# MCP-DBLP
[](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [](https://www.python.org/)
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the DBLP computer science bibliography database for Large Language Models.
<a href="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/cm42scf3iv">
<img width="380" height="200" src="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/cm42scf3iv/badge" alt="MCP-DBLP MCP server" />
</a>
------
## Overview
The MCP-DBLP integrates the DBLP (Digital Bibliography & Library Project) API with LLMs through the Model Context Protocol, enabling AI models to:
- Search and retrieve academic publications from the DBLP database
- Process citations and generate BibTeX entries
- Perform fuzzy matching on publication titles and author names
- Extract and format bibliographic information
- Process embedded references in documents
- Direct BibTeX export that bypasses LLM processing for maximum accuracy
## Features
- Comprehensive search capabilities with boolean queries
- Fuzzy title and author name matching
- BibTeX entry retrieval directly from DBLP
- Publication filtering by year and venue
- Statistical analysis of publication data
- Direct BibTeX export capability that bypasses LLM processing for maximum accuracy
## Available Tools
| Tool Name | Description |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `get_instructions` | Get usage instructions and workflow guidance |
| `search` | Search DBLP for publications using boolean queries |
| `fuzzy_title_search` | Search publications with fuzzy title matching |
| `get_author_publications` | Retrieve publications for a specific author |
| `get_venue_info` | Get detailed information about a publication venue |
| `calculate_statistics` | Generate statistics from publication results |
| `add_bibtex_entry` | Add a BibTeX entry to collection by DBLP key |
| `export_bibtex` | Export all collected BibTeX entries to a .bib file |
## Feedback
Provide feedback to the author via this [form](https://form.jotform.com/szeider/mcp-dblp-feedback-form).
## System Requirements
- Python 3.11+
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/)
------
## Installation
### Claude Code
Simply run:
```bash
claude mcp add mcp-dblp -- uvx mcp-dblp
```
### Claude Desktop
Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:
- macOS/Linux: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
- Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-dblp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-dblp"]
}
}
}
```
### From Source (Development)
```bash
git clone https://github.com/szeider/mcp-dblp.git
cd mcp-dblp
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e .
```
Then configure Claude Desktop with:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-dblp": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", "/path/to/mcp-dblp/", "run", "mcp-dblp"]
}
}
}
```
------
## Instructions
Usage instructions are available via the `get_instructions` tool. Key workflow points are shown in the tool description; call the tool for complete details. See also [instructions_prompt.md](./instructions_prompt.md).
## Tool Details
### search
Search DBLP for publications using a boolean query string.
**Parameters:**
- `query` (string, required): A query string that may include boolean operators 'and' and 'or' (case-insensitive)
- `max_results` (number, optional): Maximum number of publications to return. Default is 10
- `year_from` (number, optional): Lower bound for publication year
- `year_to` (number, optional): Upper bound for publication year
- `venue_filter` (string, optional): Case-insensitive substring filter for publication venues (e.g., 'iclr')
- `include_bibtex` (boolean, optional): Whether to include BibTeX entries in the results. Default is false
### fuzzy_title_search
Search DBLP for publications with fuzzy title matching.
**Parameters:**
- `title` (string, required): Full or partial title of the publication (case-insensitive)
- `similarity_threshold` (number, required): A float between 0 and 1 where 1.0 means an exact match
- `max_results` (number, optional): Maximum number of publications to return. Default is 10
- `year_from` (number, optional): Lower bound for publication year
- `year_to` (number, optional): Upper bound for publication year
- `venue_filter` (string, optional): Case-insensitive substring filter for publication venues
- `include_bibtex` (boolean, optional): Whether to include BibTeX entries in the results. Default is false
### get_author_publications
Retrieve publication details for a specific author with fuzzy matching.
**Parameters:**
- `author_name` (string, required): Full or partial author name (case-insensitive)
- `similarity_threshold` (number, required): A float between 0 and 1 where 1.0 means an exact match
- `max_results` (number, optional): Maximum number of publications to return. Default is 20
- `include_bibtex` (boolean, optional): Whether to include BibTeX entries in the results. Default is false
### get_venue_info
Retrieve detailed information about a publication venue.
