Provides tools to retrieve academic papers from arXiv, including preprint information and full text.
Provides tools to retrieve academic paper metadata, citations, and references from Semantic Scholar.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@paper-mcp Get metadata for 'Attention Is All You Need'"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
An MCP server built with FastMCP that lets Claude (or any LLM) retrieve academic papers by title.
Run it in one command with uvx — no manual install needed.
5 tools, all taking paper_title as the only argument:
Tool | Returns |
| Title, authors, abstract, DOI, arXiv ID, citation count, TL;DR, OA status, fields of study |
| Best open-access PDF URL |
| Full plain text (up to 50,000 chars) |
| Up to 100 papers that cite this one |
| Up to 100 papers this one cites |
Data sources (priority order): Semantic Scholar → arXiv → Unpaywall → Lightpanda browser via gomcp
Related MCP server: Claude Desktop Research MCP Server
# stdio mode — for Claude Desktop / most MCP clients
uvx paper-mcp
# SSE mode — for remote or multi-client setups
uvx paper-mcp --transport sse --port 8000
uvxdownloads, installs (in an isolated env), and runs the package — zero setup.
uv tool install paper-mcp
paper-mcp # now available globally
paper-mcp --transport ssegit clone https://github.com/imnotdev25/paper-search
cd paper-search
uv sync # install all deps from pyproject.toml
uv run paper-mcp # run directly
uv run paper-mcp --transport sseAdd to claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"papers": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["paper-mcp"]
}
}
}No Python paths, no venv activation — uvx handles everything.
For JS-rendered publisher pages, the server automatically starts a Lightpanda headless browser via gomcp.
One-time setup:
# Download gomcp binary from GitHub releases:
# https://github.com/lightpanda-io/gomcp/releases
# Then download the Lightpanda browser binary:
gomcp downloadIf gomcp is not installed, the server still works — browser-dependent
paths fall back to abstract/metadata gracefully.
Claude (LLM)
│ MCP (stdio or SSE)
▼
paper-mcp [FastMCP, Python]
│
├── Semantic Scholar API ── metadata, citations, references
├── arXiv API + HTML ── preprint info + full text
├── Unpaywall API ── open-access PDF by DOI
└── gomcp SSE ───────────── Lightpanda browser (JS fallback)
│ CDP
└── Lightpanda Browser (headless)# Build
uv build
# Publish (needs PyPI token)
uv publish --token $PYPI_TOKENOnce on PyPI, anyone can run it with uvx paper-mcp.
usage: paper-mcp [-h] [--transport {stdio,sse}] [--port PORT] [--host HOST]
options:
--transport stdio (default) or sse
--port SSE port (default: 8000)
--host SSE host (default: 127.0.0.1)Semantic Scholar free tier: ~100 req/5 min. For higher throughput, set
S2_API_KEY in the environment and add it to the httpx client headers in server.py.
Unpaywall requires a valid contact email — update UNPAYWALL_EMAIL in server.py.
Full text is only available for arXiv papers (HTML renderer) and JS-rendered pages reachable via gomcp. Paywalled PDFs require institutional access.
paper-mcp/
├── pyproject.toml ← packaging, entry point, deps
├── README.md
└── src/
└── paper_mcp/
├── __init__.py
└── server.py ← all 5 FastMCP tools + main()Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.
If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.
Find academic papers across major sources like arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, and more. Download PDFs whe…
Search and download academic papers from arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv, Google Scholar, Semantic…
Search arXiv/Semantic Scholar/OpenAlex + medical evidence (PubMed/Europe PMC) + LaTeX/PDF tools.
We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.
curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/imnotdev25/paper-search-mcp'
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