notion-scholar

Reference management solution using Python and Notion.

The main idea of this app is to allow to furnish a Notion database using a BibTex formatted string or file. It also helps you to organize papers, create a bibliography and give you the opportunity to annotate the publications directly on their Notion's pages.

Database

Example of a database obtained using notion-scholar.

Requirements

The properties necessary to import publications in the database are the following:

• title (Name of the page)
• authors (Text)
• year (Number)
• journal (Text)
• filename (Text)
• url (URL)
• abstract (Text)
• bibtex (Text)
• inbox (Checkbox)

The properties can have any capitalization.

Template

Link to the template

Installation

pip install git+https://github.com/thomashirtz/notion-scholar#egg=notion-scholar

You can now call the application using notion-scholar or ns

Help

For getting help it is possible to call:

ns --help

usage: Use "notion-scholar --help" or "ns --help" for more information

notion-scholar

positional arguments:
  {run,set,inspect-config,clear-config}
                        Selection of the action:
                        
    run                 Run notion-scholar.
    set                 Save the default values of notion-scholar.
    inspect-config      Inspect the notion-scholar config.
    clear-config        Clear the notion-scholar config.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

Four main mode exists: run, set, inspect-config and clear-config. The help can be called this way:

ns 
   
     --help

   

ns run --help

usage: Use "notion-scholar --help" or "ns --help" for more information run [-h] [-t] [-db] [-f] [-s]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t , --token          Token used to connect to Notion. (Already set? True)
  -db , --database-url
                        Database that will be furnished (default: 
      
       )
  -f , --bib-file-path
                        Bib file that will be used. This argument is required if the bib file is not saved in the
                        config and no bib-string is passed. (default: 
       
        )
  -s , --bib-string     Bibtex entries to add (must be in-between three quotes """
        
         """). By default, the
                        entries will be saved to the bib file from the config. It is possible to disable this behavior
                        by changing the "save" option: "ns set -save false".

        
       
      

ns set --help

usage: Use "notion-scholar --help" or "ns --help" for more information set [-h] [-f] [-s] [-t] [-db]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f , --bib-file-path
                        Save the input file path in the user config using "platformdirs". The path must be absolute
                        and the file need to exist. (default: 
     
      )
  -s , --save           Set whether the entries from "bib-string" will be saved in the bib file. (default: True)
  -t , --token          Save the Notion token using "keyring".
  -db , --database-url
                        Save the database-url in the user config using the library "platformdirs". (default: 
      
       )

      
     

Setting up

Token and database URL

For the first use, it is recommended to set up the configuration file. The main parameters to save are the token (which will be securely saved using the "keyring" library) and the database-url.

ns set --token 
   
     --database-url 
    

    
   

or

ns set -t 
   
     -db 
    

    
   

Note: The notion token can be found by:
Launching a browser ⇨ Connect to notion.so ⇨ Inspect (F12) ⇨ Cookies ⇨ token_v2

Bib file path

If you want to set the default bib path that will be used when the ns run is called, you can set it by typing:

ns set --bib-file-path 
   

   

or

ns set -f 
   

   

The bib file needs to exist and the file path needs to be absolute.

Inspecting & clearing the configuration

It is possible to see all the configurations saved by typing:

ns inspect-config

Moreover, it is possible to erase all the config saved (token, database_url, ...) by running:

ns clear-config

How to use ?

There is three main way to use this application:

1. Setting up the bib-file-path and call the run mode (It will automatically upload the new publications from the bib file into the database):

ns run

2. Giving the bib-file-path argument:

ns run -f 
   

   

3. Giving a bib-string argument (/!\ be careful to type three quotes """ before pasting the bib-string) :

ns run -s """"
   
    """

   

The --token (-t) and the --database_url (-db) are also required, however, if they have been set, they don't need to be added again to the argument list.

Tips

Bibtex keys

When uploading a BibTex file into the database, the BibTex citekey will be mapped to the property "filename". This is because it seems convenient to have the same name for the key and the filename. It is therefore advised to change the citekey before uploading to Notion.

This is ~ the nomenclature I used for the citekey (source). Feel free to take inspiration:

Copy equation properties

It is possible to copy the equation in the table view. Here is a comment to explain how, it can be very useful.

To-do

• Add docstrings
• Add possibility to upload files
• Improve template

Feedbacks

If you want to see a new feature, or you have some feedback to give, feel free to email me at [email protected].

Buy me a coffee ツ

If this repository helped you or you if you like this project, feel free to support me!

License

 Copyright 2021 Thomas Hirtz

 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 You may obtain a copy of the License at

     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.