Skills Guide

New LaTeX course scaffold

VerifiedSafe

Scaffold a new per-course LaTeX document with title page, preamble, and sidecar files, ready for notes.

Download and use
Sby Skills Guide Bot
ContentBeginner
8/7/2026
Claude CodeCursorCodex
#latex#scaffolding#course-notes#document-generation#academia

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Automated summary

Scaffolds a new per-course LaTeX document (title page, table of contents, shared preamble and main.bib / ExtFiles sidecars) under the configured notes root, ready to hold notes.

Strengths

  • A single command creates the full canonical structure, including the main.bib and ExtFiles/ sidecars that let the document compile standalone
  • Refuses to overwrite an existing main.tex, so re-running is safe
  • Author, affiliation and notes root are configurable through flags and the SCRIBETEX_NOTES_ROOT variable
  • Returns JSON with the path of the created main.tex, which makes follow-up steps easy

Limitations

  • Tightly coupled to a personal Scribetex setup (default author/affiliation, ~/Desktop/College/Notes root)
  • Does not compile the PDF; you need the compile-course skill for that
  • Optional skill, since process-note already scaffolds the document on first use
When to use it

Use it when you want to set up a brand-new course folder with the standard title page and preamble before writing any notes.

When not to use it

Skip it when the course already exists or when you would rather let process-note create the scaffold on the first note.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score88/100

The skill only instructs running a bundled local Python scaffold script that writes a new LaTeX course directory and sidecar files under a configurable notes root. It does not use network access, secrets, obfuscation, privilege escalation, or destructive commands, and it explicitly refuses to overwrite existing main.tex files.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Scaffold a new course
Create a new LaTeX course document for "Introduction to Machine Learning" (CMSC 25300) under my notes root.
Custom author and affiliation
Scaffold a course called "Real Analysis" with course number MATH 20300, authored by Jane Doe at Northwestern University.
Check for an existing course
Set up the LaTeX scaffold for "Quantum Mechanics" (PHYS 23400) and tell me if it already exists.

name: new-course description: Scaffold a new per-course LaTeX document with the standard title page, preamble, and bibliography/graphics sidecars, ready for notes. category: general

New Course

Goal

Create a fresh course document under the notes root, using the canonical template: a full title page (course name + number + author + affiliation), a table of contents, the shared preamble, and the empty topic-section region — plus the main.bib and ExtFiles/ sidecars so it compiles standalone. Use this to set a course up front; note that process-note scaffolds automatically on first use, so this skill is optional.

Instructions

Run the scaffold script with the course name and number:

python scripts/run.py --name "<Course Name>" --number "DEPT 10100"

Optional flags override the defaults --author "Evan S. Robles" and --affiliation "University of Chicago". The script prints JSON with the created main_tex path (or an error if the course already exists — it never overwrites).

The document is written to <notes-root>/<Course-Slug>/main.tex, where the notes root is ~/Desktop/College/Notes by default (override with the SCRIBETEX_NOTES_ROOT environment variable).

Examples

Scaffold a course with a custom author:

python scripts/run.py --name "<Course Name>" --number "DEPT 20200" --author "Evan S. Robles"

Constraints

  • Environment: self-locating (prepends ../../../src to sys.path); the SessionStart hook installs the scribetex package's deps.
  • No overwrite: refuses if main.tex already exists for that course.
  • Write-only: does not compile the document; use compile-course for a PDF.

Author: Evan S. Robles Contact: GitHub @evan-robles

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/download' --output '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/new-course' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g' '.claude/skills/new-course'

Cursor
test -f '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.cursor/skills' && test ! -e '.cursor/skills/new-course' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g' '.cursor/skills/new-course'

Codex
test -f '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.agents/skills' && test ! -e '.agents/skills/new-course' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g' '.agents/skills/new-course'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g'

openskills read 'new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/new-latex-course-scaffold-msih959g/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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