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
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| experimental | {} |
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_detailsA | Get detailed information about a specific paper using its bibcode. Returns full metadata including abstract, authors, citations, keywords, and more. |
| get_author_papersB | Find all papers by a specific author. Returns list of papers with citations and publication details. |
| export_bibtexA | Export BibTeX citations for one or more papers, exactly as ADS formats them (journal macros, volume, pages, DOI, eprint). Useful for adding references to LaTeX/Quarto documents. |
| get_paper_metricsB | Get detailed metrics for specific papers including citation count, reads, and impact indicators. Useful for tracking paper impact over time. |
| get_author_metricsA | Get comprehensive metrics for an author including h-index, total citations, paper count, and citation statistics. Useful for CV preparation and tracking research impact. Note: matches every paper with this author name, so common names may include other people's papers. |
| list_librariesA | 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 in the user's ADS account. Useful for organizing papers by topic, project, or reading status. |
| add_to_libraryA | Add papers to an existing library in the user's ADS account. Provide library ID and list of bibcodes to add. Papers already in the library are not duplicated. |
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
Most tools clearly target distinct ADS resources or actions. Minor overlap exists between search_papers and get_author_papers, and between get_paper_details and get_paper_metrics, but the descriptions mostly clarify their different scopes.
All tool names use consistent snake_case with a clear verb_noun pattern, such as search_papers, get_paper_details, list_libraries, and add_to_library. No mixed conventions or vague verb-only names appear.
Ten tools is well-scoped for a NASA ADS server covering search, retrieval, metrics, export, and library management. Each tool has a plausible place in the set without excessive redundancy.
The paper search, details, metrics, BibTeX export, author lookup, and library creation/addition workflows are covered. Library management is incomplete because there are no tools to update, delete, or remove papers from libraries, but core research workflows remain usable.