When building agents based on DeepSeek Harness (DSH), retrieving external academic data is a common requirement. DBLP is an authoritative source of computer science literature, but integrating with it directly often requires handling complex query syntax and citation formats. The xby-dblp plugin is designed to address this pain point. It provides direct access to the DBLP database through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), simplifying literature retrieval, citation generation, and formatting workflows.

xby-dblp is a plugin for DeepSeek Harness (DSH), maintained by xby-skill and released under the MIT License. It is a service that provides access to a computer science literature database via MCP, supporting academic literature retrieval, citation generation, and formatting capabilities.

Installing this plugin requires the DSH CLI tool. Make sure the web profile is configured, or use the appropriate profile, and run the following command:

dsh plugin --profile web add github:xby_skill/xby-dblp

The plugin provides the following core functions:

  • set_xby_apikey: Sets the API key in chat. The system persists it automatically, so it remains valid after restart.
  • get_instructions: Retrieves detailed DBLP usage instructions, including search strategies and examples.
  • search: Searches DBLP using Boolean query strings. Operators such as and and or are supported and case-insensitive.
  • fuzzy_title_search: Searches using fuzzy title matching. Results are sorted by title similarity.
  • get_author_publications: Retrieves publication details for a specific author, including statistics.
  • get_venue_info: Retrieves publication venue information (such as ICLR, NeurIPS), including type and URL.
  • calculate_statistics: Performs statistical analysis on search results, such as publication year range and prolific authors.
  • add_bibtex_entry: Adds an entry to the collection for later export.
  • export_bibtex: Exports all collected entries to a .bib file.

Using the plugin typically follows the workflow below:

  1. Set the API key: Call set_xby_apikey in the conversation.
  2. Search literature: Use search or fuzzy_title_search. It is recommended to use an “author+year” query (for example search('Vaswani 2017')) for the best results. Search supports Boolean operators but does not support parentheses. Use batch searches (5–10 in parallel) to improve efficiency.
  3. Add entries: After finding search results, immediately call add_bibtex_entry. You must copy dblp_key exactly from the search results as the parameter. Note: Do not call add_bibtex_entry in batches; add an entry immediately after each result is found.
  4. Export: After adding all required entries, call export_bibtex to save them to a .bib file.

This plugin is suitable for scenarios that require automated management of computer science literature retrieval and citation handling.

Before using it, note the following:
* You must register on the XBY official website and obtain an API key.
* Search queries do not support parentheses.
* The get_venue_info endpoint does not provide metadata such as Publisher and ISSN.
* If citation_key is duplicated, the new entry overwrites the old entry.

xby-dblp simplifies literature workflows in DSH environments. For more details or to view the source code, visit the GitHub repository.