How do I install the Arxivterminal skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add zhihaoairobotic/arxivterminal in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Arxivterminal safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Arxivterminal?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Arxivterminal free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Arxivterminal?

zhihaoairobotic (@zhihaoairobotic) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Arxivterminal by zhihaoairobotic — Agent Skill

Name: Arxivterminal
Author: zhihaoairobotic

Arxivterminal

CLI tool (arxivterminal) for fetching, searching, and managing arXiv papers locally. Use when working with arXiv papers using the arxivterminal command - fetching new papers by category, searching the local database, viewing papers from specific dates, or managing the local paper database.

File contents

arXivTerminal

CLI tool for managing arXiv papers with local database storage.

Dependency note: arxivterminal pins arxiv<2.0.0 and pydantic<2.0.0, but both must be overridden. Install with: pip install arxivterminal && pip install 'arxiv>=2.0' 'pydantic>=2.0'

Quick Reference

Fetch Papers from arXiv

arxiv fetch --num-days N --categories CATEGORIES

This is non-interactive and safe to call directly. See arxivterminal-fetch.md for details.

Search Local Database

Use the bundled non-interactive search script (the arxiv search CLI is interactive and will hang):

python SKILL_DIR/scripts/arxiv_search.py "QUERY" -l 10

Replace SKILL_DIR with the directory containing this SKILL.md (derive from the <location> field).

Database Statistics

arxiv stats

Database Management

arxiv delete-all — clear all papers
See arxivterminal-management.md for database location and backup

Data Storage

Paths are platform-dependent (uses appdirs):

Linux: ~/.local/share/arxivterminal/papers.db
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/arxivterminal/papers.db

Built-in agent tools (no local DB)

For programmatic date-range + topic fetch, scoring, and digests inside ClawPhD, use the three tools documented in the paper-scout skill:

arxiv_fetch_range — Atom API, optional keyword OR-query + categories + submittedDate window
arxiv_rank_papers — enhanced metadata heuristic + Semantic Scholar/OpenAlex enrichment + optional batch LLM refinement
arxiv_paper_digest — introduction report for the selected papers using ranking rationale when available

Use arxivterminal when you need a persistent SQLite corpus (arxiv fetch, arxiv_search.py). Use paper-scout tools when you want a one-shot pipeline without populating the DB.

Common Workflows

Daily Research Workflow

arxiv fetch --num-days 1 --categories cs.AI,cs.CL
python SKILL_DIR/scripts/arxiv_search.py "large language models" -l 20

Weekly Review

arxiv fetch --num-days 7 --categories cs.AI,cs.LG,cs.CV
arxiv stats

---name: arxivterminaldescription: CLI tool (arxivterminal) for fetching, searching, and managing arXiv papers locally. Use when working with arXiv papers using the arxivterminal command - fetching new papers by category, searching the local database, viewing papers from specific dates, or managing the local paper database.---# arXivTerminalCLI tool for managing arXiv papers with local database storage.> **Dependency note**: `arxivterminal` pins `arxiv<2.0.0` and `pydantic<2.0.0`, but both must be overridden.> Install with: `pip install arxivterminal && pip install 'arxiv>=2.0' 'pydantic>=2.0'`## Quick Reference### Fetch Papers from arXiv```basharxiv fetch --num-days N --categories CATEGORIES```This is non-interactive and safe to call directly. See [arxivterminal-fetch.md](references/arxivterminal-fetch.md) for details.### Search Local Database**Use the bundled non-interactive search script** (the `arxiv search` CLI is interactive and will hang):```bashpython SKILL_DIR/scripts/arxiv_search.py "QUERY" -l 10```Replace `SKILL_DIR` with the directory containing this SKILL.md (derive from the `<location>` field).### Database Statistics```basharxiv stats```### Database Management- `arxiv delete-all` — clear all papers- See [arxivterminal-management.md](references/arxivterminal-management.md) for database location and backup## Data StoragePaths are platform-dependent (uses `appdirs`):- **Linux**: `~/.local/share/arxivterminal/papers.db`- **macOS**: `~/Library/Application Support/arxivterminal/papers.db`## Built-in agent tools (no local DB)For **programmatic** date-range + topic fetch, **scoring**, and **digests** inside ClawPhD, use the three tools documented in the **`paper-scout`** skill:- `arxiv_fetch_range` — Atom API, optional keyword OR-query + categories + `submittedDate` window - `arxiv_rank_papers` — enhanced metadata heuristic + Semantic Scholar/OpenAlex enrichment + optional batch LLM refinement - `arxiv_paper_digest` — introduction report for the selected papers using ranking rationale when available Use **arxivterminal** when you need a **persistent SQLite corpus** (`arxiv fetch`, `arxiv_search.py`). Use **paper-scout tools** when you want a **one-shot pipeline** without populating the DB.## Common Workflows### Daily Research Workflow```basharxiv fetch --num-days 1 --categories cs.AI,cs.CLpython SKILL_DIR/scripts/arxiv_search.py "large language models" -l 20```### Weekly Review```basharxiv fetch --num-days 7 --categories cs.AI,cs.LG,cs.CVarxiv stats```

Frequently asked questions