ClaudSkills / Science & Research / research-methods

Read Paper

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Read Paper skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Read Paper is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Science & Research category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: Science & Research · Sub-category: research-methods · Last updated: 2026-06-13

type:review

Use when the user asks to read, summarize, explain, analyze, critique, compare, translate, extract details from, write about, or answer questions about a research paper, including when they provide an arXiv/Hugging Face/OpenReview/PDF URL, a paper title only, a local/uploaded paper file, or an existing notes document. Always trigger even if there is already a prior summary or document about the paper; the assistant must read the original paper before answering paper-specific content.

What this skill does

Read Paper is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the research-methods sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/read-paper/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when the user asks to read, summarize, explain, analyze, critique, compare, translate, extract details from, write about, or answer questions about a research paper, including when they provide an arXiv/Hugging Face/OpenReview/PDF URL, a paper title only, a local/uploaded paper file, or an existing notes document. Always trigger even if there is already a prior summary or document about the paper; the assistant must read the original paper before answering paper-specific content.

Who uses this skill

The Read Paper Claude Code skill is built for researchers, data scientists, academics, and analysts working with complex data and scientific literature. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 117,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/read-paper
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/read-paper/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/read-paper/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/read-paper/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/read-paper/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\read-paper\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

See pricing → Download desktop app

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Read Paper Claude Code skill?

Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/read-paper/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.

What does the Read Paper skill do?

Is this skill free to install?

Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.

When should I use the Read Paper skill?

Use Read Paper when your Claude Code task falls under the Science & Research category — specifically in the research methods area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Read Paper" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/science/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Read Paper skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Read Paper is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Science & Research category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA

Yixi-Rao. (2026). Read Paper [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/read-paper/

BibTeX

@misc{read-paper-2026,
  author    = {Yixi-Rao},
  title     = {Read Paper [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/read-paper/}
}

Embed this skill

Promote, attribute, or link this skill from your own README, blog post, or documentation. All three snippets are free to use — no sign-up, no API key. More distribution surfaces →

Badge

[![ClaudSkills](https://claudskills.com/badge/read-paper.svg)](https://claudskills.com/skills/read-paper/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=skill_badge)

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