mcp-server-ads

A powerful MCP server for the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) — the primary database for astrophysics literature. Search papers, traverse citation graphs forward and backward, export BibTeX, compute metrics, and manage reading lists, all through natural language. Works with Claude Desktop/Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, and any MCP-compatible client.

Provides 11 tools, 3 resources, and 3 prompt workflows with token-efficient output designed for LLM consumption.

Quick Start

Get an ADS API Token

1. Create a free account at NASA ADS
2. Log in and go to Settings > API Token
3. Click Generate a new key and copy the token

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+

Installation

# Install from GitHub with uv (recommended)
uv tool install git+https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads

# Or with pip
pip install git+https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ads": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads", "mcp-server-ads"],
      "env": {
        "ADS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user mcp-server-ads -e ADS_API_TOKEN=your-api-token-here -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads mcp-server-ads

Use --scope project instead to share the configuration via .mcp.json in your repo, or omit --scope for local (current project only).

Codex CLI

codex mcp add mcp-server-ads --env ADS_API_TOKEN=your-api-token-here -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads mcp-server-ads

This installs to ~/.codex/config.toml (user-level, available across all projects). For project-scoped config, add the entry to .codex/config.toml in your project root instead.

Running from Source

git clone https://github.com/cbyrohl/mcp-server-ads.git
cd mcp-server-ads
uv sync

# Run the server
ADS_API_TOKEN=your-token uv run mcp-server-ads

Configuration

Environment Variable	Required	Default	Description
ADS_API_TOKEN	Yes	—	API token from ADS
ADS_API_URL	No	https://api.adsabs.harvard.edu	API base URL (override for SciX)

Tools (11)

Search

Tool	Description
ads_search	Search the ADS database with full query syntax, including citations(), references(), similar(), trending(), and reviews() operators
ads_bigquery	Search within a specific set of bibcodes (up to 2000)

Export & Metrics

Tool	Description
ads_export	Export records in 18+ formats (BibTeX, AASTeX, RIS, CSL, etc.)
ads_metrics	Compute citation metrics (h-index, g-index, citation counts, etc.)

Libraries

Tool	Description
ads_library	Manage libraries: list, get, create, edit, or delete saved paper collections
ads_library_documents	Manage documents and notes within a library: add/remove papers, set operations (union, intersection, difference, copy, empty), and note CRUD

Discovery & Resolution

Tool	Description
ads_resolve_links	Resolve available links for a paper (full text, data, etc.)
ads_object_search	Translate astronomical object names to ADS queries (SIMBAD/NED)
ads_citation_helper	Suggest papers that should be cited alongside a given set
ads_resolve_reference	Resolve free-text reference strings to ADS bibcodes

Network Visualization

Tool	Description
ads_network	Generate author collaboration or paper citation networks from a set of papers

Resources

URI	Description
ads://fields	Complete reference of searchable and returnable ADS fields
ads://syntax	ADS query syntax quick-reference with examples
ads://rate-limits	Live API rate-limit status

Prompts

Prompt	Description
literature_review	Multi-step literature review workflow for a research topic
citation_analysis	Citation network analysis workflow for a set of papers
generate_bibliography	Generate a formatted bibliography from search or bibcodes

Similar Projects

• prtc/nasa-ads-mcp — ADS search, metrics, and library management
• thostetler/scix-mcp — MCP server for the SciX/ADS API
• blazickjp/arxiv-mcp-server — MCP server for arXiv paper search and retrieval

This server focuses on broad ADS API coverage, token-efficient output, and integration-tested reliability. Compared to arXiv-based tools, ADS enables forward/backward citation traversal (citations and references of any paper), though it is focused on astrophysics.

Development

# Install dev dependencies
uv sync

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Lint
uv run ruff check src/ tests/

# Run the server locally
ADS_API_TOKEN=your-token uv run mcp-server-ads

License

MIT