| name | litian-academic-search |
| description | Multi-source academic literature search across 7 data sources (OmniBox local KB, arXiv, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, DeepXiv, WebSearch, WebFetch). Use whenever the user asks about research topics, wants literature review, searches for papers, asks "what's the state of X", "find papers about Y", "文献检索", "学术搜索", "找论文", or needs to survey any academic field. De-duplicates and synthesizes results into a structured report. Fan-out by source for speed — all sources queried in parallel. |
litian-academic-search
Multi-source academic literature search. Query 7 data sources in parallel, de-duplicate, and synthesize.
Quick reference
/litian-academic-search "embodied ai vla manipulation" --sources all --k 8
/litian-academic-search "diffusion policy" --sources omnibox,arxiv,s2 --k 5
Data sources
| Source | Command | Type | Coverage | Time |
|---|
| OmniBox | conda run -n ml python ~/proj/omnibox/index/search.py | Local vec-db (bge-m3) | 3136 CS papers, full-report chunks | ~3-5s |
| arXiv | curl http://export.arxiv.org/api/query | Public API | 2.5M+ CS preprints | ~1-3s |
| Semantic Scholar | curl https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search | API (key at ~/.semantic_scholar_key) | 200M+ published papers | ~1-3s |
| OpenAlex | curl https://api.openalex.org/works?search= | Public REST API | 250M+ cross-discipline | ~1-2s |
| DeepXiv | conda run -n ocr deepxiv search | CLI (free token) | 200M+ papers, progressive reading | ~2-4s |
| WebSearch | Claude Code built-in | Web search | Whole web | ~2-5s |
| WebFetch | Claude Code built-in | Full-text fetch | Any URL | ~2-4s |
Full source profiles: see references/sources.md.
Parameters
Parse from $ARGUMENTS:
--sources <list> — comma-separated: omnibox, arxiv, s2, openalex, deepxiv, web, all. Default: all.--k <N> — results per source (default: 8). OmniBox uses -k, others --max/limit.--year <YYYY-> — filter by minimum year (default: none). Applies to arXiv, S2, OpenAlex.--topic <tag> — OmniBox topic filter (e.g. VLA, EmbodiedAI).--no-synthesis — skip the final synthesis step, just return raw deduped results.--deep — for top-3 results, also fetch full text via WebFetch or DeepXiv --preview.
Examples:
/litian-academic-search "VLA generalization" --sources omnibox,arxiv,s2,web
/litian-academic-search "diffusion policy" --year 2024- --k 5
/litian-academic-search "3d reconstruction" --sources omnibox --topic AutoFocus3D
Workflow
Phase 1: Fan-out (parallel)
Dispatch ALL requested sources simultaneously. Each source returns a structured JSON list:
[{"title": "...", "authors": "...", "year": 2025, "venue": "...",
"arxiv_id": "...", "doi": "...", "citations": 0,
"abstract": "...", "source": "arxiv", "relevance_score": 0.9}]
OmniBox (when omnibox or all in sources):
conda run -n ml python ~/proj/omnibox/index/search.py "QUERY" -k N [--topic TOPIC] [--only paper] --json 2>/dev/null
Returns: {relevance, arxiv, short, topic, year, tags, summary, hit_section, snippet, hl_path}. Map to unified schema.
arXiv (when arxiv or all in sources):
curl -s "http://export.arxiv.org/api/query?search_query=all:QUERY&start=0&max_results=N&sortBy=relevance" 2>/dev/null
Parse Atom XML → extract title, authors, arxiv_id, abstract, year, categories.
Semantic Scholar (when s2 in sources):
S2_KEY=$(cat ~/.semantic_scholar_key)
curl -s "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?query=QUERY&limit=N&fields=title,year,authors,venue,citationCount,externalIds,abstract" \
-H "x-api-key: $S2_KEY" 2>/dev/null
Rate limit: 1 req/s. If 429, wait 2s and retry once. If --year, add &year=YYYY-.
OpenAlex (when openalex or all in sources):
curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?search=QUERY&per_page=N&sort=relevance" 2>/dev/null
If --year, add &filter=publication_year:>YYYY.
DeepXiv (when deepxiv or all in sources):
conda run -n ocr deepxiv search "QUERY" --limit N [--date-from YYYY-01] 2>/dev/null
Returns: title, arxiv_id, score, citations, date, venue, summary snippet.
WebSearch (when web or all in sources):
Use Claude Code WebSearch tool with queries:
"QUERY" site:arxiv.org"QUERY" research paper survey"QUERY" site:scholar.google.com
Merge results.
Phase 2: De-duplicate
After all sources return, de-duplicate by priority:
- Match by arXiv ID first (most reliable)
- Match by DOI second
- Match by normalized title (lowercase, strip punctuation, first 50 chars)
When duplicates found:
- Prefer S2 for citation counts and venue metadata
- Prefer arXiv for PDF link
- Prefer OmniBox for full-report content (already has
01_highlevel.md / 02_technical.md)
- Merge all source labels:
[arxiv, s2, omnibox]
Phase 3: Rank & synthesize
- Rank by composite score: OmniBox relevance (if available) + citation count signal + source consensus (found in multiple sources = higher confidence)
- Synthesize (unless
--no-synthesis):
- Group papers by approach/theme
- Identify consensus vs disagreements
- Note gaps and open problems
- Highlight papers already in OmniBox (with paths to full reports)
Phase 4: Output
Structured report:
# Literature Search: [QUERY]
**Sources**: [list of sources that contributed] | **Results**: N unique papers
## Top Papers
| # | Title | Venue | Year | Citations | Sources |
|---|-------|-------|------|-----------|---------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | arxiv, s2 |
## Thematic Landscape
[3-5 paragraph narrative synthesis]
## Detailed Results
For each top-k paper:
- Title, authors, venue, year
- Abstract / one-sentence summary
- Relevance to query
- Source(s) where found
- OmniBox paths (if available)
## Gaps & Opportunities
[What's missing, underexplored angles]
Deep dive (--deep)
When --deep is set, for top-3 results:
- If arXiv ID available:
conda run -n ocr deepxiv paper ARXIV_ID --preview
- If URL available and no OmniBox report:
WebFetch the paper page
- Append preview content to each paper's entry
Edge cases
- OmniBox unavailable (conda env
ml missing, SiliconFlow key missing): skip, mention in output
- S2 429 rate limit: wait 2s, retry once, skip on second failure
- DeepXiv token expired: auto-refreshes, if fails skip
- arXiv API timeout: try once more, skip on second failure
- Zero results from all sources: report explicitly, suggest broader query
- Query too broad (>1000 total results): cap at k per source, note truncation
