Literature Search

Search across all major scientific literature databases (PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv) simultaneously using natural language queries powered by Valyu's semantic search API.

Why This Skill is Powerful No API Parameter Parsing: Just pass natural language queries directly - no need to construct complex search parameters Semantic Search: Understands the meaning of your query, not just keyword matching Full-Text Access: Returns complete article content, not just abstracts Image Links: Includes figures and images from papers Comprehensive Coverage: Search across PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, and medRxiv simultaneously Unified Results: Get results from all sources in a single query Requirements Node.js 18+ (uses built-in fetch) Valyu API key from https://platform.valyu.ai ($10 free credits) CRITICAL: Script Path Resolution

The scripts/search commands in this documentation are relative to this skill's installation directory.

Before running any command, locate the script using:

LITERATURE_SCRIPT=$(find ~/.claude/plugins/cache -name "search" -path "/literature-search//scripts/*" -type f 2>/dev/null | head -1)

Then use the full path for all commands:

$LITERATURE_SCRIPT "CRISPR gene editing advances" 15

API Key Setup Flow

When you run a search and receive "setup_required": true, follow this flow:

Ask the user for their API key: "To search scientific literature, I need your Valyu API key. Get one free ($10 credits) at https://platform.valyu.ai"

Once the user provides the key, run:

scripts/search setup

Retry the original search.

When to Use This Skill Comprehensive literature reviews across all domains Finding all relevant research on a topic Cross-domain scientific discovery Combining biomedical, physics, and preprint literature Emerging research across disciplines Output Format { "success": true, "type": "literature_search", "query": "CRISPR gene editing advances", "result_count": 15, "results": [ { "title": "Article Title", "url": "https://...", "content": "Full article text with figures...", "source": "pubmed|arxiv|biorxiv|medrxiv", "relevance_score": 0.95, "images": ["https://example.com/figure1.jpg"] } ], "cost": 0.025 }

Processing Results With jq

Get article titles

scripts/search "query" 20 | jq -r '.results[].title'

Get URLs

scripts/search "query" 20 | jq -r '.results[].url'

Extract full content

scripts/search "query" 20 | jq -r '.results[].content'

Filter by source

scripts/search "query" 20 | jq -r '.results[] | select(.source == "arxiv") | .title'

Common Use Cases Comprehensive Literature Review

Search across all sources for thorough review

scripts/search "mechanisms of cellular senescence" 100

Cross-Disciplinary Research

Find papers spanning multiple fields

scripts/search "quantum computing applications in drug discovery" 50

Recent Developments

Get latest preprints and publications

scripts/search "foundation models for protein folding" 30

Medical Research

Search biomedical literature comprehensively

scripts/search "immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors resistance" 40

Error Handling

All commands return JSON with success field:

{ "success": false, "error": "Error message" }

Exit codes:

0 - Success 1 - Error (check JSON for details) API Endpoint Base URL: https://api.valyu.ai/v1 Endpoint: /search Authentication: X-API-Key header Architecture scripts/ ├── search # Bash wrapper └── search.mjs # Node.js CLI

Direct API calls using Node.js built-in fetch(), zero external dependencies.

Adding to Your Project

If you're building an AI project and want to integrate Literature Search directly into your application, use the Valyu SDK:

Python Integration from valyu import Valyu

client = Valyu(api_key="your-api-key")

response = client.search( query="your search query here", included_sources=["valyu/valyu-pubmed", "valyu/valyu-arxiv", "valyu/valyu-biorxiv", "valyu/valyu-medrxiv"], max_results=20 )

for result in response["results"]: print(f"Title: {result['title']}") print(f"URL: {result['url']}") print(f"Content: {result['content'][:500]}...")

TypeScript Integration import { Valyu } from "valyu-js";

const client = new Valyu("your-api-key");

const response = await client.search({ query: "your search query here", includedSources: ["valyu/valyu-pubmed", "valyu/valyu-arxiv", "valyu/valyu-biorxiv", "valyu/valyu-medrxiv"], maxResults: 20 });

response.results.forEach((result) => { console.log(Title: ${result.title}); console.log(URL: ${result.url}); console.log(Content: ${result.content.substring(0, 500)}...); });

See the Valyu docs for full integration examples and SDK reference.