# Scholar Sidekick CLI > Resolve scholarly identifiers (DOI including shortDOI aliases, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL) into formatted citations (10,000+ CSL styles) and bibliography exports (BibTeX, RIS, EndNote, CSV…), and check retraction, open-access, and citation-fabrication status — from the terminal via the `scholar` CLI. Wraps the public REST API; needs Node ≥20 but no API key for the free tier. Use when the user wants to look up, cite, export, or verify a reference by DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv ID, ISSN, ADS bibcode, or WHO IRIS URL from the terminal — including retraction, open-access, and fabricated-citation checks, or a whole-bibliography audit of a .bib/.ris/CSL-JSON file. - Skill: `mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Data & Analytics - License: MIT - Author: mlava (https://skillmd.com/u/mlava) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/mlava/scholar-sidekick-cli --- # Scholar Sidekick (CLI) — Citations, Retraction & Open-Access from the terminal Turn a scholarly identifier into a formatted citation, a bibliography file, or an integrity check (retraction / open-access / fabrication) by running the `scholar` command. The CLI is a thin wrapper over the public Scholar Sidekick REST API. **No API key required** for the free, rate-limited tier — and ergonomic subcommands mean you don't hand-build JSON request bodies. > Sibling skills, same capabilities: use **`scholar-sidekick-api`** if there's no Node runtime (plain `curl`), or **`scholar-sidekick-mcp`** if an MCP host is connected. This skill is the typed-CLI path for Node ≥20. ## When to Use - The user has an identifier (DOI, PMID, PMCID, ISBN, arXiv, ISSN, ADS bibcode, WHO IRIS URL; shortDOI aliases like `10/aabbe` accepted) and wants metadata, a formatted citation, or a bibliography file, **and** the environment has Node ≥20. - "Cite this in APA/Vancouver/Chicago…", "give me a BibTeX/RIS file", "export these refs to a file". - "Has this been retracted?", "is this open access?", "is this citation real / did you make it up?" - "Audit my bibliography" / "check all the references in this .bib file" — a whole reference list at once. - Batch jobs: several identifiers at once, or streaming results as they resolve. - Do NOT use to *search* for papers by topic — that's discovery (see the `arxiv` skill). This assumes you already have an identifier. - Prefer `scholar-sidekick-api` instead when there is no Node runtime, or `scholar-sidekick-mcp` when an MCP host is connected. ## Install The CLI ships on npm as `scholar-sidekick-cli` (bin: `scholar`). Requires Node.js ≥ 20. ```bash # zero-install, per-invocation npx -y scholar-sidekick-cli format 10.1038/nphys1170 --style apa # or install globally and call `scholar` npm install -g scholar-sidekick-cli scholar health ``` The examples below use `scholar`; substitute `npx -y scholar-sidekick-cli` if you didn't install globally. ## Commands | Command | What it does | Batch? | |---|---|---| | `format ` | Format identifiers into a citation style. `--style`, `--lang`, `--footnote`, `--output text\|html\|json`. | yes | | `resolve ` | Resolve identifiers to bibliographic metadata (CSL/Biblio JSON). | yes | | `export ` | Export to a file format: `--format bib\|ris\|csv\|csl\|endnote-xml\|endnote-refer\|refworks\|medline\|zotero-rdf\|txt`. Raw file content on stdout. | yes | | `format-items` | Format pre-resolved items from `--file ` or stdin (a JSON array). | — | | `stream ` | Format a batch, streaming each result as NDJSON as it resolves. | yes | | `verify` | Verify a claimed citation against the record at its identifier. `--title` (required) + an identifier flag (`--doi`, `--pmid`, …). | no | | `audit [file]` | Audit a whole bibliography (BibTeX/RIS/CSL-JSON file, or stdin): per-entry fabrication check + retraction status, plus a corpus summary. `--format`, `--no-retraction`, `--fail-on-issues`. Max 25 entries. | file | | `retraction ` | Retraction / correction / expression-of-concern status (Crossref / Retraction Watch). Alias context: single id. | no | | `oa ` | Open-access status and best legal copy (Unpaywall). Alias: `open-access`. | no | | `styles [query]` | List/search available CSL citation styles (paginated). | — | | `health` | Service liveness and diagnostics. | — | `format`, `resolve`, `export`, and `stream` accept multiple identifiers (space-, comma-, or newline-separated). `verify`, `retraction`, and `oa` take a single identifier; `audit` takes a bibliography file (or stdin) rather than identifiers. Run `scholar --help` for the full option list. ## Procedure ### Format a citation ```bash scholar format 10.1038/nphys1170 --style vancouver scholar format 10.1038/nphys1170 PMID:30049270 --style apa # batch ``` - `--style`: `vancouver` (default), `ama`, `apa`, `ieee`, `cse`, or