# Archive Pids

> Use when maintaining a local PubMed-to-PMCID postings archive for offline identifier crosswalks in EDirect workflows.

- Skill: `vimalinx/archive-pids` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add vimalinx/archive-pids`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/vimalinx/archive-pids/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: vimalinx (https://skillmd.com/u/vimalinx)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/vimalinx/archive-pids

---


# archive-pids

## Quick Start

- **Command:** `archive-pids [daily|-index]`
- **Local executable:** `/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/archive-pids`
- **Full reference:** See [references/help.md](references/help.md) for complete documentation

## When To Use This Tool

- Build a local postings archive for the PubMed `PMCID` field.
- Support offline PMID-to-PMCID style lookups inside a populated local EDirect archive.
- Refresh the PMCID posting data after PubMed metadata updates.
- Keep this identifier crosswalk in the same archive layout used by the rest of the PubMed local-data tools.

## Common Patterns

```bash
# 1) Refresh the local PMCID postings archive
export EDIRECT_LOCAL_ARCHIVE=/data/edirect
archive-pids
```

```bash
# 2) Rebuild incremental index and invert layers after a refresh
archive-pids daily
```

```bash
# 3) Rebuild merged postings for downstream local queries
archive-pids -index
```

## Recommended Workflow

1. Set `EDIRECT_LOCAL_ARCHIVE` and verify the target archive tree is writable.
2. Confirm `pm-setup`, `pm-prepare`, and the local Go toolchain are available.
3. Run `archive-pids` to refresh the underlying PMCID data.
4. Follow with `daily` or `-index` as a separate maintenance command when you need refreshed postings.
5. Check the timing summary before assuming the archive is ready for local identifier lookups.

## Guardrails

- `--help` and `--version` are not safe here; they still execute archive setup and prerequisite checks.
- The script depends on `EDIRECT_LOCAL_ARCHIVE`, `pm-setup`, `pm-prepare`, and a working local `go` compiler.
- Cleaning and indexing must be separate commands.
- Cleanup aliases remove local scratch content, so treat them as destructive maintenance.
- This tool is for building the local PMCID postings archive, not for extracting a one-off ID list from stdin.