scientific-figure-making
Covers publication-ready matplotlib figures for academic papers, slides, and reports—bars, trends, scatter, heatmaps, and multi-panel layouts—with this repository’s house style, print/vector export conventions, and parity with figures4papers demos. Use when the user is finalizing or creating such figures in matplotlib. Do not use for interactive dashboards or web viz (Plotly, Altair, Bokeh), exploratory-only plots without a publication target, dominant 3D or geographic mapping, or Illustrator/Figma-first infographic workflows.
npx skills add ChenLiu-1996/figures4papers --skill scientific-figure-making --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Scientific figure making Open `references/` only as needed; do not preload every file. Start from the table below, then follow links inside the document you opened (and into `figure_*` code via [references/demos.md](references/demos.md)) instead of loading the full reference set up front. ## When to load this skill - Matplotlib figures for **papers, slides, or reports** that must match **this repo’s publication look** (fonts, palette, spines, legends, export). - Requests involving **grouped bars, trend lines, heatmaps, multi-panel grids**, or **PDF/SVG/high-DPI** output in a scientific-figure context. - References to **figures4papers** `figure_*` projects or “same style as the repo figures.” ## When not to load - **Plotly, Altair, Bokeh**, or other interactive / web-first plotting. - **EDA-only** plots where seaborn or pandas is enough until there is a publication target. - Primary workflow is **3D, GIS**, or **non-matplotlib** tooling. - **Illustrator / Figma–first** layout or infographic (not matplotlib data plots). ## Related files | File | Open when | |------|-----------| | [references/tutorials.md](references/tutorials.md) | End-to-end walkthroughs (bar, trends, heatmap) | |
- When to load this skill
- When not to load
- Related files
What does the scientific-figure-making skill do?
Covers publication-ready matplotlib figures for academic papers, slides, and reports—bars, trends, scatter, heatmaps, and multi-panel layouts—with this repository’s house style, print/vector export conventions, and parity with figures4papers demos. Use when the user is finalizing or creating such figures in matplotlib. Do not use for interactive dashboards or web viz (Plotly, Altair, Bokeh), exploratory-only plots without a publication target, dominant 3D or geographic mapping, or Illustrator/Figma-first infographic workflows.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add ChenLiu-1996/figures4papers --skill scientific-figure-making --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From ChenLiu-1996/figures4papers, a repository with 2,970 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.