Publication Chart Skill

Goal

Use this skill to turn research results into publication-grade figures and tables with an end-to-end workflow.

Primary production stack:

• pubfig for figures
• pubtab for publication tables

This skill covers the full delivery chain:

1. understand the scientific communication goal,
2. choose the right artifact type,
3. map the task to pubfig, pubtab, or both,
4. generate concrete runnable instructions,
5. export paper-ready assets,
6. run publication QA,
7. propose targeted revisions.

Use this skill when

Trigger this skill for requests like:

• “make a publication-quality figure”
• “choose the right chart for these results”
• “turn these results into a paper-ready figure”
• “make a benchmark / ablation / calibration / forest / heatmap / scatter / line / bar figure”
• “make a benchmark / appendix / ablation table from Excel”
• “convert this Excel table into publication-ready LaTeX”
• “prepare one summary figure plus one companion table for the results section”
• “review and improve this scientific figure/table”
• “I already have a weak chart / screenshot / draft plot — make it publication-ready”
• “export panels for a paper figure”

Do not use this skill for

Do not use this skill when the task is mainly:

• manuscript prose writing,
• statistical testing without artifact design,
• raw exploratory analysis with no publication deliverable,
• Figma-first layout work before the figure/table content is solid.

For simple composite assembly after the figure content is already strong, use the optional secondary workflow in references/composite-assembly.md.

Primary contract

Inputs

Expect some combination of:

• the scientific communication goal,
• available data shape,
• venue or style constraints,
• whether the artifact is a figure, table, or mixed deliverable,
• optional existing assets such as code, spreadsheets, .tex, screenshots, or draft plots,
• whether the user needs a first draft, a publication-ready artifact, or a review/revision pass.

Outputs

The minimum useful output is:

• the recommended figure/table form,
• the recommended pubfig / pubtab route,
• a minimal runnable code snippet or CLI command,
• explicit export filenames and formats,
• a publication QA summary,
• and, when needed, a revision plan.

Default workflow

0. Probe the environment and artifact state

Before generating anything, identify:

• whether pubfig or pubtab is actually available,
• whether the user already has code / spreadsheets / .tex / screenshots,
• whether the deliverable is a fresh build or a revision,
• whether the result needs exact values, fast visual perception, or both.

Prefer the smallest environment check that helps execution. When the bundled helper script is available, use it first:

• python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require pubfig --json
• python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require pubtab --json

Equivalent manual checks are still acceptable when needed:

• python -c "import pubfig; print(pubfig.__version__)"
• python -c "import pubtab; print(pubtab.__version__)"
• pubtab --help

Report the result clearly as available or missing.

If a dependency is missing and the task requires runnable execution:

• auto-install it by default,
• prefer the user’s active environment instead of guessing a random global interpreter,
• use python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require ... as the default bundled route when the script is present,
• let that helper choose uv vs python -m pip against the active interpreter,
• re-run the availability probe after installation,
• and only then continue with the artifact workflow.

Equivalent concrete commands include:

• python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require pubfig
• python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require pubtab
• uv pip install pubfig
• uv pip install pubtab
• python -m pip install pubfig
• python -m pip install pubtab

If auto-install fails, report the exact failure and then degrade gracefully.

Do not block on a full environment audit.

1. Classify the task

Classify the request along these axes:

• artifact type: figure / table / mixed deliverable
• maturity: exploratory draft / publication-ready generation / revision of an existing artifact
• structure: single panel / multi-panel / figure-plus-table package
• evidence mode: pattern perception / exact value lookup / both

Do not jump into plotting code before the communication target is clear.

2. Choose the representation

Choose the representation based on the scientific claim, not novelty or visual flair.

Common families:

• comparison — grouped scatter, bar, line comparison, benchmark summary, companion table
• ablation — grouped comparison, dumbbell, paired comparison, compact table
• distribution — box, violin, raincloud, histogram, density, ECDF, QQ
• relationship — scatter, bubble, contour2d, hexbin
• trend — line, area
• evaluation / diagnostic — calibration, ROC, PR, Bland–Altman, forest plot, volcano
• composition / hierarchy — UpSet, stacked ratio, donut, radial hierarchy, circular grouped or stacked bars
• table — benchmark table, ablation table, dataset summary, appendix table, error breakdown

Avoid weak defaults:

• avoid pie/donut when exact comparison matters and a bar/table is clearer,
• avoid radar unless the comparison is genuinely profile-like and low-cardinality,
• avoid 3D, decorative gradients, and dense legends used only for style,
• avoid forcing every result into a figure when a publication table communicates the evidence better.

If the request is ambiguous, explicitly state what scientific claim the artifact is supposed to support.

3. Map to the toolchain

Default mapping:

• Figures → pubfig
• Tables → pubtab
• Mixed deliverables → use both, with each artifact carrying a distinct role

Tool roles:

• pubfig is the default figure engine for scientific plots and paper-ready export.
• pubtab is the default table engine for Excel ↔ LaTeX workflows, preview, and publication-ready table export.
• Figma/composite assembly is an optional secondary branch for multi-panel finishing.

