papers-skill
Skill for academic research workflows: search Semantic Scholar (200M+ papers), inspect citations, download arXiv PDFs, and extract PDF text. Bundles a self-contained Python CLI.
Profile →npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill papers-skill --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Papers Skill ## Overview Papers Skill turns a coding agent into a literature-research assistant. It orchestrates a bundled Python CLI (`scripts/papers.py`) that hits the free Semantic Scholar and arXiv APIs, downloads arXiv PDFs, and extracts text with PyMuPDF. The agent decides which subcommand to invoke and how to combine results into a literature scan, a deep read of one paper, an impact analysis, or a reading list. This skill is the Skill-mode port of the [papers-mcp](https://github.com/xwmxcz/papers-mcp) MCP server by the same author. Both projects share the same feature set; this one ships as a Claude Code plugin so it can be installed with a single command and needs no long-running MCP process. ## When to Use This Skill - Use when the user asks to search academic papers by topic, author, or venue. - Use when the user names a specific paper (by DOI, arXiv ID, or title) and wants metadata, the abstract, the TL;DR, or its reference list. - Use when the user wants to find work that **cites** a known paper (impact analysis, follow-up tracking). - Use when the user wants to download an arXiv PDF and have it summarized. - Use when the user asks to build a reading list around a to
- Overview
- When to Use This Skill
- Do Not Use This Skill When
- How It Works
- Step 1: Verify dependencies
- Step 2: Invoke the bundled CLI
- Step 3: Pick the right subcommand
- Examples
- Example 1: Literature scan on a topic
- Example 2: Deep-read one paper
- Example 3: Impact analysis on an anchor paper
- Best Practices
- Limitations
- Security & Safety Notes
python -c "import httpx, arxiv, fitz" 2>&1 || python -m pip install httpx arxiv PyMuPDF
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" <subcommand> [args]
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" search "retrieval augmented generation" --limit 10
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" detail 2005.11401
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" download 2005.11401 --save-dir ./pdfs
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" read ./pdfs/2005.11401v4.RAG.pdf --max-pages 10
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" detail 10.48550/arXiv.2005.11401
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/papers-skill/scripts/papers.py" citations 10.48550/arXiv.2005.11401 --limit 20What does the papers-skill skill do?
Skill for academic research workflows: search Semantic Scholar (200M+ papers), inspect citations, download arXiv PDFs, and extract PDF text. Bundles a self-contained Python CLI.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill papers-skill --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, a repository with 44,414 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.