Client Setup

Claude Code

Using globally installed binary:

claude mcp add -s user \
  -e SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio \
  -e SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS=350 \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS=true \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS=true \
  -- scholar_mcp scholar-mcp --transport=stdio

Using npx:

claude mcp add -s user \
  -e SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio \
  -e SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS=350 \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS=true \
  -e RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS=true \
  -- scholar_mcp npx -y scholar-mcp --transport=stdio

Check status:

claude mcp get scholar_mcp

Important: keep the -- before scholar_mcp when using multiple -e flags.

OpenAI Codex App

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.scholar_mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "scholar-mcp", "--transport=stdio"]

[mcp_servers.scholar_mcp.env]
SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT = "stdio"
SCHOLAR_REQUEST_DELAY_MS = "350"
RESEARCH_ALLOW_REMOTE_PDFS = "true"
RESEARCH_ALLOW_LOCAL_PDFS = "true"

Generic MCP Clients

Use one of the following:

• scholar-mcp --transport=stdio
• npx -y scholar-mcp --transport=stdio

For HTTP mode:

1. Start server with SCHOLAR_MCP_TRANSPORT=http scholar-mcp
2. Connect MCP client to http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp
3. Optionally set SCHOLAR_MCP_API_KEY and send bearer token from client