# Figure Planner

Use when designing, restructuring, or auditing manuscript figures and you need to...

- Repository: https://github.com/Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills (646 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-13
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills --skill figure-planner -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills --skill figure-planner -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills --skill figure-planner -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills --skill figure-planner -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Use when designing, restructuring, or auditing manuscript figures and you need to define one main claim per figure, assign panel roles, align legends with the text, or decide what belongs in main figures versus supplement.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Figure Planner

## Overview

Use this skill when the bottleneck is no longer sentence writing but figure logic. The goal is to make each figure carry a defensible scientific job, keep the panel set coherent, and ensure that the legend and Results text tell the same story.

This skill is narrower than `manuscript-optimizer`. Use `manuscript-optimizer` when the whole paper structure is unstable. Use `figure-planner` when the central issue is what each figure should prove and how each panel should function.

## When To Use

Use this skill when:
- a figure feels overloaded, fragmented, or hard to summarize
- the paper has too many Results subsections driven by panel count
- it is unclear what belongs in the main figure versus the supplement
- legends, panel letters, and Results text may have drifted apart
- you need to redesign figure titles or panel grouping around claims rather than around plotting convenience

Do not use this skill for:
- low-level visual styling only
- final proofreading without figure changes
- manuscript-wide claim restructuring that exceeds the figures themselves

## Core Rule

Each main figure should earn its place by carrying one dominant claim.

If a figure cannot be summarized by one clean sentence, either:
- split it,
- demote part of it to the supplement,
- or rewrite the figure around a clearer claim.

## Panel Roles

Assign each panel one primary role before writing the legend or Results paragraph:

- claim-supporting evidence
- methodological bridge or definition
- validation under a new regime
- ranking or benchmark comparison
- translational or practical consequence
- case illustration
- null or negative result, stated as a finding

Do not let one panel pretend to do three jobs at once.

## Planning Order

The rest: https://github.com/Boom5426/Nature-Paper-Skills/blob/HEAD/skills/core/figure-planner/SKILL.md