iflow-mcp_ray0907-arxiv-mcp 0.2.0
A Model Context Protocol server for arXiv paper search and retrieval
License: MIT
Requires Python: >=3.10
Keywords: ai, arxiv, claude, mcp, papers, research

# arXiv MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides arXiv paper search and retrieval capabilities. This server enables LLMs to search for academic papers on arXiv and get cleaned titles, abstracts, authors, and content without dealing with complex HTML parsing.

## Features

- Search papers by query, author, category, and date
- Advanced search with specific field filters
- Get detailed paper metadata (title, abstract, authors, categories)
- Retrieve full paper content via Jina Reader
- Browse recent papers by category
- List all arXiv categories
- Pagination support for search results

## Available Tools

### `search`
Search arXiv for papers matching a query.

| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `query` | string | Yes | Search query (e.g., 'LLM', 'transformer') |
| `category` | string | No | Filter by category (e.g., 'cs.AI', 'cs.LG') |
| `author` | string | No | Filter by author name |
| `sort_by` | string | No | Sort order: 'relevance', 'date_desc', 'date_asc' |
| `page` | int | No | Page number (default: 1) |
| `page_size` | int | No | Results per page, max 50 (default: 25) |

### `searchAdvanced`
Advanced search with specific field filters.

| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `title` | string | No | Search in paper titles |
| `abstract` | string | No | Search in abstracts |
| `author` | string | No | Search by author name |
| `category` | string | No | Filter by category |
| `id_arxiv` | string | No | Search by arXiv ID pattern |
| `date_from` | string | No | Start date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `date_to` | string | No | End date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `sort_by` | string | No | Sort order |
| `page` | int | No | Page number |
| `page_size` | int | No | Results per page |

### `getPaper`
Get detailed information about a specific arXiv paper.

| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `id_or_url` | string | Yes | arXiv ID (e.g., '2301.00001') or full URL |

### `getContent`
Get the full text content of an arXiv paper using Jina Reader.

| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `id_or_url` | string | Yes | arXiv ID or full URL |

### `getRecent`
Get recent papers from a specific arXiv category.

| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `category` | string | No | Category code (default: 'cs.AI') |
| `count` | int | No | Number of papers, max 50 (default: 10) |

### `listCategories`
List all common arXiv categories with their codes and names.

## Installation

### Using uv (Recommended)

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Ray0907/arXiv-mcp.git
cd arXiv-mcp

# Install with uv
uv sync
```

### Using pip

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Ray0907/arXiv-mcp.git
cd arXiv-mcp

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install
pip install -e .
```

## Configuration

### Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` on macOS):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arxiv": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/arXiv-mcp",
        "run",
        "arxiv-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP settings:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arxiv": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/arXiv-mcp",
        "run",
        "arxiv-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## Usage Examples

### Search for papers about LLMs

```
Search for recent papers about "large language models"
```

### Find papers by a specific author

```
Search for papers by "Yann LeCun" in the machine learning category
```

### Get paper details

```
Get the details of arXiv paper 2301.00001
```

### Browse recent papers

```
Show me the 10 most recent papers in cs.AI
```

## Development

### Run tests

```bash
uv run pytest
```

### Run the server locally

```bash
uv run arxiv-mcp
```

## Common arXiv Categories

| Code | Name |
|------|------|
| cs.AI | Artificial Intelligence |
| cs.CL | Computation and Language |
| cs.CV | Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition |
| cs.LG | Machine Learning |
| cs.NE | Neural and Evolutionary Computing |
| stat.ML | Machine Learning (Statistics) |

Use `listCategories` tool to get the full list.

## Changelog

### v0.2.0

**Breaking Changes:**
- Renamed entry point from `arxiv-server.py` to `arxiv-mcp` command
- Renamed `get` tool to `getContent` for clarity

**New Features:**
- `searchAdvanced` - Advanced search with title, abstract, date range filters
- `getPaper` - Get detailed paper metadata (authors, categories, dates, PDF URL)
- `getRecent` - Browse recent papers by category
- `listCategories` - List 33 common arXiv categories
- Pagination support (`page`, `page_size` parameters)
- Sort options (`relevance`, `date_desc`, `date_asc`)
- Filter by author and category in basic search

**Improvements:**
- Migrated to `pyproject.toml` with uv for dependency management
- Replaced `requests` with `httpx` (async-ready)
- Added Pydantic models for type-safe data structures
- Reduced dependencies from 33 to 4 core packages
- Added proper timeout handling (30s)
- Modular project structure (`src/arxiv_mcp/`)

### v0.1.0

- Initial release
- Basic `search` and `get` tools

## License

MIT License - see [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.