jabref-mcp

A Model Context Protocol server that lets OpenCode (and other MCP clients) work with your JabRef 5.x bibliography:

• Search your library (title / author / year / keywords / DOI and other BibTeX fields)
• Read full records (BibTeX + abstract) and resolve attached PDF paths, so the assistant can read and summarize papers itself
• Add new entries through JabRef's command-line import, never by editing your .bib files

Why this shape (JabRef 5.x)

JabRef 5.x does not expose a supported HTTP read API for this project, so:

The MCP transport is stdio: the server is launched as a local process and does not listen on a network port. JabRef's remote-operation setting is a separate JabRef feature.

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10 and uv
• JabRef 5.x installed, with jabref on PATH (or JABREF_MCP_JABREF_BIN set)
• To add entries to an already-running JabRef instance, enable Enforce single JabRef instance (and allow remote operations) under Preferences → General. In older JabRef 5.x releases this option may be under Network.

Configuration (environment variables)

Run / install

From a checkout (development):

uv sync
uv run jabref-mcp

From PyPI (published releases):

uvx jabref-mcp

Before a release is published, uvx can build straight from the GitHub repo:

uvx --from git+https://github.com/ast0815/jabref-mcp jabref-mcp

Register with OpenCode

A project-level registration is already provided in opencode.jsonc (it runs uv run jabref-mcp, i.e. the code in this checkout). To use it, start OpenCode from this directory. Alternatively register globally:

opencode mcp add jabref -- uvx jabref-mcp

(Add --global to make it available in every project; then set JABREF_MCP_BIB_FILES to your real libraries.) Check the connection with opencode mcp list — it should report connected. Tools appear under tools.jabref.*.

Tools

• list_libraries — configured libraries and entry counts
• list_entries — overview of every entry
• search — keyword search with field / author / year / tag filters
• get_entry — full BibTeX + resolved attached files for a citation key
• get_pdf — absolute paths of the PDFs attached to an entry (feed to the assistant's PDF reader for summarizing)
• add_entry — import BibTeX via the official JabRef CLI (the only write path)

Notes

• The server reads the .bib files; it never writes to them. Additions go through JabRef, which handles duplicate detection and library updates. add_entry returns after dispatching the import; JabRef may still require you to accept it and save the library. After saving, verify with search using stable metadata such as title, DOI, or author because JabRef may replace the submitted citation key.
• Configured .bib files are cached, but checked for changes before every read. After JabRef saves a library, the next MCP read automatically reparses only the changed file; restarting the MCP is not required.
• This project targets JabRef 5.x. JabRef 6.x has a different CLI/API surface and is not claimed to be supported.