A FastMCP server implementation for the Semantic Scholar API, providing comprehensive access to academic paper data, author information, and citation
Most developer tooling work still happens through a UI a human drives. Semantic Scholar MCP server moves it into the conversation instead. A FastMCP server implementation for the Semantic Scholar API, providing comprehensive access to academic paper data, author information, and citation networks.
The server publishes 14 tools. What each one is for:
paper_relevance_search — Search for papers using relevance rankingpaper_bulk_search — Bulk paper search with sorting optionspaper_title_search — Find papers by exact title matchpaper_details — Get comprehensive details about a specific paperpaper_batch_details — Efficiently retrieve details for multiple paperspaper_authors — Get the authors associated with a specific paperpaper_autocomplete — Get paper title suggestions for a partial querysnippet_search — Search within paper snippets and excerptspaper_citations — Get papers that cite a specific paperpaper_references — Get papers referenced by a specific paperauthor_search — Search for authors by nameauthor_details — Get detailed information about an authorConfiguration is passed through the environment: SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY, SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_HTTP_BRIDGE_HOST. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.
@smithery/cli on npm is all you need. Most clients run it directly, so configuration is a few lines and a restart.
Plenty of developer tooling servers cover similar ground. The differences that matter in practice are scope of access and how much setup stands between you and a working tool call. Semantic Scholar's toolset — paper_relevance_search, paper_bulk_search, paper_title_search and 11 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by YUZongmin; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
SyncDev reviews every entry in this directory against the project's own documentation before publishing, and revisits them as servers change.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| paper_relevance_search | Search for papers using relevance ranking |
| paper_bulk_search | Bulk paper search with sorting options |
| paper_title_search | Find papers by exact title match |
| paper_details | Get comprehensive details about a specific paper |
| paper_batch_details | Efficiently retrieve details for multiple papers |
| paper_authors | Get the authors associated with a specific paper |
| paper_autocomplete | Get paper title suggestions for a partial query |
| snippet_search | Search within paper snippets and excerpts |
| paper_citations | Get papers that cite a specific paper |
| paper_references | Get papers referenced by a specific paper |
| author_search | Search for authors by name |
| author_details | Get detailed information about an author |
| author_papers | Get papers written by an author |
| author_batch_details | Get details for multiple authors |
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar-fastmcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@smithery/cli"],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "your-value",
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_HTTP_BRIDGE_HOST": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_HTTP_BRIDGE_HOST | Endpoint or connection string the server talks to. | Optional |
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