paper-fetch

name	paper-fetch
description	Fetch the FULL TEXT of an arXiv paper (all sections — introduction, method, results, conclusion). Use when you need to read beyond the abstract into the paper's actual content. Only works for arXiv papers. For metadata/abstract only, use paper-read. For local PDFs, use paper-read-pdf.
always	false

Paper Fetch — Full Text

Fetch the complete text of an arXiv paper using web_fetch via ar5iv.org (LaTeX → clean HTML), with automatic fallback to the arXiv abstract page.

Strategy

Primary:  https://ar5iv.org/abs/<arxiv_id>     — full rendered text (all sections)
Fallback: https://arxiv.org/abs/<arxiv_id>     — abstract page only

ar5iv renders LaTeX source to HTML, giving clean readable text including equations, tables, and all sections. It is the best way to read arXiv papers as plain text.

Accepted ID Formats

Input	Example
Bare arXiv ID	1706.03762
arXiv ID with prefix	arxiv:1706.03762 → strip prefix, use 1706.03762
arXiv abstract URL	https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762 → extract ID 1706.03762
arXiv PDF URL	https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762 → extract ID 1706.03762
ar5iv URL	https://ar5iv.org/abs/1706.03762 → use as-is

Always normalize to bare ID before constructing URL.

How to Use

Step 1 — Extract the bare arXiv ID

From whatever format you receive, extract just the numeric ID:

• arxiv:1706.03762 → 1706.03762
• https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08774v2 → 2303.08774 (drop version suffix)
• ArXiv:2310.06825 → 2310.06825

Step 2 — Try ar5iv first (full text)

web_fetch("https://ar5iv.org/abs/1706.03762")

Good response: contains section headings like "Introduction", "Method", "Results" etc. Bad response / error: ar5iv page says "not available" or returns very little text.

Step 3 — Fallback to arXiv abstract page

If ar5iv returns insufficient content (< 500 chars of real text, or error):

web_fetch("https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762")

This gives title + abstract + metadata, but not full paper sections.

What to Extract

From a successful ar5iv response, extract and present:

1. Title + authors + year (from page header)
2. Abstract — first section
3. Introduction — motivation and problem setup
4. Method / Approach — the core technical contribution
5. Experiments / Results — datasets, metrics, main numbers
6. Conclusion — summary of findings
7. Key tables and numbers — benchmark results if present

If the user asks for a specific section, jump straight to it.

Examples

Fetch "Attention Is All You Need"

web_fetch("https://ar5iv.org/abs/1706.03762")

Fetch a recent paper

web_fetch("https://ar5iv.org/abs/2303.08774")

Fallback if ar5iv fails

web_fetch("https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762")

Notes

• ar5iv lags arXiv by a few days — very recent papers (< 3 days old) may not be available yet
• Output from web_fetch is capped at ~8000 chars; for very long papers, multiple fetches may be needed
• If the paper is not on arXiv (conference-only), try fetching the PDF URL from openAccessPdf field obtained via paper-read
• For local PDF files, use the paper-read-pdf skill instead

Tip: Section-targeted fetching

If you only need a specific section (e.g., just the experimental results), fetch the full ar5iv page and scan for the relevant heading. The text is structured with clear section titles.