| name | search-paper |
| description | Use when the user wants to search, inspect, or retrieve academic papers through search-paper-cli. This skill keeps the workflow on direct `search-paper-cli ...` commands, can auto-install the CLI when missing, and relies on process env plus `~/.config/search-paper-cli/config.yaml` / `config.yml` for runtime configuration. |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Requires POSIX sh. Auto-install prefers Go; Linux amd64 can also install from GitHub release artifacts with curl or wget and tar. |
| metadata | {"repository":"github.com/jtsang4/search-paper-cli"} |
Search Paper
Use this skill when you need to run search-paper-cli directly.
Keep command usage in references/USAGE.md. The bundled helper script is install/locate-only and does not inject runtime configuration.
Available scripts
scripts/ensure-search-paper-cli.sh — resolves the CLI path and auto-installs the latest version when the command is missing.
Workflow
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If you need command examples or subcommand guidance, read references/USAGE.md.
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Run the CLI directly:
search-paper-cli <command> [args...]
Prefer get --as pdf for file retrieval and get --as text for extracted-content retrieval. Legacy download and read aliases still work, but prefer get so the retrieval target stays explicit for agents.
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If search-paper-cli is missing, run sh scripts/ensure-search-paper-cli.sh to locate or install it. After that, invoke the CLI directly from your PATH, or prepend the returned binary directory to PATH for the current shell.
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Runtime configuration comes only from exact SEARCH_PAPER_* environment variables plus ~/.config/search-paper-cli/config.yaml with config.yml fallback.
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Process environment wins per key over the global config file. Explicitly empty env values still count as overrides and block fallback for that key.
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Required variable / config key for Unpaywall-backed behavior: SEARCH_PAPER_UNPAYWALL_EMAIL / unpaywall_email.
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This skill only recognizes exact SEARCH_PAPER_-prefixed environment variables. Do not infer non-prefixed or fuzzy-matched variable names.
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Do not use SEARCH_PAPER_ENV_FILE, cwd .env, repository-root .env, or skill-local .env files as runtime inputs. They are ignored by the direct CLI workflow.
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Prefer search --from-date YYYY-MM-DD --to-date YYYY-MM-DD for day-level time windows. The CLI enforces these locally on final results and returns date_precision: year|month|day when a provider exposes coarse dates.
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search --year remains a hard year-level constraint. Pass it only in YYYY or YYYY-YYYY form. Use one date mode per command: --year or --from-date / --to-date.
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If some sources fail but others succeed, treat the result as degraded mode. Inspect partial_success_reason, failed_sources, and errors.
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Prefer the CLI's default JSON output unless the user explicitly asks for text output.
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Avoid presenting agent callers with ambiguous retrieval choices. Use search for discovery, then get --as pdf|text for retrieval. Only use legacy download or read when compatibility with older callers is required.
