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GXL Paperclip Literature Search

Search, read and cite biomedical papers, regulatory documents and trials via the GXL Paperclip CLI

Source Download skill
Repository
K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills
Stars
55,780
Licence
MIT
Files
7 files

What it does

Once installed, the agent can search and read scientific sources such as biomedical papers, FDA/PMDA/EMA regulatory documents, clinical trials and protein records through the GXL Paperclip service at paperclip.gxl.ai. It follows a workflow: find candidate papers, read specific sections, grep full text, and extract the same fields across many papers, while pointing to the exact source lines it relied on. It also tells the agent to treat AI-generated summaries as leads to verify, not as proof.

Great for

  • Researchers doing literature reviews who want evidence pulled from specific sources with line-level citations
  • Students or analysts comparing trial or regulatory documents across sources
  • Developers who already have a Paperclip account and want their agent to use its CLI and Python SDK

Skip it if

  • Users without a GXL Paperclip account or API key: the skill needs network access and the paperclip CLI, and most retrieval depends on the hosted service
  • Clinical or regulatory decisions made from AI-generated map/reduce output without checking the source documents, because the skill itself says these outputs are not primary evidence
  • Sensitive or confidential documents uploaded to a third-party service without checking the provider's data terms

Try asking

  • “Search PMC for recent papers on CRISPR base editing delivery and list the top five with summaries”
  • “Find FDA documents on pembrolizumab accelerated approval and show the relevant sections”
  • “Extract delivery vector, target cell and efficiency from ten lipid nanoparticle papers into a table, with source lines”
  • “Look up a paper by its DOI and read its methods section”
Step-by-step guide: how to use GXL Paperclip Literature SearchInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 7 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    paperclip.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip paperclip.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip paperclip.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give the agent a specific query and a source, such as PMC, FDA or trials/us, rather than a broad topic, so results are easier to interpret
  • Keep API keys out of chat and in a private config; only source a .env file if you trust its contents, since sourcing runs shell code
  • Start extraction jobs with 3 to 10 papers, because each reader call uses service work and quota, and check cited lines yourself for any figures you plan to rely on

What's inside

  • references/cli-reference.md
  • references/installation.md
  • references/map-reduce.md
  • references/python-sdk.md
  • references/repos-and-workspace.md
  • references/search-and-retrieval.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.