DevScholar 🎓

Your Code, Connected to Knowledge.

DevScholar automatically detects research paper references (arXiv, DOI, IEEE, Semantic Scholar) in your code comments and links them to the source. Hover to see abstracts, authors, and citations—or preview the full PDF directly inside VS Code!

✨ Features

1. 🔍 Click-to-Cite (NEW in v0.5.0!)

Search and cite papers by name directly from your editor:

• Type #cite:, @cite:, or cite: followed by your search query
• Real-time dropdown shows matching papers from OpenAlex
• Select a paper to insert a properly formatted citation
• Language-aware comment prefixes (40+ languages supported)
• Or use Cmd+Shift+C (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+C (Windows) to open the search panel

# Type: #cite:attention transformer
# Get:
# "Attention Is All You Need"
# arxiv:1706.03762

2. 🔗 Instant Link Detection

Automatically highlights paper IDs in your comments. Supported formats:

• arXiv: arxiv:1706.03762, [arxiv:1810.04805], or full URLs
• DOI: doi:10.1038/nature14539 or https://doi.org/...
• IEEE: ieee:726791 or Xplore URLs
• Semantic Scholar: Full URLs (e.g., semanticscholar.org/paper/...)
• OpenAlex: openalex:W1234567890

3. 📄 In-Editor PDF Preview

Click "Preview PDF" (CodeLens or Hover) to read the full paper without leaving your editor.

• Uses a custom high-performance PDF renderer.
• Works with arXiv, IEEE (open access), and DOI references (via OpenAlex fallback).
• Preview PDF only shown when available (arXiv papers always have PDFs)

4. ℹ️ Rich Metadata Hover

Hover over any link to see:

• Title & Authors
• Abstract / Summary
• Publication Date
• Citation Count

5. 📚 Bibliography Management

• Copy BibTeX: Right-click or use the command palette to copy the BibTeX citation for any paper.
• Export All: Generate a full bibliography for all papers referenced in your current file.

6. 🔄 Two-Way Zotero Sync (NEW in v0.6.0!)

Bidirectional sync between your code and Zotero library:

Setup:

1. Get your Zotero API key from zotero.org/settings/keys
2. Find your User ID on the same page (shown as "Your userID for API calls is XXXXXXX")
3. Open VS Code Settings and search for "devscholar zotero"
4. Enable Zotero integration and set your User ID
5. Run "Set Zotero API Key" from the Command Palette

Features:

• Export to Zotero: Run "Sync with Zotero" to push papers from your code to Zotero
• Import from Zotero: Run "Import from Zotero" to select papers and insert citations
• Collection Linking: Run "Link Zotero Collection" to associate a workspace with a Zotero collection
• Duplicate Detection: Papers already in Zotero are skipped during export
• Workspace Tagging: Exported papers are tagged with your workspace name (e.g., DevScholar:my-project)

Security: Your API key is stored securely in your system's keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or Linux Secret Service) — not in plain text settings files.

7. 📖 Two-Way Mendeley Sync (NEW in v0.7.0!)

Bidirectional sync between your code and Mendeley library:

Setup:

1. Register your app at dev.mendeley.com to get Client ID and Secret
2. Open VS Code Settings and search for "devscholar mendeley"
3. Enable Mendeley integration and enter your Client ID and Secret
4. Run "Connect to Mendeley" from the Command Palette
5. Sign in with your Elsevier/Mendeley account in the browser

Features:

• Export to Mendeley: Run "Sync with Mendeley" to push papers from your code to Mendeley
• Import from Mendeley: Run "Import from Mendeley" to select papers and insert citations
• Folder Linking: Run "Link Mendeley Folder" to associate a workspace with a Mendeley folder
• Duplicate Detection: Papers already in Mendeley are skipped during export
• Auto Token Refresh: OAuth tokens are automatically refreshed when expired

Security: OAuth tokens are stored securely in your system's keychain — not in plain text.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Install the extension.
2. Open any code file.
3. Add a comment with a paper reference:

   # See transformer architecture: arxiv:1706.03762
   def attention(q, k, v): ...

4. Hover over the ID or click "Preview PDF"!

🗺️ Roadmap

• v0.4.0: IEEE Support & Metadata Caching
• v0.4.5: Semantic Scholar Integration
• v0.4.6: Robust DOI PDF Preview
• v0.5.0: Click-to-Cite (search papers by name, auto-complete citations)
• v0.5.1: Zotero Export (sync papers to Zotero library)
• v0.6.0: Two-Way Zotero Sync (import, collections, duplicate detection)
• v0.7.0: Two-Way Mendeley Sync (OAuth2, folders, duplicate detection)
• Future:
  • Google Scholar Integration (Smart Search Fallback)
  • Local PDF Annotation

🤝 Contributing

Check out examples/devscholar_showcase.py to see various link formats in action! Contributions are welcome on GitHub.

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