0xmerl99/paperclaw/lab-knowledge-handoff

Lab Knowledge Handoff

Overview

Packages a departing team member's knowledge — their reading history, annotations, notes, and expertise — into a structured handoff document that the lab retains permanently. Prevents institutional knowledge loss when students graduate, postdocs move on, or collaborators leave.

When to Use

• A lab member is graduating, leaving, or transitioning off a project
• Lab wants to archive what a departing member knew before they go
• New member is onboarding to a project previously owned by someone else
• PI wants to understand what a former student had read and learned
• Lab is archiving a completed project for future reference

Key Capabilities

• Generate a comprehensive knowledge portrait for a departing team member
• Summarize their most-read topics, key annotations, and unique contributions to the lab's knowledge base
• Package their reading list, notes, and annotations into a portable archive
• Generate an onboarding guide for their successor, framed around what the departing member knew
• Flag papers only they had read (single-reader papers) that need redistribution
• Create a "what I know that isn't written down" interview questionnaire to capture tacit knowledge

Usage Examples

Generate handoff package for departing member

handoff = lab_knowledge_handoff.generate(
    member="alice",
    include_reading_history=True,
    include_annotations=True,
    include_unique_papers=True,
    generate_successor_guide=True
)

Identify papers only one member has read

lab_knowledge_handoff.single_reader_papers(
    member="alice",
    importance_filter="high"  # only flag high-citation or team-tagged papers
)

Generate onboarding guide for successor

lab_knowledge_handoff.onboarding_guide(
    predecessor="alice",
    successor="frank",
    project="protein_fitness_prediction",
    format="structured_markdown"
)

Export portable archive

lab_knowledge_handoff.export_archive(
    member="alice",
    format="zip",  # zip | json | pdf
    output_path="./alice_knowledge_archive_2024.zip"
)

Output Format

Handoff package includes: expertise summary, top 50 papers with annotations, unique contributions, open questions left unresolved, and a recommended reading list for their successor. Archive exports as ZIP (JSON + PDFs) or structured PDF.

Notes

• Run this skill 2–4 weeks before a member departs to allow time for gaps to be addressed
• The "tacit knowledge interview" questionnaire is generated automatically — PI should conduct it in person
• Archives are stored locally — PaperClaw does not retain copies after export