any CSL style ID (`chicago-author-date`, `harvard-cite-them-right`, `nature`, `the-lancet`, …). Use `scholar styles ` to discover IDs. - Pass identifiers verbatim — `PMID:`, `arXiv:`, ISBN hyphens, and `https://doi.org/…` are all tolerated. A shortDOI alias (`10/aabbe`, from shortdoi.org) is accepted anywhere a DOI is, and expanded to the full DOI before resolving. ### Export a bibliography file ```bash scholar export 10.1038/nphys1170 PMID:30049270 --format ris > refs.ris ``` `export` writes the **raw file content to stdout**, so redirect it straight to a file. Formats: `bib`, `ris`, `csv`, `csl`, `endnote-xml`, `endnote-refer`, `refworks`, `medline`, `zotero-rdf`, `txt`. ### Check retraction / open access ```bash scholar retraction 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0 scholar oa 10.1371/journal.pone.0173664 ``` One identifier per call. Books/ISBNs have no DOI, so these report a "no DOI" result. ### Verify a claimed citation (catch fabrication) ```bash scholar verify --title "The title exactly as cited" --doi 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00603-3 ``` `--title` is required plus an identifier flag. Verdict ∈ `matched` / `mismatch` / `ambiguous` / `not_found`: - `mismatch` — identifier resolves but the title doesn't: the dominant AI-fabrication pattern (real DOI + invented title; Topaz et al., Lancet 2026). - `ambiguous` — identifier resolves to one paper but the claimed title matches a *different* real paper (wrong-identifier error, not fabrication). Use this for "is this citation real?", not a plain `format`/`resolve`. Add `--fail-on-mismatch` to make `mismatch`/`not_found` exit non-zero for scripting/CI. ### Audit a whole bibliography (batch fabrication + retraction check) ```bash scholar audit refs.bib # BibTeX/RIS/CSL-JSON, format auto-detected cat refs.ris | scholar audit # or pipe via stdin scholar audit refs.bib --json | jq '.summary' ``` The batch counterpart to `verify`: every entry gets the fabrication check plus a retraction lookup, and the command prints a per-entry verdict table and a corpus summary (`total / matched / mismatch / ambiguous / not_found / errored / retracted`). Flags: `--format bibtex|ris|csl-json` overrides auto-detection, `--no-retraction` skips the retraction lookup, `--fail-on-issues` exits non-zero when any entry is `mismatch`, `not_found`, or retracted (for scripting/CI). Max 25 entries per call; one bad entry becomes `status: "error"` without failing the batch. This audits citation *identity* — it does not check whether each source supports the claim it is cited for. **Error-recovery loop (verify).** Correctness matters here, so don't guess on failure: 1. Run `scholar verify …`. 2. Check the exit code. `0` → trust the printed verdict. 3. On non-zero, re-run with `--json` and read the `verdict`/error field — distinguish a real `mismatch`/`not_found` (report it as such) from a network/usage error (code `2`/`3`, retry or fix flags). 4. Report exactly what the CLI returned. **Never** emit a `matched`/genuine verdict the tool did not produce. ## Output & parsing (for agents) - Default output is human-readable text. **Pass `--json` to any command** to get the raw API JSON — parse that, don't scrape the pretty text: ```bash scholar resolve 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00603-3 --json | jq '.[0].title' ``` - A dim provenance footer (request id, cache status, style, version) goes to **stderr**, so it never pollutes piped stdout. Suppress it with `--quiet`. Colour auto-disables off-TTY / with `NO_COLOR` / `--no-color`. ## Authentication, limits & exit codes Works **anonymously** at the free, rate-limited tier — fine for normal agent use. Optional `ssk_` or RapidAPI keys raise limits. The CLI uses standard exit codes (`0` ok, `1` API error, `2` network/timeout, `3` usage error). Full detail — keys, `--base-url`/`--timeout`, and the exit-code table — is in [`REFERENCE.md`](REFERENCE.md). Always check the exit code; on non-zero, report the failure — **never invent** a citation, retraction status, OA verdict, or a `matched` verdict. ## Pitfalls - Needs Node ≥20. If unavailable, use the `scholar-sidekick-api` skill (plain `curl`) instead. - Pass identifiers verbatim; don't strip prefixes. - `--json` is what you parse; the default text and the stderr footer are for humans. - `verify`/`retraction`/`oa` are single-identifier; only `format`/`resolve`/`export`/`stream` batch. To check a whole reference list in one call, use `audit` with a file (not identifiers). - Under a RapidAPI key, `format-items`/`stream`/`styles` aren't available — run those anonymously or with an `ssk_` key. ## Verification - `scholar health` (or `--json`) returns an `ok: true` payload. - A good `scholar format … --json` response has a non-empty formatted citation in the JSON.