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arxivsub-mcp

arxivsub-mcp

by arxivsub

arxivsub-mcp

An MCP server for arXivSub — search arXiv and the top AI / CV / ML / robotics / NLP conferences, follow any paper to its related work, build research analytics, and manage a personal library, straight from your AI agent (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Claude Code, Windsurf, …).

arXivSub summarizes every paper into a structured 6-part breakdown (what it's about, innovations, techniques, datasets, results, limitations) and indexes it for semantic search across arXiv + CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, AAAI, MICCAI, CoRL, RSS, ACL, EMNLP, ICRA, IROS, IJCAI, SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia. This server puts that engine directly in your agent's hands.

Get a free key (7-day trial, no credit card)

  1. Sign in at https://arxivsub.comfyai.app/skills with email or Google.

  2. Copy your API key from the Skills page.

  3. Put it in the server config below as ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY.

New accounts get a 7-day free trial of the full skill. After that it's part of arXivSub Pro.

Related MCP server: arXiv MCP Server

Install

The server runs via npx — no manual install needed. Add it to your MCP client's config.

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json), Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json), Windsurf, Cline, etc.:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arxivsub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "arxivsub-mcp"],
      "env": { "ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add arxivsub --env ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY=your_key_here -- npx -y arxivsub-mcp

Codex CLI:

codex mcp add arxivsub --env ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY=your_key_here -- npx -y arxivsub-mcp

Or add it to ~/.codex/config.toml directly:

[mcp_servers.arxivsub]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "arxivsub-mcp"]
env = { ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY = "your_key_here" }

Restart your client and the tools below become available.

claude.ai (remote connector)

On claude.ai there's nothing to install, add a hosted connector:

  1. Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector

  2. Name: arxivsub

  3. Remote MCP server URL (replace YOUR_KEY with your key from https://arxivsub.comfyai.app/skills):

    https://qtevnmgyobilaanrzidq.supabase.co/functions/v1/mcp?key=YOUR_KEY
  4. Leave the OAuth fields empty and click Add.

This is a hosted Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint, a thin adapter over the arXivSub gateway exposing the same tools. Source: supabase/functions/mcp/index.ts.

Tools

Tool

What it does

search_papers

Semantic + keyword search over arXiv and conferences. Filters: venues, recency, year, has_code. Returns each paper's 6-part summary, authors, PDF, and code link.

find_similar_papers

Nearest-neighbour "related work" for a paper you already found. Chainable for a mini literature review.

research_insight

Pivot analytics (the website's Custom Chart engine): trends, rankings, breakdowns. Pro / trial.

library_save

Save/update a paper in your personal library — notes, reading status, collections.

library_list

List your saved papers and collections.

Just ask your agent naturally — "find recent papers on LLM safety with code", "more work like this one", "how has interest in diffusion models trended by month", "save this to my "to read" collection" — and it will pick the right tool.

Notes

  • Case-sensitive venues: arxiv, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, AAAI, MICCAI, CoRL, RSS, ACL, EMNLP, ICRA, IROS, IJCAI, SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia.

  • Quota: each search / similar / insight call uses one daily quota unit; library calls are free. The remaining quota is returned with every result.

  • Privacy / security: the server only holds your skill key and talks to the arXivSub gateway over HTTPS. It has no direct database access and no service credentials.

Development

npm install
npm run build           # tsc -> dist/
ARXIVSUB_SKILL_KEY=... node dist/index.js   # run over stdio

License

MIT

Available Tools

5 tools
find_similar_papersA

Given ONE paper you already have (from a prior search result), return the most similar papers from the same corpus — semantic nearest neighbours, each with the full summary and code link. Use for 'more like this', 'related work', 'what else is in this line of work', or to expand a literature review. You can chain it: search -> pick a seed -> find_similar_papers -> repeat on a strong neighbour.

Inputs: item_id (required), item_type (required), limit, language.

library_listA

List the user's personal arXivSub library — collections and saved items, optionally filtered. Use for 'what have I saved', 'show my library', 'which papers are in my collection', 'what am I reading'.

Inputs: limit, status, item_type, collection_name.

library_saveA

Save (or update) a paper in the user's personal arXivSub library. Use for 'save this', 'bookmark that paper', 'add it to my collection', 'note that ...', 'mark as read'. Idempotent: saving the same paper again updates only the fields you pass and never duplicates. Cannot delete — removals are done on the website.

Inputs: item_id (required), item_type (required), note, reading_status, +1 more.

research_insightA

Build aggregate pivot statistics over the arXivSub corpora — the same engine as the website's Custom Chart. Use for trends, rankings, breakdowns and comparisons: 'how has interest in diffusion models trended', 'top institutions in RL', 'papers per month by keyword', 'avg citations by affiliation'. Returns rows of {dim, breakdown, value} for you to interpret and visualize. Requires Pro or active trial days.

Inputs: dim (required), corpus, filters, measure, +2 more.

search_papersA

Search academic papers from arXiv and major AI/CV/ML/robotics/NLP conferences via arXivSub (semantic + keyword search over a structured, summarized corpus). Use for 'find papers on X', 'latest research about Y', 'recent conference work on Z', or to start a literature review. Returns each paper with a 6-part summary (what it's about, innovations, techniques, datasets, results, limitations), authors + affiliations, pdf_url, and github_url when code is available.

Inputs: query (required), limit, has_code, language, +3 more.

Tool Schema Changelog

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

Loading tool schema changelog…

    TDQS

    A4.2/5.0

    Scored across 5 tools

    Disambiguation5/5

    Each tool targets a distinct function: search_papers for query-based discovery, find_similar_papers for similarity expansion, research_insight for aggregate analytics, and library_save/library_list for personal library management. There is no ambiguity between them.

    Naming Consistency4/5

    Most tools follow a verb_noun pattern (search_papers, find_similar_papers), but library_save and library_list invert this to noun_verb, and research_insight is ambiguous. The underscore-separated lowercase style is consistent, but the word order is not uniform.

    Tool Count5/5

    At 5 tools, the set is well-scoped for the server's purpose: search, similar, analytics, and library operations. Each tool earns its place without redundancy or bloat.

    Completeness4/5

    The surface covers core workflows (search, similar, trends, save, list), but library_delete is explicitly absent, forcing removals to be handled externally. A direct get-by-ID tool is also missing, though search can compensate. Minor gaps that agents can work around.

    Maintenance

    ActivityNo data
    ResponsivenessOutdated data

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