| name | download-papers |
| description | Use when the user asks to download an academic paper or get the PDF — given a URL, DOI, paper title, or citation. Uses the bundled helper script as the default path for DOI/URL/PDF downloads, with open-web and arXiv lookup as fallbacks for title-only requests. Triggers on phrases like "download paper", "get me the PDF", "fetch this paper", "get this DOI". |
Download Papers
Goal: get the PDF onto the local filesystem with minimum friction. The helper script is the default path once you have a DOI, URL, or direct PDF link.
Default workflow
- If the user gives a DOI, URL, or direct PDF link, run:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/download_paper.py "<DOI_OR_URL>" --out-dir papers
- Read the JSON output. On
status: "ok", report the local_path. On status: "error", summarize the attempted URLs and try the fallback workflow below.
- If the user gives only a title or citation, search for a DOI or PDF URL first, then pass that result to the helper script.
The helper resolves DOI or URL inputs, extracts embedded PDF links from HTML pages, prints JSON with status, pdf_url, and local_path, and verifies that the downloaded file starts with the PDF magic bytes.
Fallback workflow
1. Find an open-web source
Search the web for a freely available copy:
- Google Scholar / general web search for the title; look for
[PDF] links
- Author's personal homepage / institutional page (often hosts preprints)
- Lab group "Publications" page
- INSPIRE-HEP, NASA ADS, OSTI, ResearchGate (sometimes), university repositories
When a direct PDF URL or article URL turns up, pass it to the helper script.
2. arXiv
Search arXiv by title/author. Useful when the published version is unavailable but a preprint exists:
https://arxiv.org/abs/<id> → PDF at https://arxiv.org/pdf/<id>- For papers before ~Aug 1991 (cond-mat launch), arXiv won't have it — stop here and tell the user no PDF was found.
Common publisher PDF locations
- Nature / Springer: "Download PDF"
- Science / AAAS: "PDF" in article tools
- ACS: "PDF" button near title
- Elsevier / ScienceDirect: "Download PDF"
- Wiley: "PDF" in tools section
- APS (Physical Review): "PDF" in article header
- World Scientific (Mod. Phys. Lett., Int. J. Mod. Phys.): "PDF" link
- arXiv: direct PDF link
Tips
- Always verify the downloaded file is a valid PDF; the helper script checks PDF magic bytes.
- Save to a meaningful filename:
<firstauthor><year>_<shorttitle>.pdf.
