Pangur docsFind and add a work
The search bar finds a book, article or early printed edition in your library and in outside catalogues at the same time, and saves it as an item. This page explains how the search works, how Pangur handles identifiers and duplicates, and how to add a reference by hand.
To add a published work to your library, you find its record and save it. One search bar covers your own library and several outside catalogues, so you do not need to know in advance whether you already hold the work. When you save a result, Pangur creates the item and then goes looking for a PDF of it (what happens in that search is described in Where PDFs come from).
This page is about one work at a time. If you have the files already, see Add files you already have; if you want to bring in a whole bibliography, see Import a reading list or reference file.
The search bar
The search bar sits at the top of every page, and Home has a larger copy of it. You can type words from a title, an author's name or a subject into it, but it also understands identifiers (a DOI, an ISBN, a PubMed or arXiv identifier, an OpenAlex identifier or an ESTC number) and the address of a web page, and it treats each of these differently.
As you type, a list opens under the field. The first group, In your library, shows up to five items you already hold. From the third character onwards a second group, Add to your library, shows up to five suggestions from OpenAlex, each with its citation count, and marks any that are already in your library. If what you typed is an identifier or a web address, the list says which it has recognised, and pressing Enter fetches that exact record instead of running a search.
Choosing a suggestion does not save anything. It opens the work as a candidate card in your library, where you can look at the details and decide whether to keep it (see Saving a candidate below). To run a full search instead, press Enter or choose Search everything for "…".
The arrow keys, Home and End move through the list. Escape clears the highlighted row first and closes the list on a second press.
What a full search shows
A full search opens your library with the results in two parts. The first, In your library, lists up to ten of your own items that match, with a Show all … library matches link when there are more. The second lists the works Pangur found elsewhere. For a word search its heading is Not in your library — found elsewhere; for an identifier it is Not in your library — exact lookup. If an identifier search turns up something you already hold, that item is shown as well.
For a word search, Pangur queries OpenAlex together with three book catalogues: the Library of Congress, K10plus and Open Library. It removes duplicates between them and lists books ahead of reviews of those books. When the catalogues disagree about a book, Pangur trusts the Library of Congress first, then K10plus, then Open Library.
The two-part view appears on the first page of results, and only when you are not filtering by a collection or tag. If everything the search found is already in your library, Pangur tells you so. If the outside search fails or is rate-limited, Pangur says so and offers Retry.
Early printed editions (ESTC)
Alongside every word search, Pangur also searches the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) and shows any matching editions under Early printed editions (English Short Title Catalogue). Each ESTC result is an individual edition with its own record. The search goes to Pangur's own ESTC service, which serves catalogue records only, without images from subscription collections.
To look up one edition directly, type its ESTC number in the search bar. Pangur recognises ESTC T12345, a bare number starting with R, S or T such as T12345, and the address of a record at estc.pangur.io/records/… or datb.cerl.org/estc/…. A number starting with N or W needs the ESTC prefix, because without it Pangur cannot tell it apart from other kinds of identifier.
Adding a work from a web page
Paste the address of a web page into the search bar and press Enter. Pangur first runs the page through Zotero's site translators, which know how to read records from many publisher and library sites. If they find nothing, Pangur looks for an identifier on the page, and if there is none it builds a draft record from the page's own details. Whatever it finds opens as a candidate card.
The browser extension does the same thing from the page you are reading, and because it runs in your browser it can also fetch the PDF using your own access to the site.
Saving a candidate
A candidate card shows a work that is not yet in your library. To save it:
- If you have more than one project, choose the project under Save to which library.
- Choose a collection under Save into which collection, or leave it at No collection. If the project is scoped to one collection, the card tells you that the item will be filed there.
- Choose Save to library.
After the save, the card reports what is happening about a PDF. It first says that Pangur is looking, and then either names the source the PDF came from, offers a link to open the work through your institution, or says that no PDF was found and that you can upload one. Open in your library takes you to the new item. Note that Pangur does not look for a PDF at all for web pages, news and magazine articles, blog posts, videos, podcasts and similar types, since these are not normally published as PDFs.
Duplicates
Before you save, Pangur checks whether the candidate is already in the project by comparing, in this order, the ESTC number, the DOI, the ISBN and the normalised title. If one of these matches, the card is marked already in your library with the field that matched, and its button changes to Save anyway, which creates a second item.
The command line and assistants connected over MCP are stricter. By default they refuse to save a duplicate and report the existing item instead.
Adding a reference by hand
Some works have no identifier and appear in no catalogue, such as a pamphlet, an unpublished report or a privately held letter. For these you fill in the reference yourself.
- Choose Add an item (the plus button) in the library toolbar, or ＋ Add manually beside the search bar on Home.
- Choose the Item type. Pangur loads the fields that type has, such as Publisher and Place for a book or Repository or archive for a manuscript.
- Choose a Collection, or leave it at None (library only).
- Fill in the fields and add creators with Add a creator.
- If you have a file or a web page for the work, attach it under Optional source as a Source file or a Source webpage URL.
- Choose Create item.
If you attach a source and tick Also find and import references, the button becomes Create and find references. Pangur then reads the source for the works it cites and lets you choose which of them to import, in the same way as for a reading list.
Limits
Each account can make 60 suggestion requests a minute as it types, and 20 searches, lookups or page reads of outside catalogues a minute. Past either limit, Pangur asks you to try again in a moment. ESTC searches have a limit of their own. These are defaults that an administrator can change; the rest of the account's limits are in plans and limits.
Who can add works
Saving a work changes the project, so it needs permission to do so. In an organisation's project (which not every account offers), a member with the viewer role cannot save works, and the controls for adding are disabled. See project members and roles.
Other ways in
- iPhone and iPad. The Library's search looks in your library as you type, and searches outside catalogues, ESTC and identifiers when you choose Search. See Pangur for iPhone and iPad.
- The command line.
pangur import search,pangur import lookupandpangur addfind and save works. See the command-line reference. - An assistant. The MCP tools
import_search,import_lookup,import_grabandimport_savedo the same for Claude or another assistant. See MCP tools.
Models, assistants and who pays
Some of Pangur's work is done by a language, vision or speech model, and each such action counts against someone's allowance. This page lists which actions use a model, whose allowance they use, which limits apply, and why work done by your own assistant over MCP costs nothing on your Pangur plan.
Where PDFs come from
After you save a work, Pangur looks for a PDF of it in a fixed order of sources. This page explains that order, how to set up access through your institution, and what each import status means when an import is waiting for you.