scipdf-mcp
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCIPDF_DEBUG | No | Set to '1' to enable debug logging. | |
| SCIPDF_MIRRORS | No | Comma-separated list of HTML mirrors (overrides built-in list). | |
| SCIPDF_PDF_HOSTS | No | Comma-separated list of direct PDF hosts. | sci.bban.top/pdf/ |
| SCIPDF_PREFER_OA | No | Set to 'true' to prefer Open Access over Sci-Hub. | false |
| SCIPDF_ALLOW_SCIHUB | No | Set to 'false' to disable Sci-Hub downloads. | true |
| SCIPDF_DOWNLOAD_DIR | No | Directory to save downloaded papers. | ~/Documents/Papers |
| SCIPDF_HEALTH_TTL_MS | No | Mirror health cache TTL in milliseconds (default 15 minutes). | 900000 |
| SCIPDF_FILENAME_STYLE | No | File naming style: 'doi' or 'author_year_title'. | doi |
| SCIPDF_UNPAYWALL_EMAIL | No | Optional email for Unpaywall API (required only if using OA). |
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": true
} |
| prompts | {
"listChanged": true
} |
| resources | {
"listChanged": true
} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| download_paperC | Download an academic paper PDF by DOI, title, URL, or citation. Default: Sci-Hub/pdfHosts. Optional Unpaywall OA only if SCIPDF_UNPAYWALL_EMAIL is set AND SCIPDF_PREFER_OA=true. Returns path, source (scihub|unpaywall|cache), citations. Use force=true to re-download. |
| download_papersA | Batch-download papers. Accepts list of DOIs/titles/URLs, or a single bib/ris/pasted bibliography blob. Dedupes DOIs, writes scipdf-manifest.json, returns indexed results. |
| resolve_doiA | Resolve title/URL/citation to DOI via Crossref + OpenAlex. Returns candidates when ambiguous (code AMBIGUOUS_DOI). |
| parse_referencesA | Extract DOIs/queries from BibTeX, RIS, or pasted reference list text. |
| list_mirrorsA | List configured Sci-Hub mirrors, PDF hosts, Unpaywall status, and settings (hot-reloads config). |
| lookup_unpaywallA | Query Unpaywall for Open Access status and PDF URL (does not download). Requires SCIPDF_UNPAYWALL_EMAIL. |
| check_mirrorsA | Probe Sci-Hub mirrors for availability (uses health cache; force_refresh ignores cache). Only configured public mirrors (or allowlisted public https hosts) are probed — private/localhost URLs are rejected. |
| list_papersC | List PDF files already in the download directory (most recent first). |
| open_paperA | Open a local PDF path with the system default viewer (macOS open / Windows start / xdg-open). |
| format_citationA | Format APA / GB/T 7714 / BibTeX from DOI (fetches Crossref metadata). |
| reload_configA | Hot-reload scipdf config from environment variables and config.json without restarting the process. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| download_papers_batch |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| papers-list | Recently downloaded PDFs in the configured download directory |
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