essencescholar-mcp 0.7.0

MCP server exposing EssenceScholar deep research and paper workflows as agent tools

EssenceScholar MCP Server

MCP server exposing the EssenceScholar deep research pipeline and paper workflows as agent tools.

Tools

Research pipeline

• deep_research — full literature review pipeline (2–8 min, searches EconPapers/arXiv/SSRN, enriches top papers, generates a structured draft)
• deep_research_chat — follow-up on an existing session (ask questions, expand, dig deeper)
• list_deep_researches — list all past research sessions
• get_deep_research — retrieve any past draft by ID

Search & library

• search_econpapers — raw EconPapers search, returns JSON paper objects
• search_ssrn — raw SSRN search, returns JSON paper objects
• download_paper — download a found paper (EconPapers/SSRN/arXiv/DOI URL) into your library and get its paper_id
• upload_paper — upload a local PDF into your library and get its paper_id
• register_paper_text — register a local PDF by extracting its text client-side (no server OCR); paper_id derived from the sha256 of the PDF bytes, so re-registering is a no-op
• list_user_papers — list papers in your library (resolve paper_ids; optional title filter)
• search_paper_content — server-grade RAG retrieval over one of your papers (the same hybrid BM25+semantic ranking a workflow step uses); returns ranked chunks + joined text
• get_paper_context — the server-held {{variable}} dict a workflow run would substitute (research_interests, missing/top/trending lit, author profiles, …) plus the paper's section inventory

Workflows

• list_paper_workflows — list available Agent Studio workflows (custom wf_* and system wf_sys_* pipelines)
• run_paper_workflow — run a workflow (by ID) on a paper in your library (server-executed)
• run_workflow_on_pdf — upload a local PDF and run a workflow on it in one call
• get_workflow_definition — fetch a workflow's raw declarative DAG (steps/prompts/deps) as JSON
• compile_workflow_skill — convert a workflow into a portable skill (target=claude|codex|gemini) your own agent runs, instead of executing it server-side
• create_workflow — author a workflow FROM your agent: design the step DAG in conversation, push it to Agent Studio (returns validation warnings before any run)
• update_workflow — refine an existing workflow in place (steps/prompts/synthesis)

Typical flow: search_econpapers / search_ssrn → download_paper → run_paper_workflow. Or, to reuse a workflow as an agent skill: list_paper_workflows → compile_workflow_skill → save the returned SKILL.md. Compiled skills run client-side (Mode B): register_paper_text (local PDF) or list_user_papers → get_paper_context for the {{variables}} → search_paper_content per step for evidence.

Setup

Add to your Claude config (~/.claude/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essencescholar": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["essencescholar-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ESSENCESCHOLAR_API_KEY": "sk_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Get your API key from essencescholar.com.