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paper-search

paper-search

by ChenchaoZhao
OverviewSchemaSourceRelated ServersDiscussionsAdmin
Python
Remote

citekick

CI PyPI version Python License

Agentic tools for academic paper search — a CLI and MCP server that query multiple literature sources in one shot.

Why citekick?

Finding papers usually means juggling separate APIs, rate limits, and response formats for every source. citekick unifies them behind a single interface:

  • Multi-source search — Query 8 sources in parallel: Semantic Scholar, arXiv, PubMed, Crossref, Europe PMC, OpenReview, DBLP, and OpenAlex.

  • CLI + MCP — Use it directly from your terminal (citekick) or expose it to AI agents as an MCP server (citekick-mcp).

  • Agent-friendly output — JSON or Markdown results, ready to be consumed by humans or LLMs.

  • Response caching — Built-in HTTP cache to stay polite with APIs and speed up repeated queries.

  • Configurable defaults — API keys, preferred sources, year ranges, and output format persisted in one TOML file.

Related MCP server: mcp-openalex

Installation

Install the citekick CLI and MCP server globally using uv:

# Install with uv (recommended)
uv tool install citekick

# Or with pip
pip install citekick

CLI Usage

1. citekick search

Search academic literature across multiple sources.

citekick search "attention is all you need"                    # Search all default sources
citekick search "diffusion models" --sources arxiv,openalex    # Restrict to specific sources
citekick search "protein folding" --year-from 2023 --format markdown
citekick search "llm agents" --max-results 20 --no-cache

Tip: the search subcommand is optional — citekick "query" works too.

2. citekick config

Configure API keys and default search settings in ~/.config/citekick/config.toml.

citekick config                                    # Create an empty config file
citekick config --mailto you@example.com           # Set contact email (polite-pool access)
citekick config --openalex-api-key KEY --sources arxiv,pubmed

Credentials and optional contact email are read from ~/.config/citekick/config.toml. The [api] values are all optional; missing or empty values leave the corresponding source keyless.

Agent Integration

To use citekick as an MCP server, add this to your agent's MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "citekick": {
      "command": "citekick-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or using uvx (without prior installation):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "citekick": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "citekick", "citekick-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Development

# Install hatch
uv tool install hatch

# Run full release check (linting, static typing with mypy, and test suite with coverage)
hatch run release

License

MIT

Available Tools

1 tool
search_papersA

Search academic literature across multiple sources, returning deduplicated and ranked results as JSON.

Args: query: Free-text search query, e.g. "Hamiltonian Monte Carlo protein design". sources: Comma-separated source names: semantic-scholar, arxiv, pubmed, crossref, europepmc, openreview, dblp, openalex. Defaults to all keyless free sources. max_results_per_source: Maximum number of results fetched per source. year_from: Only include papers published in or after this year. year_to: Only include papers published in or before this year.

Inputs: query (required), sources, year_to, year_from, +1 more. Returns: result

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    Deploy Server
    One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

    TDQS

    A4.2/5.0

    Scored across 1 tool

    Disambiguation5/5

    Only one tool exists, so there is no possibility of confusion or overlap with other tools. The tool's purpose is clearly defined as searching academic literature.

    Naming Consistency4/5

    With a single tool, naming consistency is trivially maintained. The name 'search_papers' follows a clear verb_noun pattern, which is a good convention.

    Tool Count2/5

    A single tool for a paper search server is extremely thin. While the tool is comprehensive in its search capabilities, the server lacks any other functionality such as fetching paper details, managing libraries, or retrieving citations, making the count feel insufficient for a full-featured server.

    Completeness2/5

    The server only provides search functionality, which is a core feature but leaves obvious gaps. For a paper search server, one would expect at least a tool to fetch details of a specific paper, and possibly tools for saving or managing papers. The current surface is incomplete for a comprehensive academic literature tool.

    Maintenance

    ActivityInactive
    ResponsivenessOutdated data

    Resources

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