hfpclawer Formula Cross-Validation

Part of the Exo suite — literature (hfpclawer) → experiments (expflow-pde) → proofs (omega-architect). Three independent CLIs that meet through files and CLI calls, never imports. Entry skill: exo-suite-linkage (wiring, cost tiers low → medium → high, degradation ladder). Install: uv tool install hfpclawer · uv tool install expflow-pde · uv tool install "omega-architect @ git+https://github.com/diamond2nv/omega-architect@v0.2.3"

🔒 Sanitization: This skill ships in the public repo. Never embed private LAN IPs, real person names, or machine codenames in examples — use <placeholder> / Jane Doe / dev@example.com. Real values live in the repo's gitignored .hermes/internal-guide.md. See repo AGENTS.md "Public-Release Sanitization".

Verify that a LaTeX formula is syntactically valid, algebraically self-consistent, and dimensionally sound, by running it through a multi-layer pipeline backed by SymPy and Wolfram Engine.

Who this is for: Researchers, engineers, and physics modelers who need to check formula correctness before publishing or code implementation.

Overview

The verification pipeline checks each formula through up to 4 layers:

                    ┌──────────────────────────┐
 User:              │ hfpclawer verify series   │
 "Verify H = -μ₀M·H"└──────────┬───────────────┘
                               │
             ┌─────────────────┼──────────────┐
             ▼                 ▼               ▼
      ┌──────────┐     ┌────────────┐   ┌─────────────┐
      │ L1a:     │     │ L1b: CAS   │   │ L2:         │
      │ LaTeX    │     │ SymPy ↔    │   │ Dimensional │
      │ Syntax   │     │ Wolfram    │   │ (pint)      │
      │ + SymPy  │     │ equivalence│   │ consistency │
      │ roundtrip│     │            │   │             │
      └──────────┘     └────────────┘   └─────────────┘
           ▼                  ▼                ▼
      ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
      │              Report (LaTeX .tex)          │
      └───────────────────────────────────────────┘

When to Use

• You derived a formula and want to check its algebraic derivation
• You ported a formula from a paper to code and want roundtrip verification
• You need to ensure dimensionally consistent (e.g., left/right side units match)
• You want a reproducible LaTeX report of all verified formulas for publication

Prerequisites

Python ≥ 3.10. Pick the install that matches how you work — uv is recommended, because the CLI then lives in its own environment (no conflicts with your project's dependencies):

# 1) Recommended — uv tool: isolated CLI install, `hfpclawer` on your PATH
uv tool install hfpclawer
hfpclawer init                    # writes config.yaml

# 2) Try it without installing anything (ephemeral, one-off runs)
# pin the version — `uvx`/`uv tool run` reuse an installed tool env (may run an older
# release), and an unpinned launch is a supply-chain (rug-pull) risk
uvx "hfpclawer==0.19.0" --help

# 3) Inside an existing project / venv (uv-managed)
uv pip install hfpclawer

# 4) No uv yet — pip and pipx both work
pip install hfpclawer             # or: python -m pip install hfpclawer
pipx install hfpclawer            # CLI-style install, functionally like `uv tool`

Optional extras — the core install stays deliberately small:

⚠️ nlp extra + PyPI (checked against the published 0.19.0 metadata): PyPI strips the direct-URL spaCy model, so that extra installs spacy only — fetch the model yourself with python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm. The loader falls back configured → en_core_web_md → en_core_web_sm and logs one actionable hint when none is present: entity enrichment degrades, nothing else breaks.

Where to find it: repo https://github.com/diamond2nv/hfpapers-crawler · PyPI https://pypi.org/project/hfpclawer/ · registry: clawhub inspect <slug>

• Optional: Local Wolfram Engine for CAS cross-validation (L1b)
  • Download from https://www.wolfram.com/engine/
  • Set WOLFRAMSCRIPT_PATH in .env (default: /usr/bin/wolframscript) - Without Wolfram, L1b skips with a warning; all other layers still run

Quick Start

1. Add a Formula to the Registry

# Register a formula with a unique FID
hfpclawer verify add fid001 "H = -\\mu_0 \\mathbf{M} \\cdot \\mathbf{H}_d"

# Register with source reference and tags
hfpclawer verify add jiles-ainik "H = \\alpha \\tilde{M}" \
  --source "Jiles-Atherton" \
  --tags "hysteresis,magnetic"

