MCP Simple Arxiv

🚀 mcp-simple-arxiv

An MCP server that provides access to papers through arXiv's API.

✨ Features

This server allows LLM clients (such as Claude Desktop) to:

• Search for scientific papers on arXiv by title and abstract content.
• Retrieve paper metadata and abstracts.
• Access links to available formats (PDF/HTML).

The server implements appropriate rate limiting, complying with arXiv's API guidelines (maximum of one request every 3 seconds).

📦 Installation

Install using Smithery

Automatically install Simple Arxiv for Claude Desktop via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-simple-arxiv --client claude

Manual Installation

pip install mcp-simple-arxiv

💻 Usage Examples

Use with Claude Desktop

Add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

(Mac OS)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "simple-arxiv": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_simple_arxiv"]
      }
  }
}

(Windows version):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "simple-arxiv": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_USERNAME\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python311\\python.exe",
      "args": [
        "-m",
        "mcp_simple_arxiv"
      ]
    }
  }
}

After restarting Claude Desktop, the following features will be available:

Basic Usage

You can ask Claude to search for papers using queries like:

Can you search for the latest arXiv papers on large language models?

The search will return basic information about the matching papers, including:

• Paper title
• Authors
• arXiv ID
• Publication date

Advanced Usage

Once you have a paper ID, you can ask to display more detailed information:

Can you show the details of paper 2103.08220?

This will return:

• Full paper title
• Authors
• Publication and update dates
• Journal citation (if available)
• Paper abstract
• Links to available formats (PDF/HTML)

🔧 Technical Details

Installation for Development Purposes

git clone https://github.com/andybrandt/mcp-simple-arxiv
cd mcp-simple-arxiv
pip install -e .

arXiv API Guidelines

This server follows the arXiv API usage guidelines:

• Rate limit: maximum of one request every 3 seconds.
• Single connection.
• Proper error handling and retry logic.

📄 License

MIT