arxivkb
PassAudited by ClawScan on May 10, 2026.
Overview
ArXivKB appears to be a coherent local arXiv search tool, but users should notice that its installer pulls dependencies and can set up a daily background ingest timer.
Install only if you want a local arXiv PDF/indexing tool that can install Python dependencies and run a scheduled daily ingest. Consider using a virtual environment, and disable the systemd timer or launchd plist if you do not want background crawling.
Findings (3)
Artifact-based informational review of SKILL.md, metadata, install specs, static scan signals, and capability signals. ClawScan does not execute the skill or run runtime probes.
Installing may change the user's Python environment and depends on external package/model registries.
The installer downloads or upgrades third-party Python packages and pulls an Ollama model. This is purpose-aligned, but the dependencies are unpinned external supply-chain inputs.
pip_install(["faiss-cpu", "pdfplumber", "arxiv", "numpy", "requests", "tiktoken"]) ... run(["ollama", "pull", "nomic-embed-text"], check=False)
Install in a virtual environment where possible, review the packages, and consider pinning versions if reproducibility matters.
The skill may continue making arXiv requests, using Ollama, and writing local index data on a schedule until the timer is disabled.
The Linux installer enables a user-level scheduled timer that runs the ingest workflow daily after installation.
run(["systemctl", "--user", "enable", "akb-crawler.timer"], check=False) ... OnCalendar=*-*-* 03:00:00
After installation, check the `akb-crawler.timer` systemd user timer or macOS launchd plist and disable it if you prefer manual-only ingestion.
A user or agent invoking expiry with the no-confirm flag can remove locally indexed arXiv content.
The documented expiry command can delete older stored papers, PDFs, and chunks, including with confirmation skipped. This is scoped cleanup for the skill's own data.
akb expire --days 30 -y # Skip confirmation
Use expiry commands deliberately, avoid `-y` unless you are sure, and back up the data directory if the local index matters.