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Webui Skill for Claude

by alaliqing

Start the Claude Paper web viewer to browse and study papers

905 tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
294
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/alaliqing/claude-paper --skill webui

What it tells the agent to use

found in the instruction text
Bash runs shell commands — read the instruction before connecting

The instruction itself

7 sections, as written by the author

Start Web UI

This skill starts the Claude Paper web viewer using the production Nuxt.js server.

Step 1: Check and Install Dependencies (First Run Only)

Check if web dependencies are installed (with corruption check):

cd "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/src/web"

if [ ! -d "node_modules" ]; then
  echo "First run - installing web dependencies..."
  npm ci
  echo "Web dependencies installed!"
elif [ ! -f "node_modules/.package-lock.json" ] || [ ! -d "node_modules/nuxt" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: node_modules is corrupted, performing clean install..."
  rm -rf node_modules
  npm ci
  echo "Web dependencies installed!"
else
  echo "Dependencies already installed"
fi

Step 2: Build Production Server (auto-rebuilds on plugin update)

Build if needed or if plugin version changed:

cd ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/src/web

PLUGIN_VERSION=$(node -e "console.log(require('${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/.claude-plugin/plugin.json').version)")
BUILD_VERSION=""
if [ -f ".output/.build-version" ]; then
  BUILD_VERSION=$(cat ".output/.build-version")
fi

if [ ! -f ".output/server/index.mjs" ] || [ "$PLUGIN_VERSION" != "$BUILD_VERSION" ]; then
  echo "Building production server (v${PLUGIN_VERSION})..."
  npm run build
  echo "$PLUGIN_VERSION" > .output/.build-version
  echo "Build complete!"
else
  echo "Production build is up to date (v${BUILD_VERSION})"
fi

Step 3: Check Port Availability

Ensure port 5815 is available (with version check restart):

# Get version info for comparison
PLUGIN_VERSION=$(node -e "console.log(require('${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/.claude-plugin/plugin.json').version)")
BUILD_VERSION=""
if [ -f ".output/.build-version" ]; then
  BUILD_VERSION=$(cat ".output/.build-version")
fi

if lsof -i :5815 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "INFO: Port 5815 is already in use"
  PID_FILE="/tmp/claude-paper-webui.pid"
  if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ] && kill -0 $(cat "$PID_FILE") 2>/dev/null; then
    # Check version match - restart if plugin was updated
    if [ "$PLUGIN_VERSION" = "$BUILD_VERSION" ]; then
      echo "Claude Paper web UI is already running (version ${PLUGIN_VERSION})"
      echo "Access it at: http://localhost:5815"
      exit 0
    else
      echo "Version mismatch: running ${BUILD_VERSION}, need ${PLUGIN_VERSION}"
      echo "Stopping old server..."
      kill $(cat "$PID_FILE") 2>/dev/null
      sleep 2
      rm -f "$PID_FILE"
      echo "Old server stopped, will restart with new version"
    fi
  else
    echo "ERROR: Port 5815 is occupied by another process"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

Step 4: Start Production Server

Start the server in background:

HOST=127.0.0.1 PORT=5815 node .output/server/index.mjs &
SERVER_PID=$!

# Save PID for later cleanup
echo $SERVER_PID > /tmp/claude-paper-webui.pid
echo "Server PID: $SERVER_PID"

Step 5: Verify Server Health

Wait for server to be ready:

timeout=10
while [ $timeout -gt 0 ]; do
  if curl -s http://localhost:5815/api/papers > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "Server is ready!"
    break
  fi
  sleep 1
  timeout=$((timeout - 1))
done

if [ $timeout -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "ERROR: Server failed to start properly"
  kill $SERVER_PID 2>/dev/null
  rm -f /tmp/claude-paper-webui.pid
  exit 1
fi

Step 6: Inform User

Tell the user the web viewer is available and provide cleanup instructions:

Claude Paper web UI is now running!

Access it at: http://localhost:5815

To stop the server, run:
  kill $(cat /tmp/claude-paper-webui.pid)

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take alaliqing/webui from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.