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
} |
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. Blank or image-only selected pages return a no-text explanation; image-only text requires OCR. |
| mendeley_search_document_textA | Find literal, case-insensitive phrases in an attached PDF. Returns bounded passages with 1-based PDF page numbers and source metadata. No OCR. |
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 19 tools
Most tools are clearly distinct, but the PDF-content trio (get_document_text, search_document_text, get_file_content) and the search trio (search_library, search_catalog, get_by_doi) have adjacent purposes. The descriptions do clarify scope (full text vs. phrase search vs. file download; local library vs. global catalog vs. DOI resolution), leaving only mild confusion.
Every tool uses the mendeley_ prefix and a consistent snake_case verb_noun pattern (get_document, create_folder, add_document_to_folder, export_bibtex). There are no mixed conventions or casing inconsistencies.
19 tools is on the heavy side but justified by a genuinely broad domain: document CRUD, folder CRUD, membership management, search, PDF extraction, annotations, and BibTeX export. Each tool maps to a distinct capability rather than being redundant.
Document and folder lifecycles are well covered (create/read/update/delete plus folder membership add/remove), alongside search, content extraction, and export. Minor gaps exist: no folder move/reparent after creation, no annotation write operations, and no group-specific tools despite the create_folder description mentioning group contexts.