**Parameters:**
- `venue_name` (string, required): Venue name or abbreviation (e.g., 'ICLR' or full name)
### calculate_statistics
Calculate statistics from a list of publication results.
**Parameters:**
- `results` (array, required): An array of publication objects, each with at least 'title', 'authors', 'venue', and 'year'
### add_bibtex_entry
Add a BibTeX entry to the collection for later export.
**Parameters:**
- `dblp_key` (string, required): The DBLP key from search results (e.g., "conf/nips/VaswaniSPUJGKP17")
- `citation_key` (string, required): The citation key to use in the .bib file (e.g., "Vaswani2017")
**Behavior:**
- Fetches BibTeX entry directly from DBLP using the provided key
- Replaces the citation key with your custom key
- Adds to session collection (duplicate keys are overwritten)
- Returns immediate success/failure feedback with collection count
- Allows retry of individual failed entries
### export_bibtex
Export all collected BibTeX entries to a .bib file.
**Parameters:**
- `path` (string, required): Absolute path for the .bib file (e.g., "/path/to/refs.bib")
**Behavior:**
- Saves all entries added via `add_bibtex_entry` to the specified path
- The .bib extension is added automatically if missing
- Parent directories are created if needed
- Clears the collection after successful export
- Returns the full path to the saved file
- Returns error if collection is empty
**Important Note:** The BibTeX entries are fetched directly from DBLP with a 10-second timeout protection and are not processed, modified, or hallucinated by the LLM. This ensures maximum accuracy and trustworthiness of the bibliographic data. Only the citation keys are modified as specified. If a request times out, an error message is returned and the entry is not added to the collection.
------
## Example
### Input text:
> Our exploration focuses on two types of explanation problems, abductive and contrastive, in local and global contexts (Marques-Silva 2023). Abductive explanations (Ignatiev, Narodytska, and Marques-Silva 2019), corresponding to prime-implicant explanations (Shih, Choi, and Darwiche 2018) and sufficient reason explanations (Darwiche and Ji 2022), clarify specific decision-making instances, while contrastive explanations (Miller 2019; Ignatiev et al. 2020), corresponding to necessary reason explanations (Darwiche and Ji 2022), make explicit the reasons behind the non-selection of alternatives. Conversely, global explanations (Ribeiro, Singh, and Guestrin 2016; Ignatiev, Narodytska, and Marques-Silva 2019) aim to unravel models' decision patterns across various inputs.
### Output text:
> Our exploration focuses on two types of explanation problems, abductive and contrastive, in local and global contexts \cite{MarquesSilvaI23}. Abductive explanations \cite{IgnatievNM19}, corresponding to prime-implicant explanations \cite{ShihCD18} and sufficient reason explanations \cite{DarwicheJ22}, clarify specific decision-making instances, while contrastive explanations \cite{Miller19}; \cite{IgnatievNA020}, corresponding to necessary reason explanations \cite{DarwicheJ22}, make explicit the reasons behind the non-selection of alternatives. Conversely, global explanations \cite{Ribeiro0G16}; \cite{IgnatievNM19} aim to unravel models' decision patterns across various inputs.
