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literature-review

Finds, ranks and reads the literature on a question, the retrieval loop the lead runs itself over OpenAlex, arXiv, Crossref, PubMed and bioRxiv with a fixed budget, deduplication, ranking by topical fit, reading of the load-bearing papers and claim-level links, for related-work sections, prior-art checks, surveys and systematic reviews. Use for "find papers", "what is known about", related work, or a review; escalate to PRISMA screening only when a systematic review is requested. For one quick fact or definition use research-lookup.

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Apache-2.0

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# Literature review

You are the retrieval ranker. Run the searches, look at every candidate, decide what is
worth reading, and read it before it becomes a claim. Never hand the loop to a worker: the
ranking is the judgement, and a worker without the conversation ranks for a different
question.

## Non-negotiables

1. **One window, one priority, fixed before the first query.** Recency, historical or
   default; a date bound only if the question has one. Never widen the window mid-loop to
   find "the famous paper" the user excluded.
2. **Budget by difficulty.** Rate the question 1–10. Difficulty 1–3 gets the initial round
   only; 4–7 gets one follow-up round; 8–10 gets two. A round targets one concrete gap