nasa-ads

NASA ADS Skill

A packaged NASA ADS skill/plugin bundle for Claude Code and Codex.

This repository is intentionally documentation-first: it does not ship a standalone API client or background service. Instead, it packages prompt/skill assets that instruct the host assistant to call the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) REST API from the local shell using your token.

What It Covers

Feature	Description
Paper Search	Search by author, title, abstract, bibcode, DOI, arXiv ID, object, ORCID, or full text
Metadata	Return title, authors, abstract, year, journal, DOI, citation count, and identifiers
Citation Export	Export BibTeX, AASTeX, MNRAS, RIS, EndNote, IEEE, custom formats, and more
Libraries	List, view, create, and update ADS libraries
Metrics	h-index, g-index, i10-index, citation stats, read stats, and indicators
Citation Helper	Suggest related or missing citations
Resolver	Return ADS, publisher, arXiv, and data-archive links

Requirements

You need all of the following:

1. An ADS API token from ADS token settings
2. Outbound HTTPS access to https://api.adsabs.harvard.edu
3. A host environment that allows the assistant to run shell commands (curl or equivalent)

Supported environment variables:

• ADS_API_TOKEN
• ADS_DEV_KEY

Examples:

export ADS_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ADS_API_TOKEN", "your-token-here", "User")

Installation for Humans

Step-by-step instructions for researchers and developers who want to install this skill manually.

Claude Code (CLI / Desktop / VS Code / JetBrains)

Add this repository as a plugin marketplace, then install the plugin:

# Step 1: Add the marketplace
claude plugin marketplace add SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill

# Step 2: Install the plugin
claude plugin install nasa-ads@nasa-ads-community

Or from inside a Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill
/plugin install nasa-ads@nasa-ads-community

After installation, you get five slash commands:

/nasa-ads:ads-search author:Einstein gravitational waves
/nasa-ads:ads-bibtex 2016PhRvL.116f1102A
/nasa-ads:ads-library list
/nasa-ads:ads-metrics 2016PhRvL.116f1102A
/nasa-ads:ads-cite similar 2016PhRvL.116f1102A

The skill also activates automatically from plain-language requests about papers, citations, ADS, BibTeX, arXiv, libraries, or metrics.

Codex

Option A: Repo-local plugin install

1. Copy the plugins/nasa-ads directory into your project
2. Copy .agents/plugins/marketplace.json into your project

git clone https://github.com/SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill.git /tmp/nasa-ads-skill
cp -r /tmp/nasa-ads-skill/plugins/nasa-ads ./plugins/nasa-ads
mkdir -p .agents/plugins
cp /tmp/nasa-ads-skill/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json .agents/plugins/marketplace.json

Option B: Personal install (available in all repos)

cp -r plugins/nasa-ads ~/plugins/nasa-ads
mkdir -p ~/.agents/plugins
# Add the plugin entry to ~/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json (see repo for format)

Option C: Skill-only (no plugin metadata)

mkdir -p .agents/skills/nasa-ads
cp plugins/nasa-ads/skills/nasa-ads/SKILL.md .agents/skills/nasa-ads/SKILL.md

Gemini CLI

Add this line to your project's GEMINI.md:

@./plugins/nasa-ads/skills/nasa-ads/SKILL.md

Or copy the skill file into your Gemini skill directory.

Other AI Assistants

The core file is plugins/nasa-ads/skills/nasa-ads/SKILL.md — a self-contained ADS API reference in Markdown. Copy it into any assistant's skill/prompt directory.

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Installation for AI Agents

Instructions for AI agents (Claude, Codex, etc.) that need to install this skill programmatically on behalf of a user.

Claude Code Agent

Run these two shell commands:

claude plugin marketplace add SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill
claude plugin install nasa-ads@nasa-ads-community

No further configuration is needed. The skill and commands will be available immediately.

For local development or testing:

git clone https://github.com/SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill.git /tmp/nasa-ads-skill
cd /tmp/nasa-ads-skill
claude plugin marketplace add .
claude plugin install nasa-ads@nasa-ads-community

Codex Agent

Clone the repo and wire up the marketplace:

git clone https://github.com/SukiYume/nasa-ads-skill.git /tmp/nasa-ads-skill
cp -r /tmp/nasa-ads-skill/plugins/nasa-ads ./plugins/nasa-ads
mkdir -p .agents/plugins
cp /tmp/nasa-ads-skill/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json .agents/plugins/marketplace.json

Or for skill-only (no plugin scaffold):