Managing Bibliography
Read scientific papers and manage citations. Two capabilities:
- •Read papers — Download arXiv LaTeX source to read full text, verify claims, understand methodology
- •Cite papers — Fetch BibTeX from NASA ADS and add to bibliography
Reading Papers
Download arXiv LaTeX source to read full paper text:
# Download source (replace ID as needed) curl -L -o /tmp/2503.19441.tar.gz "https://arxiv.org/src/2503.19441" # Extract mkdir -p /tmp/2503.19441 && cd /tmp/2503.19441 && tar -xzf /tmp/2503.19441.tar.gz # Find the main tex file ls *.tex
Available after extraction:
- •Full paper text (not just abstract), equations, methodology details
- •Exact author phrasing for verification
- •Their bibliography (.bib or .bbl files) for cross-referencing
ADS API Setup
Before using citation features, verify $ADS_API_TOKEN is set:
echo $ADS_API_TOKEN
If missing, direct the user to create one at https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/user/settings/token and export it. Do not proceed with ADS API calls until the token is available.
Citing Papers
When adding a paper to the bibliography:
- •
Web search for the paper using description + "arxiv"
- •Look for arXiv ID in format
YYMM.NNNNN - •If multiple results, show options and ask user to select
- •Look for arXiv ID in format
- •
Query ADS API to get bibcode using arXiv ID
bashcurl -H "Authorization: Bearer $ADS_API_TOKEN" \ 'https://api.adsabs.harvard.edu/v1/search/query?q=arXiv:YYMM.NNNNN&fl=bibcode'
- •
Fetch BibTeX entry with abstract from ADS
bashcurl -H "Authorization: Bearer $ADS_API_TOKEN" \ 'https://api.adsabs.harvard.edu/v1/export/bibtexabs/{bibcode}' - •
Parse BibTeX to extract author names and year:
- •Parse
author = {...}field for last names - •Parse
year = YYYYfield for publication year - •Generate citation key based on author count:
- •1 author:
firstauthor{YY}(e.g.,asgari17) - •2 authors:
firstauthor.secondauthor{YY}(e.g.,schneider.kilbinger12) - •3+ authors:
firstauthor.etal{YY}(e.g.,wright.etal25)
- •1 author:
- •Use only last names, lowercase, final 2 digits of year
- •Parse
- •
Replace citation key in BibTeX entry
- •Update the entry key on the first line (before the opening brace)
- •Keep all other fields unchanged
- •
Append to bibliography file
- •Add the modified entry to the project's
.bibfile - •Check for duplicate keys first and warn if found
- •Add the modified entry to the project's
- •
Report success
- •Show the user the complete entry that was added
- •Confirm file location
Citation Key Generation
Examples from BibTeX parsing:
- •
author = {{Wright}, Angus H. and {Stölzner}, Benjamin and ...}+year = 2025→wright.etal25 - •
author = {{Schneider}, Peter and {Kilbinger}, Martin}+year = 2012→schneider.kilbinger12 - •
author = {{Asgari}, Marika}+year = 2017→asgari17
Notes
- •Always use the
bibtexabsendpoint (notbibtex) to include abstracts - •ADS author format:
author = {{LastName}, FirstName and {LastName}, FirstName ...}