ScholarFetch MCP Server

by laibniz Your server? Claim it

answering

ScholarFetch is answering right now. Last checked 16 min ago. It exposes 12 tools. Last commit 23 Mar 2026.

Multi-engine scholarly research server for search, traversal, full text, and reading lists.

Uptime history 47 days of history

47 days agonow

100.0%

Uptime 24h

91 of 91 checks

Tools

read from the server

332 ms

Response time

average over 24h

Stars

last commit 23 Mar 2026

What the code does

We read the source, 20 h ago · tools taken from the live server · rules 3dff92dd89df

Capabilities

What this server is able to do. For an MCP server this is often the job itself — a terminal server runs commands because that is what it is for. Listed so you know what you are plugging in, not as an accusation.

Dumps the whole environment scholarfetch_mcp.py:49

        env = dict(os.environ)

Is this your server and something here is wrong? Tell us — corrections are free and do not require a plan.

This code can reach further than it looks

We found places where it runs commands, builds paths or queries from values it is given. None of that is a flaw by itself — it becomes one when the code changes, and code changes quietly between releases. We re-read it on every one.

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 16 min ago.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add scholarfetch --transport http https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholarfetch": {
      "url": "https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.scholarfetch]
url = "https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/"

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholarfetch": {
      "url": "https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholarfetch": {
      "url": "https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 12

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

scholarfetch

scholarfetch_abstract

Read the best abstract available for a paper. Use with a DOI or with author_name + candidate_index + paper_index after author_papers. If you pass `engines`, use a comma-separated subset of: elsevier, openalex, crossref, arxiv, europepmc, springer, semanticscholar.

scholarfetch_article_text

Read full paper text when machine-readable content is recoverable. Use with a DOI or with author_name + candidate_index + paper_index. Uses Elsevier first, then open-access fallbacks such as Springer OA, Europe PMC, arXiv PDF, and generic PDF URLs when text is recoverable. If you pass `engines`, use a comma-separated subset of: elsevier, openalex, crossref, arxiv, europepmc, springer, semanticscholar.

scholarfetch_author_candidates

Disambiguate a human author name into ranked identity candidates. Use this before `scholarfetch_author_papers` when the name is ambiguous and you need a stable `candidate_index`. If you pass `engines`, it must include `openalex`.

scholarfetch_author_papers

Expand one author into a deduplicated paper list. This is the main author->paper traversal tool and supports research filters. Use `author_id` when you already know the exact author, or `author_name` plus `candidate_index` after `scholarfetch_author_candidates`. Supported comma-separated `filters`: year>=YYYY, year<=YYYY, year=YYYY, has:abstract, has:doi, has:pdf, venue:<text>, title:<text>, doi:<text>. If you pass `engines`, it must include `openalex`.

scholarfetch_doi_lookup

Enrich one known DOI with metadata, reading links, and full-text availability signals. If you pass `engines`, use a comma-separated subset of: elsevier, openalex, crossref, arxiv, europepmc, springer, semanticscholar.

scholarfetch_references

Expand a paper into its references. Use with a DOI or with author_name + candidate_index + paper_index. This is the main edge-expansion tool for traversing the literature graph. If you pass `engines`, use a comma-separated subset of: elsevier, openalex, crossref, arxiv, europepmc, springer, semanticscholar.

scholarfetch_saved_add

Add one paper to a named in-memory reading list on the MCP server. Best input is paper_json copied from another ScholarFetch tool result, but DOI, query+result_index, or author_name+candidate_index+paper_index also work. Reuse the same collection name across calls to keep one research session together.

scholarfetch_saved_clear

Clear all papers from a named in-memory reading list. Useful when restarting a research branch.

scholarfetch_saved_export

Export the current reading list as citations, abstracts, BibTeX, or an aggregated full-text corpus. Valid `format` values: citations, abstracts, bib, fulltext. Valid `style` values when `format=citations`: harvard, apa, ieee. Use `include_references=true` with `format=fulltext` when you want a richer downstream synthesis corpus.

scholarfetch_saved_list

List all papers currently saved in a named in-memory reading list. Use this to inspect the working set before exporting or removing items.

scholarfetch_saved_remove

Remove one paper from a named in-memory reading list by DOI or exact title.

scholarfetch_search

Start a research traversal from keywords, a DOI, or a person name. Returns deduplicated paper records that you can inspect, save, expand through references, or use as seeds for author exploration. If you pass `engines`, use a comma-separated subset of: elsevier, openalex, crossref, arxiv, europepmc, springer, semanticscholar.

Endpoints

URL	Transport	State	Latency	Checked
https://laibniz-scholarfetch-web.hf.space/mcp/	streamable-http	answering	354 ms	16 min ago

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ScholarFetch — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can ScholarFetch do?

It exposes 12 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: scholarfetch_abstract, scholarfetch_article_text, scholarfetch_author_candidates, scholarfetch_author_papers, scholarfetch_doi_lookup, scholarfetch_references and 6 more. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →

Is ScholarFetch working right now?

We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 91 of 91 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 332 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.

How do I connect ScholarFetch?

Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.

Does ScholarFetch need an API key?

No. ScholarFetch completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 12 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.

How fast is ScholarFetch?

It answers our handshake in 332 ms on average, which is faster than 46% of all working MCP servers we measure. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.

Is ScholarFetch open source?

Yes — it is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, written in Python and 1 stars on GitHub. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.