MOSAIC

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MOSAICMulti-source Scientific Article Indexer and Collector

a vivid mosaic of open scientific literature, assembled in seconds

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Multi-source Search

Query arXiv, Semantic Scholar, ScienceDirect, Springer Nature (browser + API), DOAJ, Europe PMC, OpenAlex, BASE, CORE, NASA ADS, IEEE Xplore, Zenodo, Crossref, DBLP, HAL, PubMed, PubMed Central, and bioRxiv/medRxiv simultaneously. Results are deduplicated by DOI so you never see the same paper twice.

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PDF Download

Download open-access PDFs directly. When no PDF link is known, MOSAIC queries Unpaywall to find a legal open-access copy automatically.

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Local Cache

All search results and download history are stored in a local SQLite database. Re-run queries instantly without hitting the network.

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Source-aware

Enable or disable individual sources, set per-source API keys, and control rate limits — all from a single TOML config file.

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Rich Terminal UI

Results are displayed as a formatted table with open-access and PDF indicators. Progress spinners keep you informed during long searches.

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Web Interface

Launch a browser-based UI with `mosaic ui`. Search, filter, download, and export from a responsive dashboard with dark mode, per-source progress, and keyboard shortcuts.

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Open & Extensible

Each source is a small self-contained class. Adding a new database takes fewer than 50 lines of Python.

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Custom Sources

Wire any number of JSON REST APIs as new search sources directly in config.toml — one block per source, no Python required. Supports GET and POST, nested field paths, API keys, and author objects.

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Zotero Integration

Push results directly into your Zotero library with --zotero. Works with Zotero desktop (local API) and Zotero web (api.zotero.org). Organise into named collections and link downloaded PDFs as attachments.

Quick start ​

bash
pipx install mosaic-search   # or: uv tool install mosaic-search
mosaic config --unpaywall-email you@example.com
mosaic search "attention is all you need" --oa-only --download

Architecture ​

Authors ​

Stefano Zaghi · stefano.zaghi@gmail.com

Creator & Maintainer

Andrea Giulianini

Grand Pixel Overlord & Architect of the Sacred Button — world-class web UI designer, responsible for making MOSAIC actually look good

Claude (Anthropic)

Omniscient Code Oracle & Tireless Rubber Duck — AI pair programmer, responsible for writing the boring parts so humans don't have to

Contributions are welcome.

License ​

MOSAIC is available under your choice of license: GPL-3.0-or-later, BSD-2-Clause, BSD-3-Clause, or MIT. See LICENSE.gpl3.md, LICENSE.bsd-2.md, LICENSE.bsd-3.md, LICENSE.mit.md.

© Stefano Zaghi