Artifact Reading

Engineering Artifact Reading

Read and extract from engineering documents accurately. This is the reading half of the research loop, made explicit: most research failures are reading failures — answering from one page, from a title, or from memory.

Workflow

1. Map the document first. Before answering, parse enough to know the

structure: title, revision/edition, table of contents, sections, tables, figures, appendices, and where the normative (required) content lives vs the informative (guidance) content.

1. Anchor every extract to a location. Page/section/table/figure numbers

for PDFs and standards; sheet + zone for drawings; clause + line for code. Keep table values, figure labels, part numbers, and quoted snippets tied to their location so they can be re-checked.

1. Read the pages the answer depends on. Do not answer from a single

visible page when the question spans methods, tables, notes, or appendices. For a datasheet, read the notes under the tables — that is where the limits live.

1. Cross-check — when a conclusion depends on multiple parts of a document

(a value in a table, a note, a referenced section), verify they agree. Check normative references when the source points at another document.

1. Record provenance — save extracted notes with their source locations as

artifacts for the research run. Never strip the location when handing findings to synthesis.

Reading by artifact type

• Standard/code: section + edition + table/figure number; distinguish

normative (shall) from informative (should/may) and commentary.

• Datasheet: the part number and revision; table notes; absolute maximum

ratings vs recommended operating conditions; test conditions behind specs.

• Drawing: title block (revision, scale), sheet layout, zone grid,

dimension units and tolerances, general notes.

• Paper/report: abstract, methods, results, limitations — do not infer

results from the abstract.

• Specification: scope, referenced documents, requirement clauses, and the

verification method each requirement is measured against.

Subagent Dispatch Mode

When dispatched as an isolated subagent for document parsing (e.g., by /proposal):

1. Receive file paths — one or more document paths to parse
2. Extract content — for each file, run:

``bash node scripts/extract-document.mjs ``

1. Parse the JSON result — extract:

• markdown — full document content in markdown format
• pages — page count
• method — extraction method used (text, pdf-parse, vision)
• warnings — any quality issues (scanned PDF, missing optional dependency, etc.)

1. Return structured content with:

• Full text (markdown format)
• Page count
• Extraction method used
• Source locations for key sections (page numbers)
• Warnings and quality notes

1. Record provenance — document what was extracted, how, and any limitations

Output format for subagent return:

{
  "source": "path/to/file.pdf",
  "method": "pdf-parse",
  "pages": 5,
  "content": "full markdown content...",
  "sections": [
    {"title": "Research Areas", "page": 1, "text": "..."},
    {"title": "Requirements", "page": 2, "text": "..."}
  ],
  "warnings": []
}

If extraction method is vision: general artifact-reading may use the host's explicit read_file or vision capability, but /proposal deterministic intake must stop and require a separately recorded text transcription; it must not silently feed vision output into the binder.

Boundaries

• Never fill a gap you could not read. Mark it blocked and say what was

unreadable and why (paywall, missing page, unreadable scan, binary format).

• Do not answer from a title, filename, or snippet when a direct read is

possible — that is the integrity commandment, applied to reading.

• Research-only, not for final engineering sign-off. Outputs support engineering research but must be reviewed by a licensed engineer for any design application.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: adeerkhan
• Source: adeerkhan/vitruvius
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.