Scholar MCP

io.github.pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp

7/8 checks passed
Runs locally
8 secrets
★ 2 GitHub stars
Updated 2026-09-11
Health score 60

About Scholar MCP

Scholar MCP is an MCP server published by the GitHub account pvliesdonk. FastMCP server for scholarly papers, patents, books and standards with docling PDF conversion

It runs on your own machine: your AI client starts it from the PyPI package pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp at version 2.0.0.

It asks for 8 secrets: SCHOLAR_GITHUB_TOKEN, SCHOLAR_MCP_S2_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_VLM_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET, SCHOLAR_MCP_GOOGLE_BOOKS_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN, SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET and SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY. Give it a key with the least access that still works.

Version 2.0.0 was published on 11 September 2026, and the source code is public, so you can read it before installing.

Written from the registry entry. 9 automated checks on the registry entry and the package code: 7 pass, 1 warn, 0 fail, 1 info. How we check.

What it asks for

Variable	Required	Secret	Description
`SCHOLAR_MCP_KV_STORE_URL`	No	No	Persistent-state backend URL shared by every pvl-core subsystem that needs state. `memory://` is in-process and lost on restart; `file:///path` persists on one server; `redis://`, `dynamodb://` and `mongodb://` each need their matching extra. When unset, defaults to `file:///data/state` (the volume family Docker images mount), or to `memory://` (with a warning) on a host where that directory is not usable.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_TOOLS_ALLOW`	No	No	Comma-separated explicit tool names this instance exposes; every other tool is hidden from listings and cannot be invoked. Names matching no registered tool are inert. Mutually exclusive with `tools_deny`. Takes effect through `apply_tool_visibility`.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_TOOLS_DENY`	No	No	Comma-separated explicit tool names hidden from this instance (absent from listings, cannot be invoked). Names matching no registered tool are inert. Mutually exclusive with `tools_allow`. Takes effect through `apply_tool_visibility`.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_SERVER_NAME`	No	No	Rename this server instance; defaults to the project name.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_INSTANCE_DESCRIPTION`	No	No	Concise routing context that distinguishes this deployment's material or responsibility.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS_EXTRA`	No	No	Deployment-specific behavioral policy added to the generated MCP instructions.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS`	No	No	Legacy: replaces all generated MCP instructions (deprecated; use _INSTANCE_DESCRIPTION for routing and _INSTRUCTIONS_EXTRA for policy).
`FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL`	No	No	Log level for FastMCP internals and app loggers (DEBUG / INFO / WARNING / ERROR / CRITICAL). The -v CLI flag overrides to DEBUG.
`FASTMCP_ENABLE_RICH_LOGGING`	No	No	Set false for plain or structured JSON log output.
`SCHOLAR_GITHUB_TOKEN`	No	Yes	GitHub token used to raise rate limits when fetching standards documents from GitHub. Optional; unauthenticated requests work at reduced limits.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_READ_ONLY`	No	No	When true, write-tagged tools (PDF download and conversion cache writes) are hidden. Set false to enable them.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_S2_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Semantic Scholar API key. Optional but strongly recommended: unauthenticated requests are limited to ~1 req/s. Request one at https://www.semanticscholar.org/product/api#api-key-form.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_DOCLING_URL`	No	No	Base URL of a running docling-serve instance for PDF conversion (e.g. http://localhost:5001). When unset, PDF conversion tools return an error.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_VLM_API_URL`	No	No	OpenAI-compatible VLM endpoint for formula and figure enrichment during PDF conversion.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_VLM_API_KEY`	No	Yes	API key for the VLM endpoint.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_VLM_MODEL`	No	No	Model name to use with the VLM endpoint.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_CACHE_DIR`	No	No	Directory for the SQLite cache database (cache.db) and downloaded PDFs (pdfs/, md/).
`SCHOLAR_MCP_CONTACT_EMAIL`	No	No	Contact email for the OpenAlex polite pool (improves rate limits). Also enables Unpaywall lookups as a PDF fallback source.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_EPO_CONSUMER_KEY`	No	No	EPO Open Patent Services consumer key. Optional; patent tools are hidden when unset. Register at https://developers.epo.org/user/register.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET`	No	Yes	EPO Open Patent Services consumer secret. Optional; patent tools are hidden when unset.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_GOOGLE_BOOKS_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Google Books API key. Optional; book tools work unauthenticated at reduced rate limits.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_JOBS_SOFT_DEADLINE_S`	No	No	Seconds a long-running tool call may run in the foreground before it is promoted to a background job and a job handle is returned instead.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_JOBS_RESULT_TTL_S`	No	No	Seconds a background-job record (working or finished) is retained for polling before it expires from the store.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_JOBS_MAX_PER_SUBJECT`	No	No	Maximum live background jobs per calling subject; further promotions are rejected until older records expire.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_BASE_URL`	No	No	Public base URL of the deployed server, for example `https://mcp.example.com`. Required for OIDC. Also the fallback source of the MCP Apps domain when `app_domain` is unset.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN`	No	Yes	Single shared bearer token; enables bearer auth unless `bearer_tokens_file` is set, which takes precedence.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_CONFIG_URL`	No	No	OIDC discovery document URL, for example `https://auth.example.com/.well-known/openid-configuration`.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_ID`	No	No	OIDC client identifier registered with the provider.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET`	No	Yes	OIDC client secret registered with the provider.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_AUDIENCE`	No	No	Expected `aud` claim; tokens issued for another audience are rejected.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_REQUIRED_SCOPES`	No	No	Scopes a caller must present, space- or comma-separated. Defaults to `openid` in oidc-proxy mode.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_ADVERTISED_SCOPES`	No	No	Scopes advertised to MCP clients in protected-resource metadata, space- or comma-separated. Overrides the default `openid offline_access`; `oidc_required_scopes` is always added on top. Set this when the registered client is not permitted `offline_access`, or to have clients request extra claim scopes (such as `groups`) without also requiring them in every token.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY`	No	Yes	Signing key for issued tokens; used in oidc-proxy mode only. When unset, the key is derived deterministically from `oidc_client_secret`, so tokens survive a restart. Rotating that secret then invalidates every issued token. Set this explicitly to decouple token validity from secret rotation. Generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_VERIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN`	No	No	Validate the access token instead of the id token.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_APP_DOMAIN`	No	No	MCP Apps iframe domain, used for CSP sandboxing. Overrides the host derived from `base_url`.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_AUTH_MODE`	No	No	Explicit auth-mode override, accepting `remote` or `oidc-proxy` (case- and whitespace-insensitive). When unset the mode is auto-detected from which auth variables are set; the override exists because having all four OIDC variables set is ambiguous between those two modes. Other values are ignored with a warning.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_BEARER_TOKENS_FILE`	No	No	Path to a TOML file mapping bearer tokens to subjects; overrides the single-token `bearer_token` mode.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_BEARER_DEFAULT_SUBJECT`	No	No	Subject assigned to the single-token bearer mode; ignored when `bearer_tokens_file` is set, since mapped mode carries per-token subjects.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_HTTP_PATH`	No	No	Mount path for the MCP endpoint; the health routes derive their prefix from it.
`SCHOLAR_MCP_HEALTH_DETAIL`	No	No	How much the unauthenticated /health and /health/ready bodies say: status, standard (adds name, version and per-check verdicts), or full (adds redacted reasons; trusted networks only).
`PUID`	No	No	Run the server process as this UID; the container entrypoint reassigns ownership of writable paths to match.
`PGID`	No	No	Run the server process as this GID; pair with PUID to match the owner of a mounted volume.

