Scientific Figure Generation

Generate publication-quality figures for research papers.

Input

• $0 — Description of the desired figure
• $1 — (Optional) Path to data file (CSV, JSON, NPY, PKL) or results directory

Scripts

Generate figure template

python ~/.claude/skills/figure-generation/scripts/figure_template.py --type bar --output figure_script.py --name comparison
python ~/.claude/skills/figure-generation/scripts/figure_template.py --list-types

Available types: bar, training-curve, heatmap, ablation, line, scatter, radar, violin, tsne, attention

Three-Phase Pipeline (from MatPlotAgent)

Phase 1: Query Expansion

Expand the user’s figure description into step-by-step coding specifications using the prompts in references/figure-prompts.md. Determine: figure type, data mapping (x/y/color/hue), style requirements, paper conventions.

Phase 2: Code Generation with Execution Loop (up to 4 retries)

1. Generate a self-contained Python script using the template from scripts/figure_template.py as a starting point
2. Write script to a temp file and execute: python figure_script.py
3. If error: capture traceback, feed back, regenerate (see ERROR_PROMPT in references)
4. If no .png produced: add explicit save instruction, retry
5. On success: report the generated figure path

Phase 3: Visual Refinement

Read the generated PNG file and visually inspect using the VLM feedback prompts from references/figure-prompts.md:

• Does the figure type match the request?
• Are labels, titles, and legends correct?
• Is the color scheme appropriate and consistent?
• Are axis scales sensible? Is text readable at publication size?

If improvements needed: generate corrective instructions and re-execute.

References

• All MatPlotAgent prompts: ~/.claude/skills/figure-generation/references/figure-prompts.md
• Figure templates: ~/.claude/skills/figure-generation/scripts/figure_template.py

Output

Both PNG (preview, 300 DPI) and PDF (vector, for paper) formats. Plus the LaTeX include code:

\begin{figure}[t]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/figure_name.pdf}
    \caption{Description. Best viewed in color.}
    \label{fig:figure_name}
\end{figure}

Quality Requirements

• DPI ≥ 300, or vector PDF
• Colorblind-friendly palette (no red-green only)
• All text ≥ 8pt at print size
• Consistent styling across all paper figures
• No matplotlib default title — use LaTeX caption

Related Skills

• Upstream: data-analysis, experiment-code
• Downstream: paper-writing-section, paper-compilation, slide-generation
• See also: table-generation