### Output Bibtex
> All references have been successfully exported to a BibTeX file at: /absolute/path/to/bibtex/20250305_231431.bib
```
@article{MarquesSilvaI23,
author = {Jo{\~{a}}o Marques{-}Silva and
Alexey Ignatiev},
title = {No silver bullet: interpretable {ML} models must be explained},
journal = {Frontiers Artif. Intell.},
volume = {6},
year = {2023},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2023.1128212},
doi = {10.3389/FRAI.2023.1128212},
timestamp = {Tue, 07 May 2024 20:23:47 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/journals/frai/MarquesSilvaI23.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@inproceedings{IgnatievNM19,
author = {Alexey Ignatiev and
Nina Narodytska and
Jo{\~{a}}o Marques{-}Silva},
title = {Abduction-Based Explanations for Machine Learning Models},
booktitle = {The Thirty-Third {AAAI} Conference on Artificial Intelligence, {AAAI}
2019, The Thirty-First Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Conference, {IAAI} 2019, The Ninth {AAAI} Symposium on Educational
Advances in Artificial Intelligence, {EAAI} 2019, Honolulu, Hawaii,
USA, January 27 - February 1, 2019},
pages = {1511--1519},
publisher = {{AAAI} Press},
year = {2019},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v33i01.33011511},
doi = {10.1609/AAAI.V33I01.33011511},
timestamp = {Mon, 04 Sep 2023 12:29:24 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/aaai/IgnatievNM19.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@inproceedings{ShihCD18,
author = {Andy Shih and
Arthur Choi and
Adnan Darwiche},
editor = {J{\'{e}}r{\^{o}}me Lang},
title = {A Symbolic Approach to Explaining Bayesian Network Classifiers},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh International Joint Conference on
Artificial Intelligence, {IJCAI} 2018, July 13-19, 2018, Stockholm,
Sweden},
pages = {5103--5111},
publisher = {ijcai.org},
year = {2018},
url = {https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2018/708},
doi = {10.24963/IJCAI.2018/708},
timestamp = {Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:19:08 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/ijcai/ShihCD18.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@inproceedings{DarwicheJ22,
author = {Adnan Darwiche and
Chunxi Ji},
title = {On the Computation of Necessary and Sufficient Explanations},
booktitle = {Thirty-Sixth {AAAI} Conference on Artificial Intelligence, {AAAI}
2022, Thirty-Fourth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial
Intelligence, {IAAI} 2022, The Twelveth Symposium on Educational Advances
in Artificial Intelligence, {EAAI} 2022 Virtual Event, February 22
- March 1, 2022},
pages = {5582--5591},
publisher = {{AAAI} Press},
year = {2022},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v36i5.20498},
doi = {10.1609/AAAI.V36I5.20498},
timestamp = {Mon, 04 Sep 2023 16:50:24 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/aaai/DarwicheJ22.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@article{Miller19,
author = {Tim Miller},
title = {Explanation in artificial intelligence: Insights from the social sciences},
journal = {Artif. Intell.},
volume = {267},
pages = {1--38},
year = {2019},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artint.2018.07.007},
doi = {10.1016/J.ARTINT.2018.07.007},
timestamp = {Thu, 25 May 2023 12:52:41 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/journals/ai/Miller19.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@inproceedings{IgnatievNA020,
author = {Alexey Ignatiev and
Nina Narodytska and
Nicholas Asher and
Jo{\~{a}}o Marques{-}Silva},
editor = {Matteo Baldoni and
Stefania Bandini},
title = {From Contrastive to Abductive Explanations and Back Again},
booktitle = {AIxIA 2020 - Advances in Artificial Intelligence - XIXth International
Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence,
Virtual Event, November 25-27, 2020, Revised Selected Papers},
series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
volume = {12414},
pages = {335--355},
publisher = {Springer},
year = {2020},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77091-4\_21},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-77091-4\_21},
timestamp = {Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:23:54 +0200},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/aiia/IgnatievNA020.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
@inproceedings{Ribeiro0G16,
author = {Marco T{\'{u}}lio Ribeiro and
Sameer Singh and
Carlos Guestrin},
editor = {Balaji Krishnapuram and
Mohak Shah and
Alexander J. Smola and
Charu C. Aggarwal and
Dou Shen and
Rajeev Rastogi},
title = {"Why Should {I} Trust You?": Explaining the Predictions of Any Classifier},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 22nd {ACM} {SIGKDD} International Conference on
Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, San Francisco, CA, USA, August
13-17, 2016},
pages = {1135--1144},
publisher = {{ACM}},
year = {2016},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2939672.2939778},
doi = {10.1145/2939672.2939778},
timestamp = {Fri, 25 Dec 2020 01:14:16 +0100},
biburl = {https://dblp.org/rec/conf/kdd/Ribeiro0G16.bib},
bibsource = {dblp computer science bibliography, https://dblp.org}
}
```
------
## Disclaimer
This MCP-DBLP is in its prototype stage and should be used with caution. Users are encouraged to experiment, but any use in critical environments is at their own risk.
------
## License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
------