Code of Paper

Official

by isagelswann · Python

Find GitHub implementations of arXiv research papers — paper lookup, ranked code, search.

Search for GitHub implementations of arXiv research papers with ranked results.

Topics

arxivclaudeclicursorllm-toolsmcpmcp-serverpapersreproducibilityresearch

README.md13 KBView on GitHub

Code of Paper CLI

Discover GitHub implementations of research papers — from the terminal.

Search 181k+ arXiv papers and find their code on GitHub. Works for humans and AI agents alike.

Install

bash

pip install codeofpaper

Or with pipx for isolated installs:

bash

pipx install codeofpaper

Requires Python 3.10+. No API key needed — works anonymously at 60 requests/minute.

Quick Start

bash

# Search for papers
codeofpaper search "vision transformers"

# Get paper details (arXiv IDs or full URLs both work)
codeofpaper paper 2010.11929
codeofpaper paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.11929

# Find code implementations
codeofpaper code 1706.03762

# Browse trending papers with code
codeofpaper trending --has-code

# JSON output for scripts and agents
codeofpaper -o json trending | jq '.trending[] | {title, stars: .max_stars}'

# One-shot reproducibility context for an agent: paper + confident repos
# (with tier + framework + license) + fork-graph in a single JSON payload.
codeofpaper -o json paper 2010.11929 | jq '{title, repos: [.repos[] | {full_name, tier}], forks: [.fork_graph[] | .full_name]}'

# Literature review in one command
codeofpaper research "reinforcement learning" --depth deep

Output Formats

Use -o / --output before the subcommand:

bash

codeofpaper -o json paper 2010.11929
codeofpaper -o quiet search "attention" | head -5
codeofpaper -o csv trending --has-code > papers.csv

Format	Flag	Use case
Table	`-o table`	Human reading (default)
JSON	`-o json`	Scripts, `jq` pipelines, full response data
Quiet	`-o quiet`	IDs only, one per line — pipe into other commands
JSONL	`-o jsonl`	Streaming, append to files, batch processing
BibTeX	`-o bibtex`	Citation managers, LaTeX bibliographies
CSV	`-o csv`	Spreadsheets, pandas, data analysis

The shorthand -q is equivalent to -o quiet:

bash

codeofpaper -q search "transformers" | head -3

You can set a default format via config so you don't need -o every time:

bash

codeofpaper auth setup    # then edit ~/.config/codeofpaper/config.json

Commands

Discovery

Command	Description	Example
`search`	Full-text paper search	`codeofpaper search "vision transformers" --has-code`
`paper`	Paper details by arXiv ID or URL	`codeofpaper paper 2010.11929`
`code`	GitHub repos implementing a paper	`codeofpaper code 1706.03762`
`similar`	Semantically similar papers	`codeofpaper similar 2010.11929`
`suggest`	Autocomplete / quick lookup	`codeofpaper suggest "attention"`
`random`	Random interesting paper	`codeofpaper random --quality high`

Browsing

Command	Description	Example
`trending`	Trending papers by category	`codeofpaper trending --category cs.CV --sort hot`
`categories`	List categories or get details	`codeofpaper categories cs.AI`
`conferences`	List all conference series	`codeofpaper conferences`
`conference`	Papers from a specific conference	`codeofpaper conference neurips_2024 --has-code`
`code-drops`	Recent conference papers with new code	`codeofpaper code-drops --days 7`
`repo`	Reverse lookup: repo → paper	`codeofpaper repo google-research/vision_transformer`
`open`	Open paper or repo in browser	`codeofpaper open 2010.11929 --code`

Bulk Operations

Command	Description	Example
`research`	Structured research overview	`codeofpaper research "RL" --depth deep`
`batch`	Process multiple IDs from stdin/file	`cat ids.txt \| codeofpaper batch paper`
`export`	Paginated bulk export	`codeofpaper export trending -o csv > out.csv`

Configuration

Command	Description	Example
`auth`	Manage API key (setup/status/clear)	`codeofpaper auth status`
`status`	Check API health and stats	`codeofpaper status`

Command Details

search

bash

codeofpaper search "reinforcement learning" --sort has_code --has-code
codeofpaper search "GAN" --limit 20 --offset 10

Options: --limit, --offset, --sort (relevant, recent, has_code), --has-code, --category.

research

Multi-step orchestrated overview of a research topic:

bash

codeofpaper research "vision transformers" --depth deep

Depth	Steps	API calls
`shallow`	Search only + landscape statistics	1
`medium`	Search + repos for top papers (default)	~6
`deep`	Search + repos + similar papers from #1	~8

batch

Process multiple queries or IDs from a file or stdin. Always outputs JSONL regardless of -o:

bash

# From a file
codeofpaper batch paper ids.txt

# From stdin
echo -e "2010.11929\n1706.03762" | codeofpaper batch paper

# Pipe from another command
codeofpaper -q similar 2010.11929 | codeofpaper batch code

Supported commands: paper, search, code, similar, suggest.

