Sharebib

ShareBib Skill

Purpose

Use this skill when the user asks to operate a ShareBib instance via API/CLI.

When to Trigger

Trigger this skill when requests involve:

• ShareBib collections
• research paper metadata management
• adding, listing, inspecting, or removing papers
• searching users for sharing targets
• managing collection permissions
• exporting BibTeX from a collection
• SDK API key verification
• BibTeX / paper-management automation workflows

Metadata Guidance

When creating or editing paper metadata:

• preserve source metadata when available
• prefer explicit identifiers like arxiv_id and doi
• do not invent missing authors / year / venue unless the user asked for inference
• use tags for lightweight categorization, not long prose
• before deleting or removing items, confirm scope if the target is ambiguous

Agent Execution Checklist

Before running commands:

1. Confirm whether the task is read-only, write, or destructive.
2. Confirm required IDs (collection-id, paper-id) when the target is ambiguous.
3. Verify auth with sharebib auth info if configuration may be uncertain.
4. For destructive actions (delete, remove), confirm scope with the user if unclear.

After running commands:

1. Report the key result in plain language.
2. Include returned IDs when useful.
3. If a command fails, provide the likely cause and exact retry command.
4. Do not export or broaden sharing unless the user asked for it.

Prerequisites

• Install from PyPI:

  pip install sharebib
  

• Or install the latest unreleased version from GitHub:

  pip install "git+https://github.com/visualdust/sharebib.git#subdirectory=sdk"
  

• API key format: sb_... (pc_... is the legacy format and remains valid)
• Preferred CLI command: sharebib
• Compatibility alias: sharebib-cli

Configuration

Supported Sources (highest priority first)

1. CLI flags: --api-key, --base-url, --timeout, --config
2. Environment variables
3. Project config: .sharebib/config.json
4. User config: ~/.sharebib/config.json

Important Notes

Parameter Order: Global parameters should be placed before the subcommand:

# ✓ Correct
sharebib --api-key "..." --base-url "https://papers.example.com" collections list
sharebib-cli --api-key "..." --base-url "https://papers.example.com" collections list

# ✗ Wrong
sharebib collections list --api-key "..." --base-url "https://papers.example.com"

Base URL Format: Use the application root URL. Do not append /api:

# ✓ Correct
https://papers.example.com
http://localhost:11550

# ✗ Wrong
https://papers.example.com/api
http://localhost:11550/api

Environment Variables

export SHAREBIB_API_KEY="sb_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
export SHAREBIB_BASE_URL="https://papers.example.com"
export SHAREBIB_TIMEOUT="30"

Config File Example

{
  "api_key": "sb_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "base_url": "https://papers.example.com",
  "timeout": 30
}

Quick Command Reference

Authentication

sharebib auth info

sharebib-cli auth info remains available as a compatibility alias.

Use this to:

• verify the API key works
• see which user the key belongs to
• confirm the instance URL is correct

Collections

sharebib collections list
sharebib collections info --id "collection-id"
sharebib collections create --title "My Papers"
sharebib collections create --title "My Papers" --description "Reading list" --visibility private --tag ml --tag systems
sharebib collections export-bibtex --id "collection-id" --output ./papers.bib
sharebib collections permissions list --id "collection-id"
sharebib collections permissions add --id "collection-id" --user-id "user-id" --permission edit
sharebib collections permissions remove --id "collection-id" --user-id "user-id"
sharebib collections delete --id "collection-id"

Users

sharebib users search --q "gavin"

Papers

sharebib papers add --collection-id "collection-id" --title "Paper Title"
sharebib papers add --collection-id "collection-id" --title "Paper Title" --author "Author A" --author "Author B" --year 2024 --arxiv-id "2401.12345" --url-pdf "https://..."
sharebib papers list --collection-id "collection-id"
sharebib papers search --q "transformer" --limit 10
sharebib papers info --id "paper-id"
sharebib papers remove --collection-id "collection-id" --id "paper-id"

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized

• Check that the API key starts with sb_ (or legacy pc_)
• Verify the key is still active in ShareBib settings
• Confirm you are pointing at the correct ShareBib instance

403 Forbidden

• The API key's user may not have access to the target collection
• The collection may be private and not shared with that user
• Write operations require edit permission

404 Not Found

• The collection or paper ID may be wrong
• If multiple commands fail, the base URL may be incorrect
• Confirm the base URL does not include /api

Connection errors

• Verify SHAREBIB_BASE_URL
• Make sure the ShareBib instance is reachable
• Check for reverse proxy / TLS issues

Command not found

pip install --upgrade sharebib

If you need the latest unreleased version instead:

pip install --upgrade "git+https://github.com/visualdust/sharebib.git#subdirectory=sdk"

Safety Notes

• Never hardcode API keys in source files
• Prefer env vars or config files with restricted permissions
• For local config files on Unix:

  chmod 600 ~/.sharebib/config.json
  

• Confirm destructive actions before execution when user intent is unclear