Enables downloading scholarly papers via Elsevier's Article Retrieval API, including probing availability, fetching PDFs to a temporary staging area, and verifying the resulting artifacts.
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-download-mcp probe DOI 10.3390/su15108123 with hint mdpi"
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.
General-purpose paper downloader MCP: probes providers by DOI/UT identifier, downloads to a short-lived staging area, verifies the PDF, and cleans up. It does not connect to PostgreSQL, does not accept project/output_dir/year/publisher/filename, and does not manage final storage—those are the responsibility of the calling project (e.g., the HC integration side).
MCP (通用获取器) 调用项目集成侧
health 任务规划与项目筛选
list_providers 最终存储与资产登记
probe(identifier, hint?) 批量编排与限速
fetch(identifier, hint?) → artifact 下载审计
verify_artifact(id) 项目级状态管理
discard_artifact(id)Related MCP server: literature-agent-mcp
Tool | Description |
| Version/staging directory/provider availability (does not echo keys) |
| Lists providers and their status |
| Probes whether a provider can fetch a given identifier |
| Downloads to staging, returns artifact_id (does not accept project/output_dir, etc.) |
| Verifies the staged PDF (existence/page count/hash/size) |
| Cleans up the staged artifact |
fetch returns: artifact_id / temp_path / source / byte count / SHA-256 / page count / status / failure classification.
Provider | Status | Description |
| ✅ | For testing, synthesizes PDFs, no network |
| ✅ controlled enablement | Article Retrieval API; requires authorization, campus IP, and a 0600 key file |
| ✅ | cloakbrowser extracts the PDF link and captures the browser download |
| ✅ | cloakbrowser obtains cookies, requests downloads; limited subscription scope |
| ✅ | Redirected article URL goes from |
| ✅ | DOI journal prefix maps to the PLOS PDF address |
| ✅ | Article page and DOI suffix construct the PDF address |
| ✅ | Springer-like page structure and cookie download |
The Elsevier key only enters through the mode 0600 file pointed to by PAPER_DOWNLOAD_ELSEVIER_API_KEY_FILE, never into tool arguments, logs, or messages.
These providers' page rules come from practical records in existing English-literature paper download work; specific limitations and evidence are in docs/provider-acceptance.md. "Implemented" in code does not mean every paper is downloadable in the current network environment; subscriptions, page changes, rate limiting, and article takedowns still cause explainable failures.
This project does not integrate scansci-pdf. It is an independent third-party MCP and is not part of this project's provider chain.
cd paper-download-mcp
python -m pip install -e ".[dev,browser]"
# 测试（无网络无 DB 无 secret）
python -m pytest tests -v
# 启动 MCP (stdio)
paper-download-mcp # 或 python -m paper_download_mcpBrowser providers require cloakbrowser; Elsevier's page-count verification requires the system to provide pdfinfo (usually from poppler-utils).
The project side is responsible for candidate SQL, canonical storage policy, orchestration loop, asset table, and download audit. This MCP only delivers staged artifacts and their verification metadata.
Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.
If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.
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