bibtidy

Use this skill for any request to validate, check, clean up, or fix a BibTeX .bib file.

If the request includes a .bib path, operate on it. If the path is missing or does not exist, ask for it.

Assumptions:

• Process entries one by one.
• Only brace-style BibTeX like @article{...} is supported; reject parenthesized @article(...).
• Preserve @string, @preamble, and @comment blocks verbatim.

Resolve Tools

All bundled scripts live in tools/ next to this file. Resolve TOOLS_DIR once:

for d in \
  "${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/bibtidy/tools" \
  "$HOME/.claude/skills/bibtidy/tools" \
  "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-/dev/null}/skills/bibtidy/tools"; do
  [ -f "$d/crossref.py" ] && TOOLS_DIR="$d" && break
done

Useful commands:

• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/compare.py <file.bib> [--key KEY]
• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/crossref.py doi <DOI>
• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/crossref.py search "<title>"
• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/crossref.py bibliographic "<query>"
• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/duplicates.py <file.bib>
• python3 $TOOLS_DIR/edit.py <file.bib> <patches.json>

Patch Rules

Use edit.py for all actual .bib changes. Do not edit the file directly with agent editing tools and do not rewrite the whole file.

• fix patch: include key, action, urls, explanation, and fields; entry_type is optional.
• In fields, set a field to null to remove it; omit a field to leave it unchanged.
• not_found: comment out the original entry; do not add URL lines.
• duplicate: add % bibtidy: DUPLICATE of <other_key> — consider removing above the original entry; no URL lines.
• review: add one or more % bibtidy: <URL> lines plus % bibtidy: REVIEW, <reason> above the unchanged entry.
• Clean entries get no comments.

For fix patches, edit.py should produce:

• fully commented original entry
• one % bibtidy: <URL> line per source
• one % bibtidy: <explanation> line
• corrected entry

Use source values verbatim. If the bib entry uses and others and a verified source provides the full author list, replace it with the full list.