Getting Started

Set up ScholaRAG in 3 minutes with a single copy-paste prompt. No manual commands required—Claude Code handles everything automatically.

Conversation-First Setup

ScholaRAG is designed for conversation-driven automation. You paste prompts, Claude Code executes commands, and you answer questions about your research.

Prerequisites

You need two things installed before starting:

1. VS Code

Download Visual Studio Code

Free, macOS/Windows/Linux

2. Claude Code Extension

Install Claude Code

Requires Claude Pro ($20/mo)

How to Install Claude Code Extension

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + X (Extensions)
3. Search "Claude Code" by Anthropic
4. Click Install
5. Click Claude icon → Sign in

One-Click Automated Setup

Copy this prompt and paste it into Claude Code. That's all you need to do.

📋 Copy → Paste to Claude Code

setup-prompt.txt

Please set up ScholaRAG for me:

1. Clone https://github.com/HosungYou/ScholaRAG.git
2. Navigate into ScholaRAG directory
3. Create Python virtual environment (venv)
4. Activate the virtual environment
5. Install CLI dependencies: pip install click pyyaml
6. Initialize my first project: python scholarag_cli.py init
7. Guide me through Stage 1 of the systematic review workflow

My research topic: [Describe your research question here]

What Claude Code Does Automatically

✅ Clone the ScholaRAG repository from GitHub
✅ Create and activate Python virtual environment
✅ Install all required dependencies
✅ Run CLI initialization to create your project folder
✅ Guide you through research domain setup (Stage 1)

Estimated time: 2-3 minutes for setup.

How ScholaRAG Works

Understanding the repository structure helps you see how the conversation-driven workflow operates:

repository-structure

ScholaRAG/
├── prompts/                ← 7 stage-specific prompts (you copy-paste these)
│   ├── 01_research_domain_setup.md
│   ├── 02_query_strategy.md
│   ├── 03_prisma_configuration.md
│   ├── 04_rag_design.md
│   ├── 05_execution_plan.md
│   ├── 06_research_conversation.md
│   └── 07_documentation_writing.md
│
├── scripts/                ← Python scripts (Claude Code runs these)
│   ├── 01_fetch_papers.py ... 07_generate_prisma.py
│
├── templates/              ← config.yaml templates
├── scholarag_cli.py        ← CLI tool for project initialization
└── requirements.txt        ← Python dependencies

View detailed 7-stage workflow →

What Gets Created

After running python scholarag_cli.py init, you'll have:

project-folder

projects/2025-10-24_AI-Healthcare-Adoption/
├── config.yaml             ← Project settings
├── data/
│   ├── open_access/        ← Database search results
│   ├── combined/           ← Deduplicated papers
│   ├── prisma/             ← AI-PRISMA evaluation
│   └── pdfs/               ← Downloaded PDFs
├── rag/
│   └── chroma_db/          ← Vector database
└── outputs/                ← PRISMA diagrams, reports

Next Steps

📖 Core Concepts

Learn about PRISMA, RAG, and vector databases

💡 Prompt Library

Browse 7 specialized research prompts

Advanced: Manual CLI Mode

For users who prefer direct command-line control

manual-setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/HosungYou/ScholaRAG.git
cd ScholaRAG

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install click pyyaml

# Initialize project
python scholarag_cli.py init

Troubleshooting

Claude Code not responding

1. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P → "Reload Window"
2. Re-authenticate: Claude icon → Sign out → Sign in
3. Update extension to latest version

Python not found

Error: command not found: python3

Solution: Install from python.org/downloads

Introduction

Core Concepts