Checks

Check	Result	Detail
Source repository linked	Pass	https://github.com/pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp
Version pinned	Pass	Every package has an explicit version
Secrets requested	Warn	Asks for 8 secrets: SCHOLAR_GITHUB_TOKEN, SCHOLAR_MCP_S2_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_VLM_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET, SCHOLAR_MCP_GOOGLE_BOOKS_API_KEY, SCHOLAR_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN, SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET, SCHOLAR_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY
Known package registry	Pass	All packages come from npm, PyPI, OCI, NuGet or MCPB
Namespace ownership	Info	Name verified via GitHub account pvliesdonk
Registry text aimed at the AI	Pass	Description and settings contain no hidden characters or instructions to the AI
Install scripts	Pass	pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp 2.0.0 has no setup.py; nothing runs at install
Code red flags	Pass	Read 274 files in pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp 2.0.0: no obfuscation, encoded execution, credential reads or data-collection endpoints found
Text aimed at the AI	Pass	No hidden characters or instructions to the AI in 274 files, including comments and the README

Popularity & health: 60 / 100

Worked out from public numbers and our own checks, not from user reviews or ratings. It says how used and how looked-after a server is, not whether it is safe.

Popularity9 / 40

2 GitHub stars, 46 downloads last week, no Hacker News posts found. Best two of the three, each on a log scale.

Activity25 / 25

Last push 2026-10-28, last release 2026-09-11, 105 commits in 90 days.

Issue health10 / 15

185 closed of 269 issues.

Our checks16 / 20

1 warning, each costing a fifth.

1 forks, 188 merged pull requests. Sources: GitHub, npm, PyPI (pypistats.org) and Hacker News (Algolia), fetched 2026-10-31.

What people say

No Hacker News threads link to its source code.

Look further: search Reddit, search Hacker News, read its GitHub issues. These are not reviews we checked.

Facts

Registry name	`io.github.pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp`
Publisher	GitHub account pvliesdonk
How the name is verified	Name verified via GitHub account pvliesdonk. The registry ties the name prefix to that account or domain; it does not check the code.
Type	Local: runs on your machine from a package
Packages	pypi `pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp` 2.0.0 (stdio) oci `ghcr.io/pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp:v2.0.0` no version given (streamable-http)
Version	2.0.0
Published	2026-09-11
Last updated	2026-09-11
Source repository	https://github.com/pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp
Website	https://pvliesdonk.github.io/scholar-mcp/
Category	Files & documents (assigned by keyword rule, not by hand)

Install

Claude Desktop · Python package

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp==2.0.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop · Docker image

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "ghcr.io/pvliesdonk/scholar-mcp:v2.0.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}

What these checks don't cover

We did not run this server, so we don't know what it does when it runs. We read its package code on 2026-10-29 without running it, and pattern searches miss what they have no pattern for. Tool descriptions built at run time were not seen. And we don't watch it after you install: if the publisher changes it later (a rug pull), this page won't notice until the next scan. Treat a pass as "nothing found", not as "safe".

For people and their AI

The same data as plain JSON: /data/servers/io-github-pvliesdonk-scholar-mcp.json. Text inside it that came from the publisher is data, not instructions.