Table Schema (two layers: index vs Appendix)

Triggers & routing

• Trigger: table schema, schema-first tables, table design, 表格 schema, 先 schema 后填充.
• Use when: you want survey tables that are verifiable and fillable before LaTeX (typically Stage C4, after evidence packs exist).

Tables are not decorations; they are compression.

A common failure mode in this pipeline: the first table that gets generated looks like an internal index. So we separate tables into two layers:

1. outline/tables_index.md (internal)

• purpose: coverage/debugging + fast evidence scan
• allowed to be more exhaustive
• should NOT be inserted into the paper

2. outline/tables_appendix.md (reader-facing)

• purpose: publishable survey tables (clean layout + high information density)
• can be inserted into the final PDF as Appendix

This skill designs both layers before filling.

Default mode: semantic (LLM-first)

Treat this as a design task, not running a script.

If a column cannot be filled from existing evidence packs without guessing, the schema is wrong.

Roles (use explicitly)

Table Designer (reader lens)

Mission: choose tables that answer reader questions, not pipeline questions.

Do:

• make each table answer one question
• keep tables small enough to fill (two good tables beat one impossible mega-table)

Avoid:

• internal/log-style tables inside the paper
• column labels that only make sense inside this repo

Evidence Steward (fillability)

Mission: refuse schemas that require invented facts.

Do:

• map every column to concrete upstream fields
• reject columns that would force long paragraph cells

Avoid:

• TODO columns
• placeholders ("TBD", "...", "(placeholder)")

Workflow (explicit inputs)