Open Source Literature MCP
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPENALEX_MAILTO | No | Optional email for OpenAlex polite pool. | |
| SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY | No | Optional API key for Semantic Scholar to improve rate limits. |
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": true
} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| auto_literature_screenB | Search OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar, and arXiv, then internally merge, dedupe, screen, and rank papers. Returns only final selected papers. |
| discover_papersC | Alias for auto_literature_screen. It keeps raw and deduped candidates internal and returns final selected papers only. |
| expand_related_papersC | Use Semantic Scholar recommendations for a seed paper, then screen and rank related papers without exposing intermediate tables. |
| literature_mcp_healthA | Return server metadata and configured optional API keys. |
| export_to_zoteroB | Export selected final papers to a Zotero user or group library. Intended for results from auto_literature_screen. |
| generate_research_ideasA | Produce heuristic, keyword-based research-idea scaffolding from a topic and selected papers. Ideas are derived from term overlap and research-gap templates, not from a language model, and scores are relative heuristics. Does not run experiments or execute code. |
| review_research_ideaA | Heuristically review a proposed research idea against selected papers, scoring novelty, feasibility, and literature support from keyword overlap. Scores are relative heuristics, not a language-model judgment. |
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 7 tools
auto_literature_screen and discover_papers are exact aliases, creating confusion and redundancy. Other tools are distinct but the duplication lowers disambiguation.
Most tools use verb_noun pattern (e.g., export_to_zotero, generate_research_ideas), but auto_literature_screen and literature_mcp_health deviate. The naming is readable but not fully consistent.
7 tools is a reasonable number for a literature MCP. The presence of two aliases slightly inflates the count, but overall it's well-scoped.
Covers search, related-paper expansion, export, and idea generation/review. Missing are operations to view intermediate results, manually curate selections, or import from other sources, which are notable gaps.