ARTL-MCP: All Roads to Literature

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server and CLI toolkit for comprehensive scientific literature retrieval and analysis using PMIDs, DOIs, PMCIDs, and keyword searches.

Quick Start

MCP Server (Recommended)

Add this to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "artl-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["artl-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Standalone CLI

# Install and use CLI commands
uvx artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
uvx artl-cli search-papers-by-keyword --query "CRISPR gene editing" --max-results 5

Core Features

🔍 Literature Search & Discovery

• Keyword-based paper search with advanced filtering
• Recent publication discovery
• PubMed search with multiple output formats

📄 Metadata & Content Retrieval

• DOI/PMID/PMCID metadata extraction
• Abstract retrieval from PubMed
• Full-text access via multiple sources (PMC, Unpaywall, BioC)
• PDF text extraction and processing

🔗 Identifier Management

• Universal identifier conversion (DOI ↔ PMID ↔ PMCID)
• Support for multiple input formats (URLs, CURIEs, raw IDs)
• Comprehensive identifier validation

📊 Citation Networks

• Reference analysis (papers cited BY a given paper)
• Citation analysis (papers that CITE a given paper)
• Multi-source citation data (CrossRef, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar)
• Related paper discovery through citation networks

💾 File Management

• MCP Mode: Returns data directly without file saving (optimal for AI assistants)
• CLI Mode: Full file saving with path reporting and content management
• Content size management - large content automatically handled appropriately
• Memory-efficient streaming for large files (PDFs, datasets)
• Cross-platform filename sanitization
• Multiple output formats (JSON, TXT, CSV, PDF) in CLI mode
• Configurable directories and temp file management in CLI mode

Available MCP Tools

When running as an MCP server, you get access to 32 tools organized into categories:

🔄 MCP vs CLI Mode Differences

MCP Mode (AI assistants): Returns data directly without file saving:

{
  "data": { /* tool-specific content */ },
  "mcp_mode": true,
  "note": "Data returned directly - use CLI for file saving"
}

CLI Mode (command line): Full file saving with path reporting:

{
  "data": { /* tool-specific content */ },
  "saved_to": "/path/to/saved/file.json"
}

Literature Search

• search_papers_by_keyword - Advanced keyword search with filtering
• search_recent_papers - Find recent publications
• search_pubmed_for_pmids - PubMed search returning PMIDs

Metadata & Abstracts

• get_doi_metadata - Comprehensive DOI metadata
• get_abstract_from_pubmed_id - PubMed abstracts
• get_doi_fetcher_metadata - Enhanced metadata (requires email)
• get_unpaywall_info - Open access availability

Full Text Access

• get_full_text_from_doi - Multi-source full text (requires email)
• extract_pdf_text - PDF text extraction
• get_pmcid_text - PMC full text
• get_full_text_from_bioc - BioC format text

Identifier Conversion

• get_all_identifiers - Get all IDs for any identifier
• doi_to_pmid, pmid_to_doi - Individual conversions
• validate_identifier - Format validation

Citation Networks

• get_paper_references - Papers cited by a given paper
• get_paper_citations - Papers citing a given paper
• get_citation_network - Comprehensive citation data
• find_related_papers - Citation-based recommendations

CLI Commands

The artl-cli command provides access to all functionality:

# Metadata retrieval
artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
artl-cli get-abstract-from-pubmed-id --pmid "23851394"

# Literature search
artl-cli search-papers-by-keyword --query "machine learning" --max-results 10
artl-cli search-recent-papers --query "COVID-19" --years-back 2

# Full text (requires email for some sources)
artl-cli get-full-text-from-doi --doi "10.1038/nature12373" --email "user@institution.edu"

# Identifier conversion
artl-cli doi-to-pmid --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
artl-cli get-all-identifiers --identifier "PMC3737249"

# Citation analysis  
artl-cli get-paper-citations --doi "10.1038/nature12373"

Configuration

Email Requirements

Several APIs require institutional email addresses:

export ARTL_EMAIL_ADDR="researcher@university.edu"
# or create local/.env file with: ARTL_EMAIL_ADDR=researcher@university.edu

MCP Client Configuration: Different MCP clients support configuration injection. ARTL-MCP's enhanced configuration system provides multiple methods for email setup:

• Claude Desktop: Inherits system environment variables automatically
• Goose Desktop: Requires MCP extension configuration (see USERS.md)
• Other clients: May support client-specific configuration injection

See USERS.md for comprehensive configuration instructions.

File Output (CLI Mode Only)

Configure where files are saved when using CLI commands:

export ARTL_OUTPUT_DIR="~/Papers"           # Default: ~/Documents/artl-mcp
export ARTL_TEMP_DIR="/tmp/my-artl-temp"    # Default: system temp + artl-mcp
export ARTL_KEEP_TEMP_FILES=true            # Default: false

Note: MCP mode returns data directly without file saving.

Supported Identifier Formats

DOI: 10.1038/nature12373, doi:10.1038/nature12373, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12373

PMID: 23851394, PMID:23851394, pmid:23851394

PMCID: PMC3737249, 3737249, PMC:3737249

All tools automatically detect and normalize identifier formats.

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/contextualizer-ai/artl-mcp.git
cd artl-mcp
uv sync --group dev

# Run tests
make test                    # Fast development tests
make test-coverage          # Full test suite with coverage

# Code quality
make lint                   # Ruff linting
make format                 # Black formatting
make mypy                   # Type checking

Documentation

• USERS.md - Comprehensive user guide with examples
• DEVELOPERS.md - Development setup and architecture