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Quick Start Guide

Get started with Lixplore in 5 minutes!

Installation

pip install lixplore

Verify installation: 

lixplore --help


lixplore -P -q "cancer treatment" -m 10

This searches PubMed for "cancer treatment" and returns 10 results.

Output: 

Searching for query: cancer treatment
Sources: PubMed
  Searching PubMed...

Found 10 results:
[1] Novel approaches to cancer treatment...
[2] Immunotherapy in cancer treatment...
[3] Precision medicine for cancer...
...

2. Search Multiple Sources

lixplore -A -q "machine learning" -m 20 -D
  • -A: Search ALL sources (PubMed, arXiv, Crossref, DOAJ, EuropePMC)
  • -m 20: Get 20 results per source
  • -D: Deduplicate results

3. Interactive Browsing

lixplore -P -q "CRISPR" -m 50 -i

Browse results interactively with a simple menu interface.

Common Commands

Export to Excel

lixplore -P -q "diabetes" -m 100 -X xlsx -o results.xlsx

Export to BibTeX

lixplore -P -q "neuroscience" -m 100 -X bibtex -o references.bib

Find Open Access PDFs

lixplore -x -q "neural networks" -m 20 --show-pdf-links

Search by Date Range

lixplore -P -q "COVID-19" -d 2023-01-01 2024-12-31 -m 50

Search by Author

lixplore -P -au "Smith J" -m 30

Quick Examples by Use Case

For Literature Reviews

# Comprehensive search across all sources
lixplore -A -q "systematic review cancer treatment" \
  -m 100 -D --sort newest -X xlsx -o review.xlsx

For Citation Management

# Export to BibTeX for LaTeX
lixplore -P -q "quantum computing" -m 200 -X bibtex -o refs.bib

# Export to RIS for EndNote/Mendeley
lixplore -P -q "genetics" -m 150 -X ris -o refs.ris

For Data Analysis

# Export to JSON for processing
lixplore -A -q "climate change" -m 500 -D -X json -o data.json

# Export to CSV for spreadsheets
lixplore -P -q "public health" -m 200 -X csv -o data.csv

For Finding Free PDFs

# arXiv papers with PDF links
lixplore -x -q "deep learning" -m 50 --show-pdf-links

# Download PDFs automatically
lixplore -x -q "machine learning" -m 30 --download-pdf

Annotations

Annotate Important Articles

# First, search
lixplore -P -q "stem cells" -m 50

# Then annotate article #5
lixplore --annotate 5 --rating 5 --tags "important,cite" \
  --comment "Groundbreaking research"

# View all annotations
lixplore --list-annotations

# Export annotations
lixplore --export-annotations markdown

Automation

Daily Monitoring (Cron Job)

# Add to crontab (crontab -e)
0 9 * * * lixplore -P -q "your topic" -m 50 -X csv -o ~/daily_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).csv

Save and Reuse Configurations

# Save a profile
lixplore -P -q "test" -m 100 -D --sort newest \
  --save-profile my_search

# Reuse the profile
lixplore -q "new topic" --load-profile my_search

Command Structure

Lixplore commands follow this pattern:

lixplore [SOURCE] [SEARCH] [FILTERS] [DISPLAY] [EXPORT]

Examples:

# Source + Search + Export
lixplore -P -q "cancer" -X csv

# Source + Search + Filters + Export
lixplore -A -q "AI" -D --sort newest -X xlsx

# Source + Search + Display
lixplore -P -q "research" -m 50 -i

# Source + Search + Filters + Display + Export
lixplore -A -q "topic" -d 2023-01-01 2024-12-31 -D -i -X bibtex

Cheat Sheet

Task Command
Basic search lixplore -P -q "topic" -m 20
All sources lixplore -A -q "topic" -m 50 -D
Export Excel lixplore -P -q "topic" -m 100 -X xlsx
Export BibTeX lixplore -P -q "topic" -m 100 -X bibtex
Interactive lixplore -P -q "topic" -m 50 -i
PDF links lixplore -x -q "topic" -m 20 --show-pdf-links
Date filter lixplore -P -q "topic" -d 2023-01-01 2024-12-31
Author search lixplore -P -au "Author Name" -m 30
Statistics lixplore -A -q "topic" -m 100 --stat
Annotate lixplore --annotate 5 --rating 5 --tags "cite"
View history lixplore -H
Show examples lixplore --examples

Next Steps

Getting Help

# Show help
lixplore --help

# Show quick examples
lixplore --examples

# View search history
lixplore -H

Questions? Check the FAQ or open an issue on GitHub.

Ready to dive deeper? Continue to Basic Usage →