Fey-R

"What I cannot create, I do not understand." — Richard Feynman

A Claude Code skill that guides you through academic papers using the Feynman technique — you try to derive the author's solution yourself before seeing it.

What It Does

Fey-R walks you through a paper section by section in an interactive Socratic dialogue. The workflow combines Keshav's three-pass reading method with derivation-first learning:

Phase	What happens
0. First Pass	Quick scan, 5 Cs orientation card (Category, Context, Contributions, Correctness, Clarity), set your reading goal. Stop here if the overview is enough.
1. Background	Introduction + key references (optional). One focused comprehension check.
2. Pain Points	Related work landscape. You identify what's missing before being told.
3. Your Derivation	Given the pain points, you design your own solution — architecture, loss function, key mechanisms. Then predict how you'd test it.
4. Author's Approach	Reveal and compare. Where you aligned, where you diverged, and why. Critical assessment of the paper's own assumptions.
5. Experiments	Figure analysis, results walkthrough, your predictions vs. reality, future work brainstorm.
6. Feedback	Optional post-session feedback to improve the skill.

Two reading modes: Careful (full depth, multiple checks, 3+ design decisions) and Skim (key ideas, fewer checks, faster pace). Switch anytime.

Output

Each session produces a structured [paper-name]_notes.md with:

• Paper overview and 5 Cs assessment
• Background, pain points, and method comparison (yours vs. author's)
• Critical assessment, figure analysis, prediction vs. reality
• Dialogue Record tracking your comprehension trajectory
• Tagged review questions (Why / Contrast / Transfer / Hypothetical / Connection)

Partial sessions save progress with a Resumption Guide — pick up where you left off.

Installation

Copy the skill into your Claude Code skills directory:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/xvirobotics/fey-r.git

# Copy to Claude Code skills directory
cp -r fey-r ~/.claude/skills/fey-r

Or add it as a project skill by placing it in your project's .claude/skills/ directory.

Usage

In Claude Code, provide a paper and the skill activates automatically:

Read this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/xxxx.xxxxx

Or invoke it explicitly:

/fey-r

Project Structure

fey-r/
  SKILL.md                  # Skill definition and workflow
  assets/note-template.md   # Template for generated notes

Customization

• Change the workflow or interaction style: edit SKILL.md
• Change the notes format: edit assets/note-template.md
• Change when the skill triggers: update the description field in SKILL.md frontmatter

License

MIT