Searches Semantic Scholar papers and authors, traverses citation graphs and fetches recommendations.
Setup
Choose your client, copy the config, then fill in any required environment variables.
claude mcp add semantic-scholar --env SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY='<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>' -- uvx s2-mcp-server~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.semantic-scholar]
command = "uvx"
args = ["s2-mcp-server"]
env = { SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY = "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>" }
# codex mcp add semantic-scholar --env SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY='<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>' -- uvx s2-mcp-server~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"s2-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.vscode/mcp.json
{
"servers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"s2-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}~/.gemini/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"s2-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"s2-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.trae/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-scholar": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"s2-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY": "<SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Environment variables
SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY
Replace the placeholders with your own credentials and keep them out of version control.