/literature-searcher

name: literature-searcher
description: |
  Search CrossRef, OpenAlex, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, and optional Scopus;
  deduplicate results, download open-access PDFs by DOI, classify papers, monitor
  new results, and analyze coverage.
  Use when asked to search literature, monitor a topic, download an open-access
  paper, classify papers, or analyze literature gaps.

Literature Searcher

Run all commands from `skills/literature-searcher`. The package uses only the Python standard library.

Search

python -m literature_searcher.searcher search "ionogel flexible sensor" --limit 10
python -m literature_searcher.searcher search "solid electrolyte" \
  --platform openalex --platform semantic_scholar --year-from 2020 --year-to 2024

Without `--platform`, the command searches CrossRef, OpenAlex, PubMed, and Semantic Scholar. Scopus requires `ELSEVIER_API_KEY`.

Download Open-Access PDFs

python -m literature_searcher.searcher download --doi 10.1016/j.cej.2022.135593

Downloads query Unpaywall by default. Enable the optional `scihub-cli` fallback explicitly with `--scihub-fallback auto`.

Incremental Monitoring And Insight

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force data | Out-Null
Copy-Item monitor_config.json.template data/monitor_config.json

Set `queries` in `data/monitor_config.json`, then run:

python -m literature_searcher.monitor --config data/monitor_config.json
python -m literature_searcher.insight --input data/monitor_results.json

Monitoring uses the HTTPS DeepLX endpoint in `DEEPLX_ENDPOINT` by default and does not require a DeepL API key. To use a local OpenAI-compatible model service, set `LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL` and `LOCAL_LLM_MODEL`, then pass `--translator local_llm`. Translation failures are recorded in the result JSON and do not stop monitoring.

Python API

| Capability | Import | Entry point | | --- | --- | --- | | Multi-platform search | `literature_searcher.searcher` | `search_papers()` | | Result deduplication | `literature_searcher.searcher` | `merge_and_deduplicate()` | | PDF download | `literature_searcher.downloader` | `Downloader.download_by_doi()` | | Paper classification | `literature_searcher.classifier` | `PaperClassifier.classify()` | | Incremental monitoring | `literature_searcher.monitor` | `run_monitor()` | | Coverage analysis | `literature_searcher.insight` | `analyze_coverage()` |

`PaperClassifier.classify()` and `batch_classify()` accept both mappings and objects with paper attributes.

Configuration

The package reads these optional variables from the process environment: `LITERATURE_EMAIL`, `OPENALEX_EMAIL`, `OPENALEX_API_KEY`, `SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY`, `ELSEVIER_API_KEY`, `DEEPLX_ENDPOINT`, `LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL`, and `LOCAL_LLM_MODEL`. Copy `.env.example` to `.env` in the skill directory to load values automatically. Variables already exported by the calling shell take precedence.