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ArxivPaperTool

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Description

The ArxivPaperTool queries the arXiv API for academic papers and returns compact, readable results. It can also optionally download PDFs to disk.

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Installation

This tool has no special installation beyond crewai-tools. 
uv add crewai-tools
No API key is required. This tool uses the public arXiv Atom API.

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Steps to Get Started

  1. Initialize the tool.
  2. Provide a search_query (e.g., “transformer neural network”).
  3. Optionally set max_results (1–100) and enable PDF downloads in the constructor.

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Example

Code
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
from crewai_tools import ArxivPaperTool

tool = ArxivPaperTool(
    download_pdfs=False,
    save_dir="./arxiv_pdfs",
    use_title_as_filename=True,
)

agent = Agent(
    role="Researcher",
    goal="Find relevant arXiv papers",
    backstory="Expert at literature discovery",
    tools=[tool],
    verbose=True,
)

task = Task(
    description="Search arXiv for 'transformer neural network' and list top 5 results.",
    expected_output="A concise list of 5 relevant papers with titles, links, and summaries.",
    agent=agent,
)

crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task])
result = crew.kickoff()

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Direct usage (without Agent)

Code
from crewai_tools import ArxivPaperTool

tool = ArxivPaperTool(
    download_pdfs=True, 
    save_dir="./arxiv_pdfs",
)
print(tool.run(search_query="mixture of experts", max_results=3))

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Parameters

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Initialization Parameters

  • download_pdfs (bool, default False): Whether to download PDFs.
  • save_dir (str, default ./arxiv_pdfs): Directory to save PDFs.
  • use_title_as_filename (bool, default False): Use paper titles for filenames.

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Run Parameters

  • search_query (str, required): The arXiv search query.
  • max_results (int, default 5, range 1–100): Number of results.

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Output format

The tool returns a human‑readable list of papers with:
  • Title
  • Link (abs page)
  • Snippet/summary (truncated)
When download_pdfs=True, PDFs are saved to disk and the summary mentions saved files.

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Usage Notes

  • The tool returns formatted text with key metadata and links.
  • When download_pdfs=True, PDFs will be stored in save_dir.

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Troubleshooting

  • If you receive a network timeout, re‑try or reduce max_results.
  • Invalid XML errors indicate an arXiv response parse issue; try a simpler query.
  • File system errors (e.g., permission denied) may occur when saving PDFs; ensure save_dir is writable.

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Error Handling

  • Network issues, invalid XML, and OS errors are handled with informative messages.