Scholar Sidekick MCP Server

Catch AI-fabricated citations (real DOI + fake title). Retraction, open-access, 10,000+ CSL styles. Its 7 documented tools cluster into verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, format citation.

People who work with academic, arxiv and bibliography and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-09-04 · ★ 9 · #21 OF 71 MAINTAINED SCIENCE & HEALTH · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

MIT · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Scholar Sidekick

before you install - you'll need

SCHOLAR_API_KEY

Environment variables documented in the project's README - it lists which are required and which have defaults.

Claude Code

claude mcp add mlava-scholar-sidekick-mcp --transport http https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mlava-scholar-sidekick-mcp": {
      "url": "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-09-17

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to scholar-sidekick.com

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license MIT - declared in the repository

npm package scholar-sidekick-mcp - unscoped; check the name against the project README before installing

registry namespace io.github.mlava is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Scholar Sidekick can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

An agent gets 7 documented tools across verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, including verifyCitation, auditBibliography, resolveIdentifier, formatCitation.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Scholar Sidekick lets an agent do.

Verify Citation

1 tool - e.g. Verify a claimed citation against the resolved record at its identifier. Detects the Topaz et al. (Lancet 2026) fabrication pattern - real DOI + invented title

verifyCitation

Audit Bibliography

1 tool - e.g. Run the verifyCitation check plus a retraction lookup across a whole bibliography in one call. Accepts raw BibTeX, RIS, or CSL-JSON text, or a pre-parsed claims

auditBibliography

Resolve Identifier

1 tool - e.g. Resolve DOIs, PMIDs, PMCIDs, ISBNs, arXiv IDs, ISSNs, ADS bibcodes, and WHO IRIS URLs to structured bibliographic metadata (CSL JSON). Accepts a single identifi

resolveIdentifier

Format Citation

1 tool - e.g. Format one or many identifiers into Vancouver, AMA, APA, IEEE, CSE, or any of 10,000+ CSL styles. Output as text, HTML, or JSON. Returns formatted citations plu

formatCitation

Export Citation

1 tool - e.g. Export one or many identifiers to BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, EndNote (XML/Refer), RefWorks, MEDLINE, Zotero RDF, CSV, or plain text - ready to write to disk or hand

exportCitation

Check Retraction

1 tool - e.g. Check whether a single work has been retracted, corrected, or had an expression of concern raised. Sourced from Crossref updated-by (Retraction Watch). Resolves

checkRetraction

Check Open Access

1 tool - e.g. Check whether a single work is openly accessible and where to find the best legal version. Sourced from Unpaywall. Returns OA status (gold/green/hybrid/bronze/c

checkOpenAccess

Latest releases

v0.8.11 · 2026-09-04

The npm registry truncates package.json descriptions at 255 characters, mid-word. Ours was 319, so npm and every directory that ingests from it served a description ending '...plus citation formatti'. Now 233 characters.

v0.8.10 · 2026-09-02

Every claims[] field now carries a description, and the tool states that entry index is 1-based, what sourceKey maps back to, and that summary.retracted is a separate axis from the verdict counts.

v0.8.9 · 2026-09-01

The API now expands shortDOI aliases: 10/aabbe (minted at shortdoi.org) is a Handle alias for a full DOI, and the server resolves it to that DOI before doing any work. Nothing here rejected one before - the schemas are…

04 · Who maintains Scholar Sidekick

Scholar Sidekick is maintained by mlava. We track 2 MCP servers from mlava - 2 actively maintained, 10 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Feb 2026.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp
website: https://scholar-sidekick.com/mcp
category: science & health - ranked #21 of 71 actively-maintained science & health servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence: 10+ releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-04)
registry: io.github.mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp (active, first published 2026-02-13 · 20 versions)
packages: npm:scholar-sidekick-mcp

06 · Scholar Sidekick FAQ

Is Scholar Sidekick still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-09-04 and it shipped 10+ releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Scholar Sidekick do?

An agent gets 7 documented tools across verify citation, audit bibliography, resolve identifier, including verifyCitation, auditBibliography, resolveIdentifier, formatCitation.

How do I install Scholar Sidekick?

Run `npx -y scholar-sidekick-mcp`. The README documents one environment variable (SCHOLAR_API_KEY) to set first. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Scholar Sidekick require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-09-17; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Scholar Sidekick

Alternatives to Scholar Sidekick

Maintained science & health servers if Scholar Sidekick isn't the fit.

More science & health MCP servers · Molecare MCP · Data Aggregator · Pubcrawl · Redacta MCP · DICOM/HL7/FHIR Interoperability MCP Server

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