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Claude Research Gateway

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Claude Research Gateway 🔬

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables Claude to access paywalled scientific papers through your institutional login (Shibboleth/SAML SSO, EZProxy).

How it works: When you ask Claude to find or read a paper, this tool authenticates to journal portals using your university credentials (via a browser popup), then fetches the full text of papers you have institutional access to.

Supported Portals

Portal

Key

Publisher

ACS Publications

acs

American Chemical Society

SciFinder-n

scifinder

CAS

ScienceDirect

elsevier

Elsevier

Springer / Nature

springer

Springer Nature

Wiley Online Library

wiley

Wiley

IEEE Xplore

ieee

IEEE

JSTOR

jstor

JSTOR

PubMed Central

pmc

NIH / NLM

Related MCP server: Paper Search MCP

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.10+

  • uv (Python package manager): pip install uv

  • A valid institutional login (university SSO credentials)

Quick Setup

1. Install Dependencies

cd claude-tool-research
uv sync

2. Install Playwright Browsers

uv run playwright install chromium

3. Add to Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

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

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

Add this MCP server entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "research-gateway": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "C:\\Users\\abdir\\Documents\\projects-code\\claude-tool-research",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

4. Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop. You should see the research tools appear in the tools menu (🔨 icon).

Usage Examples

First-Time Setup

You: "Configure my institution — I'm at MIT"
Claude: [Calls configure_institution with name="MIT", wayf_name="Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]

You: "Log me into ACS Publications"  
Claude: [Calls authenticate_portal("acs")]
→ A browser window opens → You complete your university SSO login → Session is saved

Searching Papers

You: "Search ACS for papers about lithium-ion battery cathodes published recently"
Claude: [Calls search_papers("acs", "lithium-ion battery cathode materials")]
→ Returns formatted search results with titles, authors, DOIs

Reading a Paper

You: "Fetch the full text of DOI 10.1021/jacs.3c12345"
Claude: [Calls fetch_paper("acs", doi="10.1021/jacs.3c12345")]
→ Downloads and extracts the full paper text for Claude to read and discuss

Checking Session

You: "Is my ACS session still active?"
Claude: [Calls check_session("acs")]
→ Reports session status and age

Available Tools

Tool

Description

list_portals

Shows all portals and your login status for each

authenticate_portal

Opens browser for institutional SSO login

check_session

Verifies if a session is still valid

search_papers

Searches for papers by keywords, title, etc.

fetch_paper

Downloads and extracts full paper text (via DOI or URL)

configure_institution

Sets up your institution name, EZProxy URL, WAYF name

How Authentication Works

┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│   Claude     │───▶│  MCP Server  │───▶│  Playwright    │───▶│  Publisher   │
│  (asks for   │    │  (manages    │    │  Browser       │    │  Login Page  │
│   a paper)   │    │   sessions)  │    │  (visible)     │    │  (SSO/SAML)  │
└─────────────┘    └──────────────┘    └────────────────┘    └──────────────┘
                                              │                       │
                                              │    ┌──────────────┐   │
                                              └───▶│  Your Univ.  │◀──┘
                                                   │  IdP (SSO)   │
                                                   └──────────────┘
                                                          │
                                                   You enter your
                                                   credentials here

  1. Claude calls authenticate_portal → a real browser window opens

  2. The browser navigates to the publisher's institutional login

  3. You're redirected to your university's SSO page (Shibboleth/SAML)

  4. You enter your credentials in the browser

  5. After successful login, the tool captures the session cookies

  6. Cookies are encrypted and stored locally in ~/.claude-research/sessions/

  7. Subsequent requests use these cookies — no browser needed until they expire

Security Notes

  • No credentials stored: Only session cookies are saved, never your password

  • Encrypted storage: Cookies are encrypted with a machine-local key (Fernet)

  • Session expiry: Sessions follow your institution's expiry policy (typically 8–24h)

  • Local only: All data stays on your machine in ~/.claude-research/

Configuration

Optional: create ~/.claude-research/config.json:

{
  "institution": {
    "name": "MIT",
    "ezproxy_url": "https://ezproxy.library.mit.edu/login",
    "wayf_institution_name": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology"
  },
  "rate_limit_seconds": 1.0,
  "max_content_length": 100000,
  "browser_timeout_seconds": 300
}

Troubleshooting

Issue

Solution

Browser doesn't open

Run uv run playwright install chromium

Login times out

Increase browser_timeout_seconds in config

Session expired quickly

Your institution may have short session limits; re-authenticate

Paper text is empty

Some publishers serve content via JavaScript — try the PDF version

"Access denied" error

Re-authenticate with authenticate_portal

License

MIT

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Maintenance

ActivityInactive
ResponsivenessNo issues

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