styx-search

Search 450,000+ open-access papers, standards, textbooks, and legal documents — right from your terminal or your AI agent.

styx-search is a zero-configuration CLI and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Styx Open Knowledge Archive. Every source in the archive is open access or public domain — no paywalls, no accounts required to search.

• For humans — search, export BibTeX/APA/MLA/Chicago citations, and download PDFs to disk with one command.

• For AI agents — a stdio MCP server with four tools, so Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, or any MCP client can search papers and save PDFs into your workspace.

• 100% self-contained — talks only to the public HTTPS API. No API keys, no sign-up, no internal infrastructure.

Install

pip install styx-search

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/0x923041-dotcom/styx-cli.git
cd styx-cli
pip install .

Requires Python 3.8+.

Related MCP server: Crossref Academic MCP Server

Quick start

# Search — supports source:/lang:/category: directives
styx search "attention is all you need" --limit 5
styx search "source:nist zero trust" --category "Computer Science & Tech"
styx search "source:eurlex AI act" --json
styx search "meditations marcus aurelius" --markdown   # for Obsidian/Notion

# Download the original PDF
styx download 297465 -o paper.pdf          # by document ID
styx download "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.21816v1.pdf"   # by URL

# Citations
styx cite 7288 --format bibtex
styx cite 7288 --format apa

# Document metadata
styx info 2844

# License key (Pro) + quota
styx auth STYX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
styx quota

# AI agent server
styx mcp

Example

$ styx search "source:nist zero trust" --limit 3

Styx - 3 results for "source:nist zero trust"
    #   Year  Title                                 Author                 Source
    1   n.d.  NIST SP 1800-35: Implementing a Zero  Scott Rose (NIST); ..  NIST
              Trust Architecture: High...
    2   n.d.  NIST SP 800-207: Zero Trust           Scott Rose (NIST); ..  NIST
              Architecture
    3   n.d.  NIST SP 800-207A: A Zero Trust        Ramaswamy Chandramo..  NIST
              Architecture Model for Access ...

  Tip: styx download 2844 saves the PDF, styx cite 2844 exports a citation.

Search directives

The CLI understands the same directives as the Styx web app — they are stripped from the query and applied as real filters:

Directives can be combined freely: styx search "cat:\"Computer Science & Tech\" source:nist lattice cryptography".

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The styx mcp command starts a stdio JSON-RPC MCP server. It is dependency-free (no MCP SDK required) and works with any MCP client.

Tools

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "styx": {
      "command": "styx",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "styx": {
      "command": "styx",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

After adding, restart the client and you can ask, for example:

"Find the NIST post-quantum encryption standard and download the PDF into my workspace."

Manual smoke test

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}' | styx mcp

Fair use

Every source in Styx is open access or public domain, and searching is free. To keep the archive open for everyone, a trial allowance applies per client (and then a rate limit). When a limit is reached, the CLI returns a clear, non-blocking message:

Free trial allowance exhausted. Add a license key to continue at higher
limits: docs at https://styx-iota.vercel.app or `styx auth <key>`.

Add a license key once with styx auth <key> — it is stored in ~/.styx/config.json and sent with every request. No account or sign-up is required to search.

Development

pip install -e . pytest
pytest tests/            # 36 offline tests (mocked HTTP, no network)

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built on the Styx Open Knowledge Archive — 500+ living sources: arXiv, NIST, OWASP, CISA, PubMed/PMC, MIT OpenCourseWare, EUR-Lex, Project Gutenberg, and more.