| name | biorxiv-search |
| description | Fetch bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint metadata by DOI, or browse a narrow date range with a category, for life-science and medical preprints. Use when you already have a DOI or an approximate date plus category — not for open-ended keyword discovery. Public API, no credential needed. |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
bioRxiv / medRxiv Search (Codex-native)
Codex-native adaptation of Google DeepMind's literature-search-biorxiv skill
(science-skills, Apache-2.0).
Uses the public bioRxiv API directly.
Read first: this is a date archive, not a search engine
The bioRxiv API has no server-side keyword search. Choose by what you know:
- DOI (from a citation): fetch metadata directly. Fast and reliable.
- Approximate date + category: browse a narrow (1–4 week) range with a
category.
- Only a topic/keywords: do not discover here. Use a keyword-capable
skill first (
$cx-pubmed-search, $cx-europepmc-search, $cx-openalex-search,
$cx-arxiv-search) to find DOIs, then return here for preprint metadata.
Anti-pattern: never scan months/years and filter locally by keyword — it
triggers thousands of calls, timeouts, and API blocks.
Gates (ask before proceeding)
- Terms notice: on first use, tell the user to review the bioRxiv terms
(https://api.biorxiv.org/, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/about-biorxiv) and
to check each retrieved paper's own license; record the notice in provenance.
- Network / install: read-only public HTTP; be polite about rate limits. If
you write helper code, run it via
uv run, never bare python3.
Workflow
- By DOI:
https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/<DOI> (use medrxiv for
medRxiv). Returns title, authors, date, category, version, and abstract.
- By date + category:
https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/<YYYY-MM-DD>/<YYYY-MM-DD>/<cursor>;
page with the cursor and filter by category over a narrow window. Write
responses to a file and parse them.
- Report each preprint with title, DOI, date, category, and URL; note the
version.
- Provenance & review: record DOIs/queries with
$science-provenance; check
claims with $science-review.
Boundaries
- Preprints are not peer-reviewed; flag that and prefer the published version
when one exists (check for a published-DOI link).
- Cite only DOIs actually returned; never invent DOIs or abstracts.
- Respect each preprint's individual license before reproducing content.