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Scholar MCP for VS Code

io.github.liyux3/scholar-mcp

Federated academic search, citation traversal, persistent PDF download, and temporary reading.

client:VS Code transport:stdio runtime:pypi

Install Scholar MCP in VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "scholar-data-dir",
      "description": "SCHOLAR_DATA_DIR",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "scholar-mcp-extensions",
      "description": "SCHOLAR_MCP_EXTENSIONS",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "s2-api-key",
      "description": "S2_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "openalex-api-key",
      "description": "OPENALEX_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "core-api-key",
      "description": "CORE_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "scopus-api-key",
      "description": "SCOPUS_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "dashscope-api-key",
      "description": "DASHSCOPE_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "exa-api-key",
      "description": "EXA_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "zotero-api-key",
      "description": "ZOTERO_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "zotero-library-id",
      "description": "ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "notion-api-key",
      "description": "NOTION_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "notion-data-source-id",
      "description": "NOTION_DATA_SOURCE_ID",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "scholar-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "scholar-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SCHOLAR_DATA_DIR": "${input:scholar-data-dir}",
        "SCHOLAR_MCP_EXTENSIONS": "${input:scholar-mcp-extensions}",
        "S2_API_KEY": "${input:s2-api-key}",
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "${input:openalex-api-key}",
        "CORE_API_KEY": "${input:core-api-key}",
        "SCOPUS_API_KEY": "${input:scopus-api-key}",
        "DASHSCOPE_API_KEY": "${input:dashscope-api-key}",
        "EXA_API_KEY": "${input:exa-api-key}",
        "ZOTERO_API_KEY": "${input:zotero-api-key}",
        "ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID": "${input:zotero-library-id}",
        "NOTION_API_KEY": "${input:notion-api-key}",
        "NOTION_DATA_SOURCE_ID": "${input:notion-data-source-id}"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code prompts for each input the first time the server starts, so no secret is written to the file. VS Code docs

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