ads

name	ads
description	Use when the user mentions 'ADS', 'NASA ADS', 'Astrophysics Data System', or asks to search astronomy/astrophysics literature, find papers by bibcode, get citation counts from ADS, or retrieve BibTeX from the ADS database.

NASA ADS Search and Retrieval Skill

Search and retrieve papers from NASA's Astrophysics Data System (ADS).

Requires: requests (pip install requests)

Setup

ADS requires an API token for authentication.

Getting a Token

1. Go to https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
2. Sign in (or create an account)
3. Click your name in the top-right → "Account settings"
4. Select "API Token" from the left sidebar
5. Click "Generate a new key"
6. Copy the token string

Storing the Token

Save your token in one of these locations:

Option 1: Config file (recommended)

mkdir -p ~/.ads
echo "YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" > ~/.ads/dev_key
chmod 600 ~/.ads/dev_key

Option 2: Environment variable

export ADS_DEV_KEY="YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"

Bibcode Format

ADS uses bibcodes as unique identifiers:

• Format: YYYYJJJJJVVVVMPPPPA
• Example: 2019ApJ...882L..12P (ApJ Letters, 2019)

Basic Usage

# Get a record by bibcode
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P

# Get BibTeX
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P --format bibtex

Searching

# Search by author
python scripts/ads.py --search "author:Einstein"

# Search by first author only
python scripts/ads.py --search "author:^Hawking"

# Search by title
python scripts/ads.py --search 'title:"dark energy"'

# Search by abstract
python scripts/ads.py --search 'abs:"gravitational waves"'

# Search by year range
python scripts/ads.py --search "author:Penrose year:2015-2020"

# Search by journal
python scripts/ads.py --search "bibstem:ApJ year:2023"

# Combined search
python scripts/ads.py --search 'author:Planck title:"cosmological parameters"'

# Limit results
python scripts/ads.py --search "author:Witten" -n 5

Search Query Syntax

Field	Syntax	Example
Author	author:"Last, First"	author:"Hawking, S"
First Author	author:^Name	author:^Einstein
Title	title:"phrase"	title:"black hole"
Abstract	abs:"phrase"	abs:"dark matter"
Year	year:YYYY or year:YYYY-YYYY	year:2020-2023
Journal	bibstem:abbrev	bibstem:MNRAS
arXiv ID	arXiv:id	arXiv:1207.7214
DOI	doi:value	doi:10.1086/345794
Object	object:name	object:M31

Boolean operators: AND (default), OR, NOT, - (negation)

Common Journal Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Journal
ApJ	Astrophysical Journal
ApJL	ApJ Letters
MNRAS	Monthly Notices of the RAS
A&A	Astronomy & Astrophysics
AJ	Astronomical Journal
PhRvD	Physical Review D
PhRvL	Physical Review Letters
JCAP	Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Citations

# Get papers citing a record
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P --citations

# Top 20 citing papers
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P --citations -n 20

Output Formats

# Default (shows metadata)
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P

# BibTeX
python scripts/ads.py 2019ApJ...882L..12P --format bibtex

Typical Workflow

1. Search for papers: python scripts/ads.py --search "author:Name"
2. Note the bibcode
3. Get full details: python scripts/ads.py <bibcode>
4. Get BibTeX: python scripts/ads.py <bibcode> --format bibtex
5. Check citations: python scripts/ads.py <bibcode> --citations

Rate Limits

ADS allows 5000 requests per day per API token.

Comparison with Other Skills

• ADS: Astronomy/astrophysics focus, published papers, bibcodes
• INSPIRE: High-energy physics focus, SPIRES syntax, recids
• arXiv: Preprint source code (LaTeX), all physics categories

Use together: search on ADS for published papers with citation data, use arXiv skill to get source.