ref-finder-mcp

An MCP server for end-to-end academic paper workflow — search across arXiv, Google Scholar, and Semantic Scholar, then auto-generate BibTeX/APA citations.

Installation

uv sync
uv run python -m ref_finder_mcp.server

MCP Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | search_papers | Multi-source paper search (arXiv, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar) | | get_paper_details | Retrieve detailed paper information | | generate_citation | Generate BibTeX / APA citations | | save_paper | Save a paper to the session | | list_saved_papers | List saved papers | | remove_paper | Remove a saved paper | | export_bibliography | Export all saved papers as BibTeX / APA / Markdown | | get_author_info | Look up author info via Google Scholar | | get_recommended_papers | Get similar paper recommendations via Semantic Scholar |

Search Sources

| Source | ID prefix | Notes | |--------|-----------|-------| | arXiv | arxiv: | Preprints, category filters | | Google Scholar | scholar: | Broad coverage, author search | | Semantic Scholar | s2: | Official API, citation counts, recommendations |

Duplicates are automatically merged by arXiv ID / DOI / title when searching across multiple sources.

Usage Examples

Search + Generate BibTeX

"Find the ReAct paper and generate BibTeX"

→ search_papers(query="ReAct Synergizing Reasoning Acting", sources=["arxiv"])
→ generate_citation(paper_id="arxiv:2210.03629", format="bibtex")

Multi-source Search

"Search transformer papers on arXiv and Semantic Scholar"

→ search_papers(query="transformer", sources=["arxiv", "semantic_scholar"], max_results=20)
  (duplicates are automatically merged)

Paper Recommendations

"Recommend papers similar to the ReAct paper"

→ get_recommended_papers(paper_id="arxiv:2210.03629", max_results=5)

Author Info

"What's Geoffrey Hinton's h-index and top papers?"

→ get_author_info(author_name="Geoffrey Hinton")
  (returns affiliation, h-index, citation count, top publications, etc.)

MCP Client Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ref-finder": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--directory", "/path/to/ref-finder-mcp",
        "python", "-m", "ref_finder_mcp.server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Development

fastmcp dev src/ref_finder_mcp/server.py   # Dev server with hot reload
uv run pytest                               # Run tests
uv run ruff check --fix                     # Lint

License

MIT

MCP Servers