2. Run Verification (All Layers)

# Verify a single formula by FID
hfpclawer verify fid fid001

# Run all unverified formulas
hfpclawer verify run

# CAS cross-validation only (L1b)
hfpclawer verify cross fid001

3. Generate a LaTeX Report

# Generate verification report for one formula
hfpclawer verify report fid001 --output verify-fid001.tex

# Generate report for all verified formulas
hfpclawer verify report --all --output full-report.tex

4. Ad-Hoc Syntax Check

# Quick syntax + SymPy roundtrip without registration
hfpclawer verify check "E = mc^2"
# → LaTeX OK, SymPy roundtrip: m*c**2

CLI Reference

Layer Details

L1a: LaTeX Syntax + SymPy Roundtrip

Parses the LaTeX expression, converts to SymPy, evaluates the roundtrip (SymPy → LaTeX → SymPy). Flags discrepancies:

L1b: CAS Cross-Validation (SymPy ↔ Wolfram)

If WolframScript is available, evaluates the formula in both CAS systems and compares their simplified forms. Reports:

• EQUIVALENT — sorted ASTs match
• ALGEBRAICALLY_EQUIVALENT — simplification needed
• DIFFERENT — real algebraic discrepancy (needs human review)

L2: Dimensional Consistency

Uses pint to parse physical dimensions of each term:

# Internally checks:
#   [H] = A/m
#   [μ₀] = N/A²
#   [M] = A/m
#   [H_d] = A/m
#   [μ₀·M·H_d] = N/A² · A/m · A/m = N/m² = J/m³
#   [H] = A/m ≠ [μ₀·M·H_d] = J/m³  → flags unit mismatch

Batch Workflow

# 1. Register multiple formulas
hfpclawer verify add fid01 "\\nabla \\times \\mathbf{H} = \\mathbf{J}"
hfpclawer verify add fid02 "\\nabla \\cdot \\mathbf{B} = 0"
hfpclawer verify add fid03 "\\mathbf{B} = \\mu_0 \\mathbf{H}"

# 2. Run all
hfpclawer verify run

# 3. Check results
hfpclawer verify stats

# 4. Generate full report
hfpclawer verify report --all --output maxwell-verify.tex

Hermes Agent Environment

hfpclawer is built to run inside Hermes Agent (and OpenCode) as a first-class tool — the agent discovers the skill, and every command below is callable without leaving the session.

1. Install the skill — place this folder under ~/.hermes/skills/research/<slug>/ (or install from ClawHub: clawhub inspect <slug> --file SKILL.md); Hermes loads it automatically and skill_view(name='<slug>') returns this file.

2. Register the MCP server so the agent calls the CLI as tools:

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp:
  servers:
    hfpclawer:
      command: "hfpclawer"
      args: ["mcp"]        # stdio mode — Hermes native MCP client

For OpenCode / debugging use HTTP mode: hfpclawer mcp --mode http --port 8765.

3. Environment variables — every one is optional; the pipeline runs with none set:

4. Cost profile — the mechanical layer (search / dedup / verify / audit / Zotero) needs low-cost by design — not zero-cost. The core path (search / dedup / verify / audit / Zotero) issues no LLM call and needs no API key, so the marginal cost per run is small; it is still not zero — bandwidth, disk and CPU are spent, and rate-limited upstreams (arXiv / OpenAlex / Semantic Scholar) can throttle or expect a key at volume. LLM features (sniff, abstract triage) are opt-in and metered where they run; rank trains locally with lightgbm. Describe the cost as low, and keep the LLM steps explicit — do not advertise the stack as zero-token.

5. Keep private data private — real author lists, ORCIDs and Zotero ids belong in config.local.yaml (gitignored) or ~/.hfpclawer/profile.yaml, never in tracked files. The repo-side profile (the hfpclawer: block in a project AGENTS.md) is deliberately public-safe: neutral academic keywords only.

Common Pitfalls

1. LaTeX escaping: Shell requires double backslash (\\mu), not single (\mu)
2. Wolfram not installed: L1b silently skips — use --verbose to see skip reason
3. Complex multi-line formulas: Use align* environment — the parser handles & alignment markers but not nested \begin{align}
4. FID collisions: Registry uses exact FID match for updates; run hfpclawer verify list before adding new formulas
5. pint dimension database: Custom units require entries in pint's default_en.txt; standard SI units work out of the box

Verification Checklist

• Single formula add + verify: hfpclawer verify add test "E = mc^2"
• Run pipeline: hfpclawer verify fid test
• Cross-validation: hfpclawer verify cross test
• LaTeX report: hfpclawer verify report test
• Non-registered FID returns helpful error
• Invalid LaTeX returns parse error (not crash)