<2-3 sentences summarising what the project addresses and solves, the target audience, and the benefit.> Scimax is an Emacs starter kit tailored for scientists and engineers, providing a pre-configured environment for scientific programming and publishing. It aims to streamline complex workflows by integrating essential tools and enhancing Emacs's capabilities for research and development.

How It Works

This project configures Emacs with a suite of packages and custom Elisp code to support scientific tasks. Key components include org-db for indexing and searching scientific documents, emacs-jupyter for interactive computational environments, and planned integrations with Large Language Models (LLMs) for advanced writing and analysis. The approach leverages Emacs's extensibility to create a unified, powerful environment for technical users.

Quick Start & Requirements

The preferred installation method is via Homebrew (brew install scimax), supporting macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL). Users must install Python and LaTeX separately. Manual installation involves cloning the repository and loading init.el. Emacs version 27+ is recommended for manual setups.

• Homebrew tap: https://github.com/jkitchin/homebrew-scimax
• Official manual: ./scimax.org (linked within README)

Highlighted Details

• org-db: Enables indexing of org-files into SQLite for full-text and image search, with an agenda interface.
• emacs-jupyter: Seamless integration for running Jupyter notebooks within Emacs.
• LLM Integration: Future plans include scimax-gptel for AI-assisted scientific writing and tool integration, alongside semantic search enhancements for org-db.
• Version 4.0 plans: Targeting Emacs 31+, scimax-gptel, and org-db rewrite.

Maintenance & Community

Development has been partially supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Sponsorship opportunities are available via GitHub. The project is primarily maintained by John Kitchin. No specific community channels (e.g., Discord, Slack) are listed in the README.

• Sponsor link: https://github.com/sponsors/jkitchin

Licensing & Compatibility

The project's license is not explicitly stated in the README, which requires clarification for adoption decisions. Compatibility is primarily with Emacs; users are responsible for installing external dependencies like Python and LaTeX.

Limitations & Caveats

Windows installation is noted as the most difficult and least maintained. There are reported issues with automatic AUCTeX installation on Linux using archived methods. The org-db component is described as functional but potentially having outstanding issues. The absence of a clear license is a significant adoption blocker.