Before writing any files, reason through these 4 stages. Think carefully about each stage.
Stage 1 — Semantic Deconstruction
Strip narrative framing. Extract the raw knowledge atoms:
- Mathematical formulations and equations
- Architectural specifications and component descriptions
- Experimental configurations (hyperparameters, hardware, datasets, seeds)
- ALL numerical results and benchmarks (exact values, never rounded)
- Citation dependencies and their roles (imports, extends, bounds, refutes)
- Negative results, ablation findings, rejected alternatives
- Implementation tricks, convergence hacks, sensitivity observations
Before moving on, perform an evidence capture pass:
- For every source table or figure you plan to cite, first capture the original source identifier and caption exactly (
Table 2, Figure 4, etc.)
- Transcribe the raw table/figure content before making any claim-specific summary
- If you create a filtered view for one claim, store it as a derived subset, not as the original table itself
- Never label a subset or merged summary as
Table N unless it reproduces the original source table faithfully
- If PDF extraction is ambiguous, re-read the page with layout preserved or inspect the page manually before writing evidence files
Stage 2 — Cognitive Mapping
Map extracted atoms to /logic/:
- problem.md: observations (with numbers) → gaps → key insight → assumptions
- claims.md: falsifiable claims with proof pointers to experiment IDs (E01, E02...), plus a separation between direct evidence basis and higher-level interpretation
- concepts.md: ≥5 formal definitions with notation and boundary conditions
- experiments.md: ≥3 declarative verification plans (NO exact numbers — directional only)
- solution/: architecture (component graph), algorithm (math + pseudocode), constraints, heuristics
- related_work.md: typed dependency graph (imports/extends/bounds/baseline/refutes)
Appendix content (worked examples, prompt templates, enumerated taxonomies, annotation
schemas, extended analyses, prescriptive content) should be routed into the ARA layers
where it fits best, preserving the granularity the source uses. Never silently drop an
appendix section.
When writing claims:
- Phrase the main
Statement at the strongest level directly supported by the cited evidence
- Put raw support in
Evidence basis
- Put any broader synthesis in
Interpretation
- If the evidence only shows validation metrics, do not upgrade the claim to training dynamics or optimization quality unless training-side evidence is also captured
related_work.md should reflect the paper's full citation footprint, not only the
closest predecessors. Works with a specific technical delta get full RW blocks; remaining
citations from the paper's References list should still be captured (more briefly) so the
intellectual neighborhood is preserved.
Stage 3 — Physical Stubbing
Generate /src/:
- configs/: exact hyperparameter values with rationale and sensitivity
- execution/: ≥1 Python code stub implementing the NOVEL contribution (typed signatures, no boilerplate)
- environment.md: Python version, framework, hardware, dependencies, seeds
- If repo available: use actual code to improve stub precision
- If rubric provided: produce
rubric/requirements.md mapping every leaf node
Stage 4 — Exploration Graph Extraction
Reconstruct the research DAG for /trace/exploration_tree.yaml:
- Root nodes = central research questions
- Experiments and decisions nest as children
- Dead ends from ablations/rejected alternatives = typed leaf nodes
- ≥8 nodes, must include dead_end and decision types
- Use
also_depends_on for DAG convergence points
- Every node must declare whether it is
explicit from source material or inferred from reconstruction
- Explicit nodes should carry source references (table/figure/section labels)
- Inferred nodes are allowed only when they help reconstruct the paper's logic without pretending to be literal session logs