Work With Overleaf

Work With Overleaf

Most academics keep their .tex in Overleaf, not on disk — so this skill gets an Overleaf project into a local working copy the rest of the toolkit can act on (preflight-check, polish-prose, verify-citations, match-style, …), then helps sync the changes back. It's the on-ramp; the other skills do the work.

Pick the path that matches the account

Overleaf exposes three ways to move a project in and out. Re-verify the current method and whether it's premium before relying on it against Overleaf's live documentation, because account features and menu names can change. As of the last check:

| Path | Who | How | |---|---|---| | Git integration (recommended) | Premium / Server Pro 4.0+ | Project → Menu → Git; copy the git clone https://git.overleaf.com/ command. Authenticate with an Overleaf token (token-based auth). Work locally, then git pull / git push. Branch is main (older clones may be master). | | GitHub synchronization | Premium | Link the project to a GitHub repo (Menu → GitHub); sync both ways. Run the skills on the GitHub clone you already have locally. | | Download ZIP | Free (everyone) | Menu → Download → Source. Work locally; there is no auto-merge — re-upload changed files in the Overleaf editor, or paste edits back. Best for a one-shot check. |

If the user isn't sure which they have, ask; don't assume premium.

Process

1. Establish the local copy. Determine the path above and get the project local (clone, use the existing GitHub clone, or unzip the download). Confirm the main .tex and .bib are present.
2. Run the requested skills on the local files exactly as normal — preflight-check for desk-reject risk, polish-prose/match-style for the writing, verify-citations for the .bib, assess-paper for the full read. Write outputs to paper-workspace/.
3. Review changes before syncing. Show the author a diff of what changed. Never push automatically — academic drafts are shared/co-authored and an unreviewed push can clobber a collaborator's edits.
4. Sync back by the same path: git push (Git integration), commit+push to the linked GitHub repo (sync), or tell the author exactly which files to re-upload (ZIP). For Git/GitHub, confirm first and surface any merge conflicts rather than forcing.
5. Compile sanity. Note that Overleaf compiles server-side; if the local edits use a package/option Overleaf's TeX Live version may differ on, flag it so the author recompiles on Overleaf before relying on the PDF.

Guardrails

• The Overleaf token is a secret. Never print it, log it, write it to a file, or commit it. If a clone URL contains a token, redact it in any output.
• Never auto-push or auto-upload without explicit confirmation — and never rewrite the Overleaf project history. Co-authors may be editing concurrently.
• Don't assume premium. Git/GitHub paths are premium; if the user is on free Overleaf, use the ZIP path and say so.
• Re-verify the live method (premium status, menu steps, clone host, branch name) against Overleaf's current docs before instructing — do not rely on cached steps.
• Copilot, not pilot: propose the sync, show the diff, let the author run it.

Memory

Uses the shared .paper-memory/ convention ([paper-memory-convention.md](../paper-profile/references/paper-memory-convention.md)).

• At start: read profile.yml/lessons.md for the author's usual Overleaf path so you don't re-ask each time.
• At end: append date · work-with-overleaf · path used · note after deduping (e.g. "author uses Git integration, token in keychain").
• Create .paper-memory/ on demand; local-only, never uploaded; never store the token there.

Source & license

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

• Author: ShaishavMaisuria
• Source: ShaishavMaisuria/research-paper-lifecycle-skills
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://shaishavmaisuria.github.io/research-paper-lifecycle-skills/

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