get_paper_details

Retrieve comprehensive metadata for astronomical papers from NASA ADS using bibcodes, including abstracts, authors, citations, and keywords.

Instructions

Get detailed information about a specific paper using its bibcode. Returns full metadata including abstract, authors, citations, keywords, and more.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`bibcode`	Yes	ADS bibcode (e.g., '2019ApJ...878...98S')

Implementation Reference

src/nasa_ads_mcp/server.py:368-415 (handler)

The handler function that implements the core logic for retrieving detailed paper information using the ADS API, formatting title, authors, abstract, keywords, etc.

async def get_paper_details(bibcode: str) -> list[TextContent]:
    """Get detailed information about a specific paper."""
    try:
        papers = list(ads.SearchQuery(
            bibcode=bibcode,
            fl=["bibcode", "title", "author", "year", "citation_count", 
                "abstract", "keyword", "doi", "pubdate", "pub"],
        ))
        
        if not papers:
            return [TextContent(
                type="text",
                text=f"Paper not found: {bibcode}"
            )]
        
        paper = papers[0]
        
        # Format authors
        authors = paper.author if paper.author else ["Unknown"]
        author_str = "; ".join(authors)
        
        # Format keywords
        keywords = ", ".join(paper.keyword) if paper.keyword else "None"
        
        # Build detailed response
        details = [
            f"Title: {paper.title[0] if paper.title else 'No title'}",
            f"Authors: {author_str}",
            f"Publication: {paper.pub or 'Unknown'}",
            f"Year: {paper.year}",
            f"Citations: {paper.citation_count or 0}",
            f"DOI: {paper.doi[0] if paper.doi else 'N/A'}",
            f"Keywords: {keywords}",
            f"Bibcode: {paper.bibcode}",
            "",
            "Abstract:",
            paper.abstract or "No abstract available",
        ]
        
        return [TextContent(type="text", text="\n".join(details))]
    
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error getting paper details: {e}")
        return [TextContent(
            type="text",
            text=f"Error getting paper details: {str(e)}"
        )]

src/nasa_ads_mcp/server.py:78-94 (registration)

The tool registration in list_tools(), defining the tool name, description, and input schema.

Tool(
    name="get_paper_details",
    description=(
        "Get detailed information about a specific paper using its bibcode. "
        "Returns full metadata including abstract, authors, citations, keywords, and more."
    ),
    inputSchema={
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
            "bibcode": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "ADS bibcode (e.g., '2019ApJ...878...98S')",
            },
        },
        "required": ["bibcode"],
    },
),

src/nasa_ads_mcp/server.py:84-93 (schema)

Input schema defining the required 'bibcode' parameter as a string.

inputSchema={
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "bibcode": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "ADS bibcode (e.g., '2019ApJ...878...98S')",
        },
    },
    "required": ["bibcode"],
},

src/nasa_ads_mcp/server.py:272-273 (handler)
Dispatch logic in the main call_tool handler that routes to the get_paper_details function.
```
elif name == "get_paper_details":
    return await get_paper_details(bibcode=arguments["bibcode"])
```

NASA ADS MCP Server