scholar-feed-mcp

<p align="center">
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    <img alt="Scholar Feed" src="assets/logo-light.png" width="140" height="140">
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</p>

# Scholar Feed MCP Server

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Search 600,000+ CS/AI/ML research papers with LLM-generated novelty analysis, without leaving Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP client. Built for researchers running a literature review where they already work: search, trace citations, pull full text, and export BibTeX in the same session.

[Scholar Feed](https://www.scholarfeed.org) indexes arXiv papers daily and ranks them using a multi-signal scoring system (recency, citation velocity, institutional reputation, code availability). Each paper has an LLM-generated summary and novelty score.

## Quick Start

```bash
npx scholar-feed-mcp@latest init
```

This interactive wizard will:
1. Optionally ask for an API key (or skip for anonymous access)
2. Detect your MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, or Claude Desktop)
3. Write the config and verify the connection

**No API key required.** Anonymous access gives you 100 calls/day, enough for a typical research session. For higher limits (1,000/day per account), get a free key at [scholarfeed.org/settings](https://www.scholarfeed.org/settings).

Try asking: *"Search for recent papers on test-time compute scaling"*

## What You Can Do

**Technology scouting:** "What novel research on retrieval-augmented generation was published this month?"

**Literature review:** "Find papers similar to 2401.04088 and export their BibTeX"

**Trend monitoring:** "What's trending in cs.CV this week? Summarize the top 3."

**Author discovery:** "Who are the top researchers working on efficient LLM inference?"

**Field orientation:** "Give me an orientation report on sparse mixture-of-experts architectures."

## Installation

The fastest path is `npx scholar-feed-mcp@latest init`, which auto-detects your client and writes the config. To set it up by hand, every client launches the same stdio server (`npx -y scholar-feed-mcp@latest`); only the config-file location and the wrapper key differ.

**Claude Desktop (one-click)** installs without editing any config: download the `.mcpb` bundle from the [latest release](https://github.com/YGao2005/scholar-feed-mcp/releases/latest) and open it (or drag it into **Settings > Extensions**). The installer shows one optional field for a Scholar Feed API key (`sf_...`): leave it blank for anonymous mode (100 calls/day), or paste a free key from [scholarfeed.org/settings](https://www.scholarfeed.org/settings) for 1,000/day.

**Claude Code** takes a one-line command:

```bash
# Anonymous (100 calls/day)
claude mcp add scholar-feed -- npx -y scholar-feed-mcp@latest

# With an API key (1,000 calls/day per account)
claude mcp add scholar-feed -e SF_API_KEY=sf_your_key_here -- npx -y scholar-feed-mcp@latest
```

**Every other client** takes this standard JSON block:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-feed": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-feed-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
```

To raise limits to 1,000 calls/day, add `"env": { "SF_API_KEY": "sf_your_key_here" }` to the server entry. Get a free key at [scholarfeed.org/settings](https://www.scholarfeed.org/settings).

Drop that block into the right config file:

| Client | Config file | Notes |
|--------|-------------|-------|
| Cursor | `.cursor/mcp.json` (project) or `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (global) | Restart Cursor. |
| Claude Desktop | macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`; Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` | Settings → Developer → Edit Config, then restart. |
| Windsurf | `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json` | Cascade → MCP icon → Configure, then refresh. |
| Cline / Roo Code | `cline_mcp_settings.json` | MCP Servers sidebar icon → Configure. Cline and Roo Code share this format. |
| Gemini CLI | `~/.gemini/settings.json` (or project `.gemini/settings.json`) | |
| LM Studio | `~/.lmstudio/mcp.json` | Program tab → Install → Edit `mcp.json`. Follows Cursor's notation. |
| JetBrains (PyCharm / IntelliJ) | AI Assistant → MCP → Add → As JSON | Requires AI Assistant 2025.1+. |

A few clients need a different wrapper key or file format:

<details>
<summary><strong>VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Zed, Continue, and project-scoped configs</strong></summary>

**VS Code: GitHub Copilot** (`.vscode/mcp.json`) uses a `servers` key and an explicit `type`, and needs Copilot agent mode. You can also run `MCP: Add Server` from the Command Palette.

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "scholar-feed": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-feed-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
```

**Zed** (`settings.json`) uses a `context_servers` key, and the `"source": "custom"` line is required (without it, Zed silently skips the entry).

```json
{
  "context_servers": {
    "scholar-feed": {
      "source": "custom",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-feed-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
```

