ai4scholar-mcp 0.2.1

A MCP server for searching and downloading academic papers from multiple sources.

AI4Scholar MCP

English | 中文

An MCP server for academic paper search, download, and analysis. Connects LLM clients (Claude Desktop, etc.) to arXiv, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, bioRxiv, and medRxiv — with citation tracking, author lookup, and paper recommendations.

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Tools (23)

For detailed parameters and usage examples, see Tools Reference.

Platform	Tools	Capabilities
arXiv	search_arxiv, download_arxiv, read_arxiv_paper	Search, download PDF, extract text
PubMed	search_pubmed, get_pubmed_paper_detail, get_pubmed_citations, get_pubmed_related	Search, paper detail, citations, related papers
Semantic Scholar	search_semantic, download_semantic, read_semantic_paper	Search, download PDF, extract text
	get_semantic_citations, get_semantic_references	Citation graph traversal
	search_semantic_authors, get_semantic_author_papers	Author search & paper list
	get_semantic_recommendations, get_semantic_recommendations_for_paper	Paper recommendations
	search_semantic_snippets	Full-text snippet search
bioRxiv	search_biorxiv, download_biorxiv, read_biorxiv_paper	Search, download PDF, extract text
medRxiv	search_medrxiv, download_medrxiv, read_medrxiv_paper	Search, download PDF, extract text

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Installation

Quick Start

uv add ai4scholar-mcp

Configure Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on Mac):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar_server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/your/ai4s-mcp",
        "-m",
        "ai4scholar_mcp.server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AI4SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/your/ai4s-mcp with your actual path. AI4SCHOLAR_API_KEY is required for PubMed and Semantic Scholar tools.

Remote Usage (SSE)

No installation required — connect directly to the hosted SSE server using your ai4scholar.net API key.

Cursor

Go to Settings → MCP and add a new server. Or edit .cursor/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Mac) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Run in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http ai4scholar https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"

Note: Claude Code currently has a known issue where custom Authorization headers are ignored for remote MCP servers. Until this is fixed, please use Claude Desktop or other clients instead.

Cherry Studio

1. Go to Settings → MCP Servers → Add Server
2. Select type: SSE
3. URL: https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse
4. Headers: Authorization=Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>
5. Save and enable the server

Chatbox

Edit the config file (~/.config/chatbox/config.json on Linux/Mac, %APPDATA%\chatbox\config.json on Windows), and add to mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Dify

1. Go to Tools → MCP → Add MCP Server (HTTP)
2. Fill in:
   • Server URL: https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse
   • Name: ai4scholar
   • Headers: Authorization: Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>
3. Save. The tools will be available in your Workflows and Agents.

Gemini CLI

Method 1 — Run in your terminal:

gemini mcp add --transport sse ai4scholar https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"

Method 2 — Edit ~/.gemini/settings.json (or project-level .gemini/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Kimi Code

Method 1 — Run in your terminal:

kimi mcp add --transport http ai4scholar https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"

Method 2 — Edit ~/.kimi/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify the connection with kimi mcp test ai4scholar.

OpenCode

Edit your project opencode.json (or global config ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json), add to the mcp object:

{
  "mcp": {
    "ai4scholar": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.ai4scholar.net/sse",
      "enabled": true,
      "oauth": false,
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-ai4scholar-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: "oauth": false disables automatic OAuth detection so it uses the Bearer token from headers directly.

Verify with opencode mcp debug ai4scholar.

Replace <your-ai4scholar-api-key> with your own API key from ai4scholar.net.

For Development

git clone https://github.com/literaf/ai4s-mcp.git
cd ai4s-mcp
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv add -e .

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Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Add new platforms in academic_platforms/, update tests in tests/
4. Submit a Pull Request

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.