Check References

SkillDev tools

Fix figures in a LaTeX paper by ensuring every figure has a label, caption, and is referenced in the text

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Check References skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by causify-ai/helpers in .claude/skills/paper.fix_figures/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

  • Make sure every picture and table has a label and caption and it's referenced in the text
  • Captions should only contain a reference to what is done and comments and more content should be in the text

Add Captions and Labels

  • For all the figures in the latex files in the passed directory convert the figure adding the caption and label to the commented section.

  • For instance convert

    %     ```
    % rendered_images:end
    % render_images:begin
    \begin{figure}[!ht]
      \centering
      \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figs/02_architecture.1.png}
      \caption{Confounding adjustment in causal inference}
      \label{fig:confounding_adjustment}
    \end{figure}
    % render_images:end
    

    to

    %     ```
    % caption=Confounding adjustment in causal inference
    % label=fig:confounding_adjustment
    % rendered_images:end
    % render_images:begin
    \begin{figure}[!ht]
      \centering
      \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figs/02_architecture.1.png}
      \caption{Confounding adjustment in causal inference}
      \label{fig:confounding_adjustment}
    \end{figure}
    % render_images:end
    

Create Labels and Captions From Scratch

  • If a figure has no caption or label, infer them from the filename and surrounding context
    • E.g., figs/02_architecture.1.pnglabel=fig:architecture, caption=System architecture overview
  • Choose label names that are short, lowercase, and use underscores

Add References in the Text

  • If a figure has a label but is not cited anywhere in the text, add a parenthetical reference near the most relevant paragraph:
    (see Fig.~\ref{fig:confounding_adjustment})
    

Verify No Orphaned References

  • Scan the text for \ref{fig:xxx} or \ref{tab:xxx} that have no matching \label{fig:xxx} or \label{tab:xxx} in any figure or table environment
  • Report orphaned references as warnings; do not silently delete them

Signals

GitHub stars
145
Forks
159
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
paper-fix-figures
Source
github.com/causify-ai/helpers