Paper-to-PPTX — Router

This skill is split into two layers:

• A static layer under static/ that holds versioned, reusable content fragments (core principles, toolchain policy, the 9-step workflow, output/quality rules, and per-paper-type presentation arcs).
• A dynamic layer (this file plus manifest.yaml) that detects the paper type and loads only the fragments needed for the current job. Deep design, figure, and self-review material lives in on-demand references.

Do not try to apply the deck-building logic from memory or from this router. Always load fragments from disk as described below.

Routing protocol

Follow these five steps every time the skill is invoked.

1. Load the manifest and the core layer

Read manifest.yaml. It declares the paper_type axis, the allowed values, and the file paths each value maps to.

Also read every file listed under always_load. These hold the purpose and core principle, the lean operating mode and toolchain policy, the 9-step workflow spine, and the output/quality rules that apply to every deck, plus the shared Terminology Ledger used to keep technical terms consistent across slides.

2. Classify the paper type

Decide the paper_type value using the manifest's detect: hint and the source:

• discovery — discovery / mechanism papers (question-to-evidence arc). Default.
• methods — methods / AI / tool / algorithm papers (problem-to-solution arc).
• resource — resource / dataset / atlas / omics / benchmark papers (workflow-to-validation arc).
• clinical — clinical / population / intervention studies (design-to-inference arc).
• materials — materials / chemistry / physics / engineering papers (property-to-mechanism / design-to-performance arc).
• review — reviews / perspectives / commentaries / meta-analyses (evidence-map arc).

State the detected value in one short line to the user before designing slides, so they can correct you cheaply.

3. Load the matching fragment

Read the file mapped for the detected paper_type. It gives the presentation arc and how to adapt the default slide structure for this type. Do not read every fragment in static/.

4. Build the deck using the loaded material

Apply the loaded fragments in this priority order:

1. Core principles (core/principles.md) — the argument is the spine; lean operating mode; accepted inputs; Chinese-by-default language rule.
2. Toolchain policy and fast path (core/toolchain.md) — cross-platform Python-first stack, default fast path.
3. Paper-type arc (the loaded paper_type fragment) — narrative order and slide structure for this paper.
4. Workflow (core/workflow.md) — run the 9 steps end to end.
5. Output and quality rules (core/output-and-quality.md) — deliverables, quality gates, fallbacks.

Build the Terminology Ledger (../_shared/core/terminology-ledger.md) while reading the source, so model names, gene/protein names, datasets, metrics, and abbreviations stay identical across every slide and speaker note.

The end product is a real .pptx deck, not an outline or script. Do not fabricate results, numbers, or figure details.

5. Reach for references only when needed

The files under references/ are deep references, not defaults. Open them on demand per the references.on_demand table in the manifest:

• composing/auditing slide layout, visual rhythm, typography, anti-template design, archetypes, on-slide text budget → references/design-and-layout.md.
• selecting, extracting, cropping, and quality-checking figure/table assets → references/figure-assets.md.
• running the self-review/corrective revision loop, severity grading, programmatic PPTX checks, rendered-preview policy, and final verification → references/self-review.md.

When a real PPTX has been generated, run scripts/audit_pptx_quality.py unless the file is unavailable. Treat high-severity findings as blockers, revise the deck, then re-run the audit and record the final result in output/qa_report.md.

Why this split

• The static layer is versioned and reviewable. Adding a new paper-type arc is one new fragment plus one manifest line.
• The dynamic layer keeps each invocation cheap: only the arc for this paper enters context up front; heavy design and QA material loads only when that step runs.
• The router itself is short on purpose. Update fragments, not this file, when adding scope.
• This structure mirrors nature-writing, nature-polishing, and nature-reader so shared content lives in _shared/.