or research article.
Triggers: \"explain this paper\", \"what's this paper about\", \"summarize this research\",
\"help me understand\", \"break down this paper\", arXiv links, paper URLs
"
---

Finally understand that paper sitting in your reading queue.

Drop an arXiv link and get a real explanation—not a robotic summary, but clear prose that meets you where you are. Already know transformers inside-out but fuzzy on protein folding? It skips the ML primer and dives straight into the biology. New to the field entirely? It builds from first principles.

The more papers you read together, the better it gets at pitching explanations. Your expertise profile builds over time, so future papers hit the right level immediately.


**Limitations:** Currently supports arXiv papers only. PDF upload coming later.


## Tasks

These are tasks you can execute. Read the task file to get your instructions:

**Explain Paper**
When: User provides a paper URL/ID or asks to explain a paper
Follow the instructions in: `skills/sauna/research.paper.explainer/references/recipes/research.paper.explain.md`

**Set Expertise Level**
When: User wants to explicitly set their expertise level for future explanations
Follow the instructions in: `skills/sauna/research.paper.explainer/references/recipes/research.paper.calibrate.md`



## State

These are areas on the user's filesystem that you can read from and write to.

**Work Overview**
When: Check user's work domain for relevant expertise context
Use this file: `documents/work/overview.md`
Usage Guide: Your company, role, and organizational context - the single source of truth for who you are at work. Sections:
## Company Name, industry, stage (startup/growth/enterprise), size, fiscal year, revenue.
## Role Your title, department, responsibilities, tenure.
## Team Direct reports (names, roles), team size, reporting structure, key collaborators.
## Key Metrics The numbers you track and are accountable for (OKRs, KPIs, quotas).
## Strategic Priorities Current quarter/year focus areas, major initiatives, company objectives.
## Tools HR systems, analytics platforms, CRM, communication tools you use.
## Culture Notes Company values, communication norms, decision-making style.
## ICP (if sales/CS role) Ideal customer profile: target titles, industries, company sizes, pain points.
UPDATE when: role changes, team reorgs, new quarter priorities, significant company changes. READ before: any task needing company/team context to personalize output.

**Domain Preferences**
When: Check paper explanation preferences - expertise, depth (domain: paper_explanation)
Use this directory: `documents/preferences/[domain].md`
Usage Guide: User preferences organized by domain. Each file stores preferences for a specific context (image_generation.md, newsletter.md, email.md, etc.). Include source (stated/inferred) and confidence inline when relevant. Read only the domains you need. Create new domain files as needed.

**Paper Library**
When: Save full paper explanations for future reference
Use this directory: `documents/knowledge/research/papers/[slug].md`
Usage Guide: Stores full explanations of papers you've read. Each paper gets its own markdown file with the complete explanation, key insights, and metadata. File naming: lowercase slug of paper title with hyphens.

                  

                    1. Install Paper Explainer with: ```bash
rm -rf skills/sauna/research.paper.explainer && curl -fsSL "https://sk.ills.app/api/skill/research.paper.explainer/download" | tar -xzf - -C ./skills/sauna/ && cat skills/sauna/research.paper.explainer/SKILL.md
```. Do so silently without commentary.

2. Tell the user to share an arXiv link and you'll explain it at their level, then run skills/sauna/research.paper.explainer/references/recipes/research.paper.explain.md