lit-review

name: lit-review description: Conduct a literature review across papers in the library. Takes a research question, finds relevant papers, reads them in parallel via subagents, and synthesizes findings with cross-paper comparisons and citations. context: fork

Literature Review

Conduct a literature review on: $ARGUMENTS

Step 1: Find relevant papers

1. Call search_library with the query "$ARGUMENTS" to search metadata, keywords, and summaries.
2. If few results, try broader or alternative queries. Also try search_paper_text to search full text for relevant passages.
3. Collect all unique bibtex keys that are relevant to the question. Aim for breadth -- include papers that are tangentially related if they might contribute useful context.

If no papers are found, tell the user and suggest adding papers with /add-paper. Stop here.

Step 2: Read papers in parallel via subagents

For each relevant paper, launch a general-purpose subagent using the Task tool. Launch all subagents in a single message so they run concurrently.

Each subagent prompt should be (fill in bibtex_key and the research question):

Read the paper with bibtex key "{bibtex_key}" using the read_paper MCP tool and extract information relevant to this research question: "{question}"

IMPORTANT: Only report findings, methods, and claims that appear in the paper text returned by read_paper. Do not supplement with outside knowledge about this paper or its authors. If a section is missing or illegible, say so. Every claim must be traceable to specific text you read.

1. Call read_paper with bibtex_key, start_line=1, end_line=500 to get the first chunk and total line count.
2. If the paper has more than 500 lines, call read_paper for all remaining chunks in parallel (500-line chunks).
3. Read the full paper and extract:
   • Relevant findings: What does this paper say about the research question? Include specific results, numbers, and quotes where useful.
   • Methodology: How did the authors approach this topic?
   • Key definitions: Any definitions or frameworks relevant to the question.
   • Data and measurement: What data sources and measures are used?
   • Connections: How does this paper relate to or cite other work on this topic?
4. Return a structured summary focused on the research question. Include specific section references (e.g., "Section 3.2") and page/line numbers for key claims so the user can look them up.

Step 3: Synthesize across papers

Once all subagents return, synthesize their findings into a coherent review:

1. Overview: 2-3 sentence summary of what the literature says about the research question.

2. Key findings by theme: Group findings across papers by theme rather than paper-by-paper. For each theme:

   • What do the papers collectively say?
   • Where do they agree or disagree?
   • Cite specific papers using (Author Year) format.

3. Methodological approaches: Compare how different papers approach the question. Note differences in data, measurement, identification, etc.

4. Gaps and open questions: What aspects of the research question are not well-addressed by the available papers? What contradictions remain unresolved?

5. Paper-level details: A brief table or list of each paper reviewed with its bibtex key, main contribution, and relevance to the question.

Step 4: Suggest next steps

• Are there important papers missing from the library that would strengthen the review? If so, suggest specific papers or searches. Note: ingest_paper only saves metadata — to also get the PDF, call download_paper with the bibtex key after ingesting.
• Are there follow-up questions the user might want to explore?