Route selection rules:

• prefer Python for pubfig figure generation,
• prefer CLI for pubtab when the task is file-driven,
• prefer Python for pubtab when the task is already inside a notebook or scripted pipeline,
• keep the figure and table responsibilities separate in mixed requests.

4. Generate concrete artifact instructions

Prefer the smallest production-ready artifact first:

• minimal runnable Python for pubfig, or
• minimal CLI/Python for pubtab

Then add publication parameters only when justified:

• labels, caption, width, export format, backend, preview, panel packaging, or composite layout.

Keep filenames and suffixes explicit.

Good defaults:

• figures: one pubfig call + one save_figure(...)
• multiple figure outputs: batch_export(...)
• tables: one pubtab xlsx2tex ... or pubtab.preview ...
• mixed requests: one figure route + one table route, clearly separated

5. Define the delivery contract

For every response, make these explicit when possible:

• the claim the artifact supports,
• which part is handled by pubfig and which by pubtab,
• the output filenames,
• the output formats,
• whether the artifact is draft / final / revision,
• what still needs user-provided data or manuscript context.

6. Run publication QA

After generation, check:

• title and legend density,
• axis labels and units,
• category ordering and baseline clarity,
• color accessibility and grayscale robustness,
• font / line-weight consistency,
• caption readiness,
• figure/table readability after downscaling,
• panel consistency for multi-panel figures,
• venue-fit issues such as width, crowding, or over-annotation.

The QA output must be concrete. Do not say “looks better” without naming why.

7. Revise

If the result is weak, revise with specific changes such as:

• switch chart family,
• remove chartjunk,
• reorder categories,
• move exact values into a table,
• split a crowded panel,
• add or simplify the caption,
• change export width,
• or convert the deliverable from figure-first to table-first.

Missing dependency behavior

If pubfig or pubtab is not available:

• do not fail immediately,
• first attempt automatic installation into the active environment,
• prefer python3 scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py --require ... when the bundled script exists,
• explicitly state which dependency is missing,
• state which install command or helper route is being used,
• re-check availability after installation,
• if installation succeeds, continue with the runnable workflow,
• if installation fails, degrade to a design/specification workflow,
• provide pseudocode or draft commands,
• preserve the recommended figure/table structure,
• still provide QA and revision guidance.

Composite assembly rule

Treat composite or Figma assembly as secondary:

• use it when the user explicitly wants a multi-panel paper figure,
• or when panel-level export and layout polishing are genuinely needed.

Do not escalate simple figure tasks into composite/Figma workflows by default.

Output style rules

• Prefer direct, implementation-usable outputs.
• Explain the why of chart/table choice briefly, then give the runnable route.
• When execution matters, include a short environment status block such as pubfig: available/missing, pubtab: available/missing.
• If a dependency is missing, state the exact helper command or install command, perform the installation, and report the post-install status.
• When a table is stronger than a figure, say so explicitly.
• When a figure is stronger than a table, say so explicitly.
• When both are needed, assign them different communication roles.
• Keep revision guidance actionable and falsifiable.

Recommended response shape

A strong response using this skill usually has 6 parts:

1. Artifact decision — figure / table / paired deliverable, and why
2. Tool route — pubfig, pubtab, or both
3. Minimal implementation — runnable code or CLI
4. Export plan — filenames, formats, width/backend/preview choices
5. Publication QA — what to verify before paper submission
6. Revision plan — what to change if the current artifact is weak

Resources

Load these as needed:

• references/workflow.md — full end-to-end decision order and delivery contract
• references/chart-selection.md — task-to-chart mapping and anti-patterns
• references/execution-and-verification.md — environment probing, forced install behavior, and runnable verification
• scripts/ensure_publication_tooling.py — bundled probe + auto-install helper for pubfig / pubtab
• references/pubfig-recipes.md — shortest useful figure patterns and export routes
• references/pubtab-recipes.md — shortest useful table routes and backend guidance
• references/source-guides/pubfig-architecture.md — package layout and figure-generation boundaries from source
• references/source-guides/pubfig-api-map.md — stable public pubfig surface and chart-family map from __init__.py
• references/source-guides/pubfig-export-flow.md — figure export, publication sizing, and panel-export flow from source
• references/source-guides/pubtab-architecture.md — package layout and forward/reverse conversion architecture from source
• references/source-guides/pubtab-cli-api-flow.md — CLI-to-API control flow and batch/sheet behavior from source
• references/source-guides/pubtab-backend-and-preview.md — backend/theme split and real preview compile pipeline from source
• references/publication-qa-checklist.md — figure/table QA checklist
• references/composite-assembly.md — optional multi-panel and Figma branch

For prompt-shaped examples, see examples/.