Shears spawns parallel checker agents to find typos, grammar issues, and terminology inconsistencies across your paper. Review results in a local web UI with an embedded PDF viewer that highlights the exact region of each problem. Apply selected fixes with one command — backups, conflict detection, and diff comparison included.
/shears-paper-improver:shears-check
Every criterion runs as a separate agent in parallel. A four-criterion check on a 22-page paper finishes roughly as fast as a single-criterion one.
Problems carry exact PDF coordinates from synctex. The Locate button highlights the region on the rendered PDF right next to the problem list.
Watch each criterion's progress bar advance page-by-page as its agent works. New problems appear as soon as they're written.
Drop a markdown file into .shears/criteria/ to add a new check. Built-in criteria serve as reference templates.
Embedded PDF.js with a text layer — select, copy, and Ctrl+F search work exactly as in a native PDF viewer.
Every fix run backs up affected .tex files and the PDF, detects conflicts by confidence score, and offers rollback on compile failure.
latexdiff PDF with red/green markup, side-by-side before/after PDFs, or a git-style unified .tex diff — pick what fits.
Your problem selections save to selected.toml automatically. Close the browser, come back later, pick up where you left off.
Two steps. The install script handles dependencies and marketplace registration.
Works on Linux (apt, dnf, pacman) and macOS (brew). The script checks for missing tools and offers to install them.
git clone https://github.com/camelop/shears-paper-improver.git
cd shears-paper-improver && ./install.shThe script prints these exact commands — run them in your Claude Code session:
/plugin marketplace add ~/.claude/plugins/local-marketplace
/plugin install shears-paper-improver@local-marketplace
/reload-pluginsPrefer a manual install? See the README.
From your paper's directory:
/shears-paper-improver:shears-checkLimit to specific criteria:
/shears-paper-improver:shears-check typo,grammarThe web UI opens in your browser. Review problems, click Locate to see them highlighted in the PDF, and tick the ones you want to fix.
/shears-paper-improver:shears-fixBacks up files, applies fixes, recompiles, and offers diff comparison.
Any markdown file in .shears/criteria/ within your paper's root becomes a new criterion. Follow this template:
# Passive Voice Detection
## Description
Flag overuse of passive voice in the main body.
## Scope
text
## Positive Examples (these ARE problems)
- "The results were analyzed..."
- "It was shown that..."
## Negative Examples (these are NOT problems)
- Passive voice in the Methods section describing experimental procedures
- Figure and table captions
## Checking Instructions
1. Scan each sentence for auxiliary "be" + past participle.
2. Skip the Methods/Procedure sections.
3. Only flag passages with three or more passive constructions per paragraph.
4. Suggest active-voice rewrites preserving technical meaning.That's it — run /shears-paper-improver:shears-check again and your new criterion gets its own parallel agent.