search-bibtex

name

search-bibtex

description

Use when the user provides one or more academic PDF files or an existing BibTeX file and wants the search-bibtex binary to extract metadata, fuzzy-search bibliographic sources, refresh BibTeX, rank candidates with configurable source priority, load defaults from config.toml, and present an interactive Vim-key selection UI. Handles computer science preprints, conference papers, and journal papers through an independent CLI; does not depend on Paperlib.

Search BibTeX

Use this skill for the search-bibtex binary. The binary is independent of Paperlib. Grok search may be used while improving or debugging this project, but it must stay out of the CLI runtime and skill workflow.

Workflow

1. Confirm the binary is available:

   search-bibtex --help
   

2. Inspect PDF metadata and generated search queries:

   search-bibtex metadata <pdf-path>
   

3. Search and rank candidates. In a TTY, search opens the selector; when piped, it prints JSON:

   search-bibtex search <pdf-path> --limit 10 --timeout 30 --source-priority dblp,arxiv,crossref,openalex,doi
   

   Parallel source search is enabled by default. Use --no-parallel only when serial lookup is explicitly wanted. If the user has a config file, pass --config <path> and let CLI flags override it.

4. For title strings instead of PDFs, use search-bibtex search-title. Multiple titles in one input are split by ; by default, and stdin is accepted when no title argument is provided.

5. Let the user choose a BibTeX entry:

   search-bibtex select <pdf-path> --limit 10 --timeout 30 --source-priority dblp,arxiv,crossref,openalex,doi
   

6. If the user already has a .bib file and wants refreshed fields without changing citation keys:

   search-bibtex update <bibtex-path> --in-place
   

7. For non-interactive use, select by ranked index:

   search-bibtex select <pdf-path> --select-index 0 --format bibtex
   

Source Priority

The built-in default source order is:

dblp,arxiv,crossref,openalex,doi,semantic-scholar

For computer science papers, this order avoids Semantic Scholar's anonymous rate limits:

--source-priority dblp,arxiv,crossref,openalex,doi

Include semantic-scholar only when the user wants it or the local environment can tolerate anonymous API rate limits:

--source-priority dblp,arxiv,crossref,openalex,semantic-scholar,doi

Use --weights when ranking behavior should change:

--weights title=0.5,author=0.2,year=0.1,identifier=0.15,source=0.05

search-bibtex config-template prints a TOML starter file. Config files can add custom HTTP sources and include their names in source_priority. Full config docs are in docs/CONFIGURATION.md.

Interaction

The interactive selector supports:

• j / k or arrow keys to move.
• g / G to jump to first or last visible candidate.
• / to filter candidates.
• Enter to select.
• q, Esc, or Ctrl-C to cancel.

Render UI goes to stderr and selected BibTeX or JSON goes to stdout. When the user presses Enter, the screen shows formatted BibTeX and the tool attempts to copy it to the clipboard if a local clipboard command is available.

Failure Handling

Do not hide source failures. search returns explicit sourceErrors; select prints source errors to stderr before selection. If no candidates are returned, surface the CLI error instead of fabricating a BibTeX entry.