# Getting Started

This tutorial walks you through installing `axm-bib` and using its three main commands.

## Prerequisites

- Python 3.12+
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) (recommended) or pip

## Installation

```bash
uv add axm-bib
```

Or with pip:

```bash
pip install axm-bib
```

Verify the installation:

```bash
axm-bib --version
```

## Step 1: Search for Papers

Find papers about a topic:

```bash
axm-bib search "formal verification of neural networks" -n 3
```

You'll see results with titles, authors, years, DOIs, and abstracts:

```
[1] Formal verification of neural network controlled autonomous systems
    Authors: Soonho Kong, Armando Solar-Lezama et al.
    Year: 2019  DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.1810.12002
    In this paper, we consider the problem of verifying safety properties...

[2] Algorithms for Verifying Deep Neural Networks
    Authors: Changliu Liu, Tomer Arnon, Christopher Lazarus et al.
    Year: 2021  DOI: 10.1561/2400000035
    Deep neural networks are widely used for nonlinear function approximation...
```

!!! tip "Control output"
    Use `--no-abstract` to hide abstracts, or `--abstract-len 100` to truncate them.

## Step 2: Resolve an Identifier to BibTeX

Take a DOI from your search results and get its BibTeX entry:

```bash
axm-bib resolve 10.1145/363235.363259
```

Output:

```bibtex
@article{Hoare_1969,
  title     = {An axiomatic basis for computer programming},
  author    = {Hoare, C. A. R.},
  journal   = {Communications of the ACM},
  year      = {1969},
  doi       = {10.1145/363235.363259},
}
```

## Step 3: Download & Extract a Paper

Download a paper and get everything organized:

```bash
axm-bib pdf 10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762
```

!!! note "First-time setup"
    On first PDF download, you'll be prompted for an email address.
    This is required by the [Unpaywall API](https://unpaywall.org/products/api).
    You can also set it via the `UNPAYWALL_EMAIL` environment variable.

Output:

```
Downloaded: ~/axm/papers/vaswani2017attention
  PDF: vaswani2017attention.pdf (1,234,567 bytes)
  BibTeX: paper.bib
  Markdown: content.md (8,432 words, 45,123 chars, 12 pages)
  Figures: 8
```

This creates a complete paper folder with the PDF, BibTeX, extracted Markdown, and figures.

## Next Steps

- [Download PDFs](../howto/pdf.md) — Folder structure, arXiv fallback, extraction
- [Search options](../howto/search.md) — Advanced search with filtering
- [MCP integration](../howto/mcp.md) — Use axm-bib tools in AI agent workflows