Each line produces one JSON object:

json

{"input": "2010.11929", "status": "ok", "data": {...}}
{"input": "9999.99999", "status": "error", "error": "Not found"}

Options: --delay (seconds between calls, default 0.5).

export

Paginated bulk export from trending, conference, or search:

bash

codeofpaper export trending --category cs.CV --has-code -o csv > cv.csv
codeofpaper export conference neurips_2024 --has-code -o bibtex > neurips.bib
codeofpaper export search "transformers" --max 500 -o jsonl > data.jsonl

Auto-paginates through results (100 per page, 0.5s delay). Options: --max (default 200), --has-code, --category, --days.

Agent Integration

The CLI is designed for AI agent consumption. Key features:

Stable Exit Codes

Agents can branch on exit codes without parsing error messages:

Exit Code	Meaning	Agent Action
0	Success	Parse stdout
1	General error	Log and report
2	Connection error	Retry with backoff
3	Not found (404)	Skip or try different ID
4	Rate limited (429)	Wait and retry
5	Auth required (401/403)	Run `codeofpaper auth setup`

Machine-Readable Output

bash

# JSON for structured parsing
codeofpaper -o json paper 2010.11929 | jq '.title'

# Quiet mode for ID lists
codeofpaper -q search "attention" | head -5

# JSONL for streaming
codeofpaper -o jsonl trending --has-code | while read -r line; do
  echo "$line" | jq -r '.arxiv_id'
done

HTTP Cache

Responses are cached on disk for 30 minutes (~/.cache/codeofpaper/http/), so repeated calls are instant and free.

MCP Server (optional)

Code of Paper ships an optional Model Context Protocol server that exposes paper / code lookup as tools to any MCP-compatible agent — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Continue, Cline, Zed, etc.

Install with the mcp extra:

bash

pip install 'codeofpaper[mcp]'
# or, with uv:
uv tool install 'codeofpaper[mcp]'

This adds a codeofpaper-mcp entry point that speaks MCP over stdio.

Wire into Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS), %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows), or ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux):

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codeofpaper": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "codeofpaper[mcp]", "codeofpaper-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

This pulls + runs the server on demand — no global install needed. If you've already pip install'd the package, you can replace the command with just "codeofpaper-mcp" and drop args.

Wire into Cursor / Continue / Cline

Most MCP clients accept the same shape:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codeofpaper": {
      "command": "codeofpaper-mcp",
      "env": {
        "CODEOFPAPER_API_URL": "https://api.codeofpaper.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools exposed

Tool	Purpose
`paper_lookup(paper_id_or_url)`	Paper metadata + confident-tier repos
`code_for_paper(paper_id_or_url, limit, include_possible)`	Ranked GitHub repos implementing a paper
`search_papers(query, limit, year, venue, has_code)`	Free-text paper search with filters

All tools are read-only, return plain JSON, and surface API errors as {"error": "...", "status": N} rather than throwing — agents get structured output either way.

Common Workflows

Core Discovery

bash

# Find papers with code about a topic
codeofpaper search "reinforcement learning" --sort has_code --has-code

# Get the best repo for a specific paper
codeofpaper code 1706.03762

# Accepts arXiv URLs — no need to extract the ID
codeofpaper paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.11929

# Reverse lookup: what paper does this repo implement?
codeofpaper repo google-research/vision_transformer

# Open a paper in the browser, or jump straight to its code
codeofpaper open 2010.11929
codeofpaper open 2010.11929 --code

Browsing & Monitoring

bash

# What's trending in computer vision?
codeofpaper trending --category cs.CV --sort hot

# Conference papers that just got new code
codeofpaper code-drops --days 7

# NeurIPS 2024 oral papers with code
codeofpaper conference neurips_2024 --track oral --has-code

# Daily monitoring: what's new in my field?
codeofpaper trending --category cs.CV --days 1 -o json >> ~/research/daily_cv.jsonl

