Scholar Sidekick MCP Server

MCP server for Scholar Sidekick — resolve, format, and export academic citations from any AI assistant.

Tools

| Tool | Description | | --- | --- | | resolveIdentifier | Resolve DOIs, PMIDs, PMCIDs, ISBNs, arXiv IDs, ISSNs, ADS bibcodes to structured bibliographic metadata | | formatCitation | Format identifiers into Vancouver, AMA, APA, IEEE, CSE, or 10,000+ CSL styles. Output as text, HTML, or JSON | | exportCitation | Export to BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, EndNote (XML/Refer), RefWorks, MEDLINE, Zotero RDF, CSV, or plain text |

Setup

Get a RapidAPI key

1. Subscribe to Scholar Sidekick on RapidAPI (free tier available)
2. Copy your RapidAPI key

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-sidekick": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-sidekick-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "RAPIDAPI_KEY": "your-rapidapi-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add scholar-sidekick \
  -e RAPIDAPI_KEY=your-rapidapi-key \
  -- npx -y scholar-sidekick-mcp@latest

Cursor / VS Code / Windsurf

Add to .cursor/mcp.json or .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-sidekick": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "scholar-sidekick-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "RAPIDAPI_KEY": "your-rapidapi-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | RAPIDAPI_KEY | Yes | Your RapidAPI subscription key | | RAPIDAPI_HOST | No | RapidAPI host (defaults to scholar-sidekick.p.rapidapi.com) | | SCHOLAR_SIDEKICK_TIMEOUT_MS | No | Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 30000) |

Supported Citation Styles

Scholar Sidekick supports 10,000+ CSL styles, including all major formats used in academic publishing:

| Style | Keyword | | --- | --- | | Vancouver | vancouver | | APA (7th ed.) | apa | | AMA | ama | | IEEE | ieee | | CSE | cse | | Chicago (author-date) | chicago-author-date | | Harvard | harvard-cite-them-right | | MLA | modern-language-association | | Turabian | turabian-fullnote-bibliography | | Nature | nature | | BMJ | bmj | | Lancet | the-lancet |

Any CSL style ID can be passed as the style parameter.

Example Usage

Once connected, ask your AI assistant:

• "Format 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700 in Vancouver style"
• "Resolve PMID:30049270 and export as BibTeX"
• "Format these as APA: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700, PMID:30049270, ISBN:9780192854087"
• "Give me a Chicago citation for arXiv:2301.08745"

Supported Identifiers

• DOIs (e.g. 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700)
• PubMed IDs (e.g. PMID:30049270)
• PubMed Central IDs (e.g. PMC7793608)
• ISBNs (e.g. ISBN:9780192854087)
• arXiv IDs (e.g. 2301.08745)
• ISSNs and eISSNs
• NASA ADS bibcodes
• WHO IRIS URLs

REST API

For programmatic access outside of MCP clients, Scholar Sidekick is also available as a REST API on RapidAPI. Your same RapidAPI key works for both.

Development

npm install
npm run build    # Bundle to dist/mcp-server.mjs
npm test         # Run tests
npm run typecheck

License

MIT