Project Init Workflow

Use this workflow when starting a new research project that requires both a LaTeX paper repo and a Python code repo, managed in parallel under a shared project folder.

Expected Output Structure

~/Projects/<ProjectName>/
├── paper/    ← LaTeX repo (init-latex-project)
├── code/     ← Python ML repo (init-python-project)
└── PROJECT.md ← Project overview linking both repos

Step 1 — Gather Project Information

Ask the user the following in a single message:

Project name: What is the project called? (used as the parent folder name, e.g. DemoProject)
Parent directory: Where should this project live? (default: ~/Projects/)
Paper venue: Which conference/journal? (iclr, cvpr, icml, acm, acl, or none for generic arXiv)
Research summary (brief): What is the method? What datasets/benchmarks? What metrics?
- This will be used to pre-fill the paper/ structure and PROJECT.md
GitHub: Do you have GitHub repos ready for paper and code? If yes, provide SSH URLs (or skip to add later).

Wait for the user's answers before proceeding.

Step 2 — Create the Parent Folder

mkdir -p <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>

Step 3 — Initialize the Paper Repo

Run the init-latex-project skill:

bash ~/.claude/skills/init-latex-project/scripts/init.sh <ProjectName>-paper <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/paper [--venue <venue>] --git

Note: Expand ~ to the actual home directory (e.g. /Users/jieke). Use --venue only if a venue was specified; omit for generic arXiv.

After the script runs:

Add a sections/daily_experiments.tex file to the paper:

% Daily Experiments Log
% Add experiment entries in reverse chronological order (newest first).
%
% Template for each entry:
%   \subsection*{YYYY-MM-DD — <short title>}
%   \textbf{Setup:} <method variant, dataset, config>\\
%   \textbf{Result:} <key numbers, metric values>\\
%   \textbf{Observation:} <what worked, what didn't>\\
%   \textbf{Next:} <follow-up experiment planned>

Add \input{sections/daily_experiments} to paper/main.tex in the appendix area (before \end{document}), with a section header:

\section*{Daily Experiments (Internal)}
\input{sections/daily_experiments}

If GitHub SSH URL was provided for paper:

git -C <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/paper remote add origin <paper-github-url>
git -C <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/paper push -u origin main

Step 4 — Initialize the Code Repo

Invoke the init-python-project skill. Tell the user:

"Now let's set up the code repo. I'll run the init-python-project skill for the code/ directory."

Use the init-python-project skill with the following context already established:

Target directory: <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/code/
Project type: new, ML project
GitHub URL: from Step 1 (if provided)

Follow all steps in init-python-project as normal. The code repo will be initialized at <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/code/.

Step 5 — Create PROJECT.md in the Parent Folder

Write <parent-dir>/<ProjectName>/PROJECT.md with the following content (fill in from the user's research summary in Step 1):

# <ProjectName>

> <One-line description of the research project>

## Research Overview

**Method**: <method description>
**Datasets**: <datasets used>
**Benchmarks**: <benchmarks / baselines compared against>
**Metrics**: <evaluation metrics>

## Repository Structure

| Repo | Path | Purpose |
|------|------|---------|
| paper | `./paper/` | LaTeX paper (<venue or arXiv>) |
| code  | `./code/`  | Python implementation (uv)     |

## GitHub Remotes

| Repo | URL |
|------|-----|
| paper | <paper-github-url or TBD> |
| code  | <code-github-url or TBD> |

## Workflow

- **Design changes** (method, datasets, metrics): update `paper/sections/method.tex` first, then implement in `code/`
- **Experiment results**: record in `code/experiments/`, then sync to `paper/sections/daily_experiments.tex`
- **Milestones**: use `add-git-tag` skill in each repo separately
- **Code docs**: use `update-docs` skill in `code/`

## Key Files

- `paper/sections/method.tex` — canonical method description
- `paper/sections/exp.tex` — main experiments section
- `paper/sections/daily_experiments.tex` — running experiment log
- `code/docs/outlines/project_plan.md` — implementation roadmap
- `code/experiments/` — raw experiment outputs and logs

Step 6 — Final Summary

Report to the user:

Project initialized: <ProjectName>

paper/  → <paper-github-url or "local only">
code/   → <code-github-url or "local only">

Key skills for this project:
  - project-sync   → sync experiment results from code to paper
  - add-git-tag    → mark milestones in either repo
  - update-docs    → refresh code documentation

Next steps:
  1. Fill in paper/sections/method.tex with your method details
  2. Fill in paper/sections/exp.tex with planned experiments
  3. Start implementing in code/src/
  4. When you have results, use the project-sync skill to log them in paper

project-init