**Continue** uses YAML, with `mcpServers` as a list, in `~/.continue/config.yaml` (global) or `.continue/config.yaml` (workspace).

```yaml
mcpServers:
  - name: scholar-feed
    type: stdio
    command: npx
    args:
      - "-y"
      - scholar-feed-mcp@latest
```

**Project-scoped** (`.mcp.json`), to share the server across a repo:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-feed": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-feed-mcp@latest"],
      "env": { "SF_API_KEY": "${SF_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}
```

</details>

**Windows:** for any JSON config above, use `"command": "cmd"` and `"args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "scholar-feed-mcp@latest"]`.

Scholar Feed is a standard stdio MCP server, so any other MCP-compatible client works with the standard block too.

## Available Tools (25)

### Core Search & Discovery

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters |
|------|-------------|----------------|
| `search_papers` | Semantic + keyword search with filters. Also does similar-paper discovery, citation-scoped search, and trending. | `q`, `category`, `novelty_min`, `days`, `sort`, `anchor_paper_id`, `scope_to_citations_of`, `mode`, `method_category`, `task`, `dataset`, `contribution_type`, `task_category`, `cursor`, `limit` |
| `get_paper` | Get full paper details by arXiv ID. Also handles batch lookup and BibTeX export. | `arxiv_ids`, `format`, `fields`, `verbose` |
| `get_citations` | Citation graph (outgoing refs or incoming citations) | `arxiv_id`, `direction`, `limit`, `fields` |
| `fetch_fulltext` | Extract results/experiments from LaTeX source | `arxiv_id` |

### Authors

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters |
|------|-------------|----------------|
| `find_author` | Find researchers by topic/name query, or retrieve a profile by ID. | `q`, `id`, `field`, `limit` |
| `co_author_graph` | Co-authorship neighborhood for an author | `author_ids`, `window_years` |

### Embeddings

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters |
|------|-------------|----------------|
| `embed_text` | Get a 768-dim Gemini embedding for text (for HyDE and custom similarity). **Pro-only**, so anonymous/free callers get a 403 `pro_required`. | `text`, `task_type` |

### Research

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters |
|------|-------------|----------------|
| `get_field_orientation` | Cheap retrieval orientation for a research area: top papers, subfields, open problems. No Pro quota. | `topic`, `limit` |
| `get_foundational_lineage` | Foundational work for a *paper's niche* via the citation graph (consensus-then-lift): niche_roots → field_level → discipline, with `cited_by_in_niche` evidence. Surfaces canonical anchors semantic search misses. No Pro quota. | `anchor_paper_id`, `scope`, `generality_ceiling`, `limit` |

### Library, Collections, Watches & Gap Analysis (require `SF_API_KEY`)

These MUTATE or read the authenticated user's account. The core read/search tools above work anonymously; these need a key.

| Tool | Description | Key Parameters |
|------|-------------|----------------|
| `save_paper` | Bookmark a paper to your library (idempotent; feeds personalization). | `arxiv_id` |
| `unsave_paper` | Remove a paper from your library (idempotent). | `arxiv_id` |
| `like_paper` | "More like this" calibration signal for the For You feed (insert-only). | `arxiv_id` |
| `list_library` | List your saved papers, newest first. | `limit`, `page` |
| `list_collections` | List collections with paper counts. | (none) |
| `create_collection` | Create a named collection (get-or-create; no error on duplicate). | `name` |
| `add_to_collection` | Add a paper to a collection by name or id (also auto-saves). | `arxiv_id`, `collection_name`, `collection_id` |
| `remove_from_collection` | Remove a paper from a collection (stays saved). | `arxiv_id`, `collection_name`, `collection_id` |
| `create_watch` | Standing daily-evaluated saved search; get-or-create by name. Define it with a structured `criteria` filter (recommended) or a single seed selector. | `name`, `novelty_min`, `criteria`, `recency_days`, `q`, `collection_name`, `collection_id`, `anchor_paper_id`, `scope_to_citations_of`, `author_id`, `category` |
| `list_watches` | List watches with summary, `last_evaluated_at`, and `pending_hits`. | (none) |
| `check_watches` | Pull new matches since the last digest (read-only, idempotent). | `watch_name`, `watch_id`, `limit` |
| `update_watch` | Edit