NASA ADS MCP Server
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADS_API_TOKEN | Yes | Your NASA ADS API token (get yours at https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/user/settings/token) |
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
Server capabilities have not been inspected yet.
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| search_papersA | Search NASA ADS for astronomy/astrophysics papers. Returns bibcodes, titles, authors, years, and citation counts. Use natural language queries or specific field searches. Examples: 'stellar populations', 'author:Coelho', 'year:2020-2024' |
| get_paper_detailsC | Get detailed information about a specific paper using its bibcode. Returns full metadata including abstract, authors, citations, keywords, and more. |
| get_author_papersC | Find all papers by a specific author. Returns list of papers with citations and publication details. |
| export_bibtexB | Export BibTeX citations for one or more papers. Useful for adding references to LaTeX/Quarto documents. |
| get_paper_metricsB | Get detailed metrics for specific papers including citation count, reference count, reads, and citation history. Useful for tracking paper impact over time. |
| get_author_metricsB | Get comprehensive metrics for an author including h-index, total citations, paper count, and citation statistics. Useful for CV preparation and tracking research impact. |
| list_librariesB | List all your personal paper libraries/collections in ADS. Shows library names, descriptions, and paper counts. |
| get_library_papersC | Get all papers from a specific library. Returns paper details for papers in the specified collection. |
| create_libraryB | Create a new paper library/collection. Useful for organizing papers by topic, project, or reading status. |
| add_to_libraryC | Add papers to an existing library. Provide library ID and list of bibcodes to add. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No prompts | |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No resources | |
TDQS
Scored across 10 tools
Every tool has a clearly distinct purpose with no ambiguity. For example, get_author_papers retrieves papers by author, while get_library_papers fetches papers from a user's library, and get_paper_details provides metadata for a specific paper. The descriptions clearly differentiate each tool's function, preventing misselection.
All tool names follow a consistent verb_noun pattern, such as add_to_library, create_library, export_bibtex, and get_author_metrics. This uniformity makes the tool set predictable and easy to navigate, with no deviations in naming conventions.
With 10 tools, the server is well-scoped for managing NASA ADS papers and libraries. Each tool serves a specific, necessary function, such as searching, retrieving details, managing libraries, and exporting data, without being overly sparse or bloated.
The tool set provides complete coverage for the domain of interacting with NASA ADS, including CRUD operations for libraries (create, list, add, get), paper retrieval (search, get details, get by author), and utilities (export, metrics). There are no obvious gaps that would hinder agent workflows.