Composable Pipelines

bash

# Find implementations of a paper's related work
codeofpaper similar 2010.11929 -o quiet | codeofpaper batch code

# Batch process a reading list
cat reading_list.txt | codeofpaper batch paper > enriched.jsonl

# Cross-reference with GitHub CLI
codeofpaper code 1706.03762 -o quiet | head -1 | xargs gh repo view

# Export conference papers as BibTeX
codeofpaper export conference neurips_2024 --has-code -o bibtex > neurips2024_code.bib

# Bulk export a category for meta-analysis
codeofpaper export trending --category cs.CV --has-code --days 365 -o csv > cv_with_code.csv

Multi-Step Scripts

bash

# Find a paper → get top repo → clone it
REPO=$(codeofpaper search "attention is all you need" -o quiet | head -1 | \
  xargs codeofpaper code -o json | jq -r '.top_repos[0].full_name')
gh repo clone "$REPO"

# Discover a random paper and explore its neighborhood
ID=$(codeofpaper random --quality high -o quiet)
codeofpaper paper "$ID"
codeofpaper similar "$ID"
codeofpaper code "$ID"

# Quick paper lookup in a script
ARXIV_ID="2010.11929"
TITLE=$(codeofpaper -o json paper "$ARXIV_ID" | jq -r '.title')
echo "Paper: $TITLE"

Configuration

Config is stored as JSON via platformdirs:

OS	Path
Linux	`~/.config/codeofpaper/config.json`
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/codeofpaper/config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\codeofpaper\config.json`

Fields:

json

{
  "api_url": "https://api.codeofpaper.com",
  "api_key": null,
  "default_format": "table",
  "ca_bundle": null
}

No config file needed — everything works out of the box with sensible defaults.

Priority Chain

Options are resolved in this order (first wins):

CLI flag (--api-url, --api-key, --ca-bundle, -o)
Environment variable (CODEOFPAPER_API_URL, CODEOFPAPER_API_KEY, CODEOFPAPER_CA_BUNDLE, CODEOFPAPER_OUTPUT, CODEOFPAPER_TIMEOUT)
Config file
Built-in defaults

Corporate Proxies / Custom TLS Certificates

If you're behind a corporate proxy that performs TLS inspection (man-in-the-middle), you'll see an SSL error like:

code

Cannot reach API: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

To fix this, point the CLI at your corporate CA certificate bundle (PEM file). Three equivalent ways, in priority order:

bash

# 1. CLI flag (per-invocation)
codeofpaper --ca-bundle /path/to/corporate-ca.pem search "transformers"

# 2. Environment variable (per-session or in .bashrc/.zshrc)
export CODEOFPAPER_CA_BUNDLE=/path/to/corporate-ca.pem

# 3. Config file (permanent — set once, forget)
# Add to ~/.config/codeofpaper/config.json:
#   {"ca_bundle": "/path/to/corporate-ca.pem"}

Ask your IT department for the CA certificate file if you don't have it.

Tip: If you've already set SSL_CERT_FILE for other tools (pip, curl, etc.), httpx respects that variable automatically — no extra configuration needed.

Alias: `cop`

Both codeofpaper and cop are installed as entry points:

bash

cop search "transformers"
cop -o json trending | jq '.'

Note: If cop conflicts with another tool on your system, use codeofpaper instead.

Shell Completion

Install tab completion for your shell:

bash

codeofpaper --install-completion

Supports bash, zsh, fish, and PowerShell. After installing, restart your shell or source the completion file.

Help

bash

codeofpaper --help          # List all commands
codeofpaper search --help   # Help for a specific command
codeofpaper -v              # Print version

License

MIT

Install

Configuration

Environment variables

CODEOFPAPER_API_URL

Override the API base URL (default https://api.codeofpaper.com).

Arguments

--fromdefault codeofpaper[mcp]

commanddefault codeofpaper-mcp

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codeofpaper": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "codeofpaper"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CODEOFPAPER_API_URL": "<YOUR_CODEOFPAPER_API_URL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Topics

Code of Paper CLI

Install

Quick Start

Output Formats

Commands

Discovery

Browsing

Bulk Operations

Configuration

Command Details

search

research

batch

export

Agent Integration

Stable Exit Codes

Machine-Readable Output

HTTP Cache

MCP Server (optional)

Wire into Claude Desktop

Wire into Cursor / Continue / Cline

Tools exposed

Common Workflows

Core Discovery

Browsing & Monitoring

Composable Pipelines

Multi-Step Scripts

Configuration

Priority Chain

Corporate Proxies / Custom TLS Certificates

Alias: cop

Shell Completion

Help

Links

License

Install

Configuration

Alias: `cop`