mendeley-mcp
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| MENDELEY_CLIENT_ID | Yes | Your Mendeley API Client ID (obtained from dev.mendeley.com/myapps.html) | |
| MENDELEY_ACCESS_TOKEN | No | Your Mendeley access token (expires quickly - refresh token recommended) | |
| MENDELEY_CLIENT_SECRET | Yes | Your Mendeley API Client Secret (obtained from dev.mendeley.com/myapps.html) | |
| MENDELEY_REFRESH_TOKEN | No | Your Mendeley refresh token (recommended - obtained via mendeley-auth login) |
Instructions
Guidance the server publishes about itself, which clients place ahead of the tool catalog so the model reads it before choosing anything.
This server publishes no instructions, or was last inspected before Glama recorded them.
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| prompts | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| resources | {
"subscribe": false,
"listChanged": false
} |
| experimental | {} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| mendeley_search_libraryA | Search the authenticated Mendeley library by title, authors, abstract, or notes and return concise document metadata, citation text, and PDF availability. |
| mendeley_get_documentA | Fetch full metadata for one library document, including identifiers, abstract, keywords, tags, timestamps, and whether a file is attached. |
| mendeley_list_documentsA | List documents from the library, optionally filtered by folder and ordered by last modification, creation date, or title. |
| mendeley_list_foldersA | Return the folder and collection structure of the authenticated Mendeley library, including parent-child relationships. |
| mendeley_create_folderB | Create a new folder in the personal library, nested under a parent folder, or in a group context. |
| mendeley_rename_folderA | Rename an existing folder and return its updated state. |
| mendeley_delete_folderB | Delete an existing folder and return a deletion confirmation. |
| mendeley_add_document_to_folderA | Add an existing library document to an existing folder. |
| mendeley_search_catalogA | Search Mendeley's global catalog for papers that may not yet exist in the user's library and return catalog identifiers plus summary metadata. |
| mendeley_get_by_doiA | Resolve a DOI against the Mendeley catalog and return the best matching paper metadata, including catalog_id for downstream actions. |
| mendeley_add_documentA | Create a new library entry from supplied bibliographic metadata such as title, authors, year, source, abstract, and identifiers. |
| mendeley_remove_document_from_folderA | Remove a document from a folder without deleting the document from the library. |
| mendeley_update_documentA | Update fields on an existing library document, such as title, authors, year, source, abstract, identifiers, tags, or keywords. Only supplied fields change; a supplied list of tags or keywords replaces the existing list. |
| mendeley_delete_documentA | Permanently delete a document from the library. This is destructive and cannot be undone through the API — confirm with the user before calling this tool. |
| mendeley_get_annotationsA | Get the user's own annotations on a library document — PDF highlights and sticky notes — including note text and the pages they appear on. Useful for surfacing what the user marked as important in a paper. |
| mendeley_export_bibtexA | Export one document or all documents in a folder as BibTeX, generated by Mendeley. Provide exactly one of document_id or folder_id. Returns raw BibTeX text ready to paste into a .bib file. |
| mendeley_get_file_contentA | Try to download the first file attached to a library document or catalog entry. Returns structured metadata and an embedded PDF resource when Mendeley exposes one. |
| mendeley_get_document_textA | Extract and return the full text of the PDF attached to a library document so the model can read the paper's contents directly. Use this when asked to read, summarize, or answer questions about a paper. Works on text-based (born-digital) PDFs; scanned or image-only PDFs have no text layer and return an empty result. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No prompts | |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| get_recent_documents | Get the 10 most recently modified documents in the library. |
| get_all_folders | Get all folders in the library. |
TDQS
Scored across 18 tools
Each tool targets a distinct resource and action: document metadata, full text, file download, folder management, catalog lookup, and BibTeX export are all clearly separated. Even the similar get_* and search_* tools are disambiguated by their object and described use case.
All tools share the mendeley_ prefix and use snake_case verb-oriented names like list_documents, create_folder, and update_document. The only minor deviation is get_by_doi, which slightly breaks the verb_noun pattern, but the overall convention remains predictable.
Eighteen tools is slightly above the typical 3-15 sweet spot, but the count is justified by the breadth of the Mendeley domain: documents, folders, catalog search, annotations, export, and document content retrieval. There is little redundancy, so the set does not feel bloated.
The core library and folder lifecycles are covered well: create/get/list/update/delete documents and folders, plus add/remove documents to/from folders. Minor gaps remain, such as read-only annotation support and no way to create or modify annotations, but the main research workflows are fully usable.