Scholar MCP

What this does

Scholar MCP exposes a set of tools to Claude over the Model Context Protocol. After you add it to claude_desktop_config.json (snippet above) and restart Claude Desktop, those tools become callable inside any conversation.

Requirements

This server needs the following environment variables to be set before it can run:

SCHOLAR_DATA_DIR
SCHOLAR_MCP_EXTENSIONS
S2_API_KEY
OPENALEX_API_KEY
CORE_API_KEY
SCOPUS_API_KEY
DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
DASHSCOPE_HTTP_BASE_URL
SCHOLAR_RERANK_MODEL
SCHOLAR_RERANK_URL
SCHOLAR_RERANK_API_KEY
EXA_API_KEY
ZOTERO_API_KEY
ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID
NOTION_API_KEY
NOTION_DATA_SOURCE_ID

Set these via the env object in your MCP config (see claude_desktop_config.json snippet above).

How do I install Scholar MCP?

Run the Claude Code command in the install section to add Scholar MCP to Claude Code, or copy the ready-made config for your client from the install section on this page. Restart your client afterwards and the tools appear in your next conversation.

Which clients work with Scholar MCP?

This page carries setup and config for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and VS Code. Any other MCP client that accepts a standard server config can connect to Scholar MCP as well.

Does Scholar MCP need an API key?

Yes. Before it can run, set these environment variables: SCHOLAR_DATA_DIR, SCHOLAR_MCP_EXTENSIONS, S2_API_KEY, OPENALEX_API_KEY, CORE_API_KEY, SCOPUS_API_KEY, DASHSCOPE_API_KEY, DASHSCOPE_HTTP_BASE_URL, SCHOLAR_RERANK_MODEL, SCHOLAR_RERANK_URL, SCHOLAR_RERANK_API_KEY, EXA_API_KEY, ZOTERO_API_KEY, ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID, NOTION_API_KEY, NOTION_DATA_SOURCE_ID. They go in the env block of your MCP config.