When you go to the hospital, the first step isn't registering for a specific department—it's triage determining which channel you should go to. Writing a paper is the same: many people get the very first step wrong when they open the tool. Even though they clearly "have an existing manuscript that needs revision," they follow the "start from scratch" workflow, and the whole process feels awkward.
muchsci Paper Sailor designed three entry points, which are essentially a triage desk. First determine your status, then take the corresponding channel.
Entry A: Start a new paper project from scratch
Symptoms: You have a general direction and target journal, but nothing else yet.
How the channel works: Tell it your general direction and target journal. It creates the project and directly runs idea generation and literature work—idea cards, research questions, and literature search all unfold along the way. This is the most complete channel, accompanying you from the very beginning.
Entry B: You already have data
Symptoms: You have the data files in hand, but the paper is nowhere in sight.
How the channel works: Drop in your data files (CSV/Excel/JSON) and start from data profiling and gap analysis—once the fields, distributions, and missing values are clear, the paper's skeleton actually grows out of the data. For data-first people, entering through B is far more efficient than forcing out an outline.
Entry C: You have an existing manuscript to revise
Symptoms: The manuscript is finished, and you need to polish it, proofread it, add citations, or respond to reviewers.
How the channel works: Clearly state what needs to be changed—polishing to remove the AI flavor, proofreading, adding citations, replying to reviewers—and it gets straight to work. You don't need to go through the outline again. The greatest value of channel C is that it doesn't make you redo everything: it can take over both half-finished and finished work.
Triage phrases quick reference
| Entry | First sentence to say to muchsci |
| --- | --- |
| A Start from scratch | "My field is XX, my target journal is XX, create a new paper project" |
| B Existing data | "This is my data file; do a profile and gap analysis" |
| C Existing manuscript | "This manuscript needs de-AI-flavor polishing + added citations" |
The point of triage is: don't use channel A's workflow to handle channel C's task. muchsci makes the entry points clear; you say the first sentence correctly, and every step after that goes smoothly—writing a paper, this big undertaking, starts with a correct opening.