What’s inside

One SKILL.md (the playbook) + one starter template. A preview:

Bioactive Pathway Poster

When to use

• You're presenting a poster on a bioactive compound's mechanism and your current draft is a wall of text with a pathway diagram nobody can follow
• Your pathway has 8–30 interacting nodes (compounds, proteins, genes, cellular outcomes) and the relationships matter as much as the parts
• Readers keep asking "so what does it actually do?" because the diagram shows connections but not the direction of effects
• You're preparing a conference poster, a lab-meeting figure, or a review figure that must survive scrutiny from people who know the field
• You need a figure that a non-specialist can read at a glance and a specialist can check node by node

Workflow

1. Define the pathway scope (input: research question + sources → output: scope statement)
   One sentence: "This poster shows how {compound} affects {process} in {system}." List what's in scope and what's deliberately excluded. A poster that tries to show everything shows nothing — exclusion is a design decision, not a gap.
2. Build the node-and-edge table (input: primary literature → output: verified table)
   Every node (compound, receptor, enzyme, gene, cellular outcome) gets: name, type, role in one phrase, source citation. Every arrow gets: from → to, effect (activates / inhibits / converts / upregulates / downregulates), evidence strength, source citation. No arrow without a source. If you can't source it, it doesn't go on the poster.
3. Lay out the flow (input: node-and-edge table → output: layout plan)
   Read left-to-right or top-to-bottom: trigger → mediators → cellular outcomes. Group related nodes into labeled zones (e.g., membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus). Keep arrow crossings minimal — if arrows tangle, split the pathway into two panels rather than drawing spaghetti.
4. Label for two audiences (input: layout plan → output: label set)
   Every node labeled with its standard name; every arrow labeled with its effect; a one-line takeaway per zone; a legend defining arrow types, colors, and symbols; abbreviations defined on the poster, not assumed. A reader should be able to trace the mechanism without you standing next to them.
5. Review for accuracy (input: full draft → output: checked poster)
   Check every node name, every arrow direction, every effect against its source. Have a colleague in the field review it. Fix or remove anything you can't source — an unsourced arrow on a conference poster is a question you don't want.

Output spec

Template preview

Bioactive Pathway Poster — Planning Template

Fill this in before drawing anything. No arrow goes on the poster without a row in the tables below.

Poster title: {…}

Scope sentence: "This poster shows how {compound} affects {process} in {system}." In scope: {…} Deliberately excluded: {…}

Node table

Edge (arrow) table

Layout plan

• Reading direction: {left-to-right / top-to-bottom}
• Zones: {e.g. Membrane → Cytoplasm → Nucleus}
• Panels: {one panel / split into two — reason: …}
• Takeaway per zone:
• {Zone 1}: {one line}
• {Zone 2}: {one line}

Legend

• Solid arrow = {direct activation}
• Blunt line = {inhibition}

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