Paper Find MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for searching and downloading academic papers from multiple platforms. Designed for LLM tools like Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.

PyPI version License Python

中文文档

Supported Platforms

Core Platforms

Platform	Search	Download	Read	Description
arXiv	✅	✅	✅	Preprints: Physics, Math, CS, Stats, Biology, Finance
Semantic Scholar	✅	✅	✅	General academic search, 200M+ papers, AI-powered
PubMed	✅	❌	❌	Biomedical literature
bioRxiv	✅	✅	✅	Biology preprints
medRxiv	✅	✅	✅	Medical preprints
CrossRef	✅	❌	❌	DOI metadata, 150M+ records
IACR	✅	✅	✅	Cryptography papers
Google Scholar	✅	❌	❌	All-discipline search (web scraping)
RePEc/IDEAS	✅	❌	❌	Economics paper library, 4.5M+ items
Sci-Hub	❌	✅	✅	Download paywalled papers (pre-2023)

RePEc/IDEAS Features

RePEc is the largest open economics bibliography, with rich search options:

Search Fields: Full text / Abstract / Keywords / Title / Author

Sort Options: Relevance / Newest / Oldest / Citations / Recent & Relevant

Document Types: Journal Articles / Working Papers / Book Chapters / Books

Institution/Journal Filters:

Category	Options
Research Institutions	`nber`, `imf`, `worldbank`, `ecb`, `bis`, `cepr`, `iza`
Federal Reserve	`fed`, `fed_ny`, `fed_chicago`, `fed_stlouis`, `fed_sf`
Top 5 Journals	`aer`, `jpe`, `qje`, `econometrica`, `restud`
Other Journals	`jfe`, `jme`, `aej_macro`, `aej_micro`, `aej_applied`

Quick Start

Installation

Install from PyPI (recommended):

# Using uv (recommended)
uv pip install paper-find-mcp

# Or using pip
pip install paper-find-mcp

Install from source:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/h-lu/paper-find-mcp.git
cd paper-find-mcp

# Install with uv
uv pip install -e .

# Or use pip
pip install -e .

Configure Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

Using uvx (recommended, no pre-installation required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paper_find_server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["paper-find-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "",
        "CROSSREF_MAILTO": "your_email@example.com",
        "NCBI_API_KEY": "",
        "PAPER_DOWNLOAD_PATH": "~/paper_downloads"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using pip installed package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paper_find_server": {
      "command": "paper-find-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "",
        "CROSSREF_MAILTO": "your_email@example.com",
        "NCBI_API_KEY": "",
        "PAPER_DOWNLOAD_PATH": "~/paper_downloads"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage Guide

Choose Tools by Discipline

General academic search    → search_semantic or search_crossref
CS/Physics preprints       → search_arxiv
Biomedical                 → search_pubmed + download_scihub(doi)
Economics                  → search_repec (supports NBER, IMF, Fed, AER, etc.)
Cryptography               → search_iacr
Download paywalled papers  → download_scihub(doi) [pre-2023]

Typical Workflow

# 1. Search for papers
papers = search_semantic("climate change agriculture", max_results=5)

# 2. Get DOI
doi = papers[0]["doi"]

# 3. Download via Sci-Hub (older papers)
pdf_path = download_scihub(doi)

# 4. Read full text
text = read_scihub_paper(doi)

RePEc Economics Search Examples

# Search NBER working papers
search_repec("inflation expectations", series='nber')

# Search AER journal articles, sorted by newest
search_repec("causal inference", series='aer', sort_by='newest')

# Search Fed papers, with year filter
search_repec("monetary policy", series='fed', year_from=2020)

# Search by author
search_repec("Acemoglu", search_field='author')

# Get paper details (with full abstract)
get_repec_paper("https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/32000.html")

Complete Tool List

Search Tools

Tool	Description
`search_arxiv`	Search arXiv preprints
`search_semantic`	Semantic Scholar general search
`search_crossref`	CrossRef DOI metadata search
`search_pubmed`	PubMed biomedical search
`search_biorxiv`	bioRxiv biology preprints
`search_medrxiv`	medRxiv medical preprints
`search_iacr`	IACR cryptography papers
`search_google_scholar`	Google Scholar search
`search_repec`	RePEc/IDEAS economics search

Download Tools

Tool	Description
`download_arxiv`	Download arXiv PDF (free)
`download_semantic`	Download open access papers
`download_biorxiv`	Download bioRxiv PDF
`download_medrxiv`	Download medRxiv PDF
`download_iacr`	Download IACR PDF
`download_scihub`	Download via Sci-Hub

Read Tools (PDF → Markdown)

Tool	Description
`read_arxiv_paper`	Read arXiv paper
`read_semantic_paper`	Read Semantic Scholar paper
`read_biorxiv_paper`	Read bioRxiv paper
`read_medrxiv_paper`	Read medRxiv paper
`read_iacr_paper`	Read IACR paper
`read_scihub_paper`	Read Sci-Hub downloaded paper

Helper Tools

Tool	Description
`get_repec_paper`	Get RePEc paper details (full abstract)
`get_crossref_paper_by_doi`	Get paper metadata by DOI

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose	Recommended
`SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY`	Increase Semantic Scholar rate limit	✅
`CROSSREF_MAILTO`	CrossRef polite pool access	✅
`NCBI_API_KEY`	Increase PubMed rate limit	Optional
`SCIHUB_MIRROR`	Custom Sci-Hub mirror	Optional
`PAPER_DOWNLOAD_PATH`	PDF download directory (default: `~/paper_downloads`)	Optional

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/h-lu/paper-find-mcp.git
cd paper-find-mcp

# Create virtual environment
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate

# Install dev dependencies
uv pip install -e .

# Run tests
uv run pytest tests/ -v

License

MIT License

🎓 Happy researching!

Paper Search MCP Server