paper-search — Claude Code plugin: what it does, how to install
Academic paper search for Claude Code via OpenAlex. Finds research papers by topic, handles pagination, and fetches records by DOI.
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install paper-search@claude-communityWhat paper-search does
The plugin connects Claude Code to OpenAlex, which indexes over 250M academic works. It lets the agent query papers by keyword, customize results per page, browse subsequent pages, and sort findings by relevance, publication date, or citation count.
Two shell scripts drive the integration: scripts/search.sh handles searches and scripts/paper.sh fetches detailed entries using a DOI link or an OpenAlex ID. The service requires no API keys or paid accounts. Without curl and jq installed in your environment, the scripts fail immediately.
What it helps with
- search research publications without leaving the terminal
- sort academic papers by publication date or citation count
- pull paper metadata using a DOI URL or OpenAlex identifier
- paginate through OpenAlex search results directly in chat
Example prompts for the agent
- Search for 10 recent papers on quantum computing sorted by date
- Show page 2 of results for mindfulness meditation stress reduction
- Look up paper details for DOI https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407162101
How to install paper-search
Plugin marketplace
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community/plugin install paper-search@claude-communityStep by step, with commands for each platform: Claude Code plugins: marketplaces, installing, and building your own
Questions about paper-search
How do I install paper-search in Claude Code?
Run /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community and then /plugin install paper-search@claude-community.
Does paper-search require an API key?
No API key is needed. It queries the public OpenAlex API, which is free and open.
What dependencies must be present on the system?
You need curl and jq installed in your command line environment.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
# paper-search A Claude Code plugin and skill for searching academic papers via the [OpenAlex API](https://docs.openalex.org/). ## Install as Claude Code Plugin ```bash claude plugin marketplace add ykdojo/paper-search claude plugin install paper-search@paper-search ``` After installing, the `paper-search` skill is available automatically. Just ask Claude Code to search for papers and it will use the skill. ## Requirements - `curl`, `jq` ## Usage ```bash # Search for papers (sorted by relevance by default) scripts/search.sh "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" 10 # Sort by citation count scripts/search.sh "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" 10 cites # Sort by publication date scripts/search.sh "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" 10 date # Page 2 of results scripts/search.sh "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" 10 relevance 2 # Get 25 results per page scripts/search.sh "mindfulness meditation stress reduction" 25 # Look up a specific paper by DOI scripts/paper.sh "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407162101" # Look up by OpenAlex ID scripts/paper.sh W2097529540 ``` ## API Uses [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/) — free, open, no API key required. 250M+ works indexed. Initially introduced in [45 Claude Code Tips](https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-code-tips) (Tip 27).
© ykdojo · MIT · ykdojo/paper-search
