Dsh Lit Search

What dsh-lit-search does

dsh-lit-search MCP server provides MCP tools for finding academic publications and preparing reference data. Its search tool queries Crossref, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar, then combines the responses into one result set. Records are deduplicated by DOI, and results include citation counts when available from the underlying sources.

The server also handles citation formatting for an individual DOI. Supported formats are GB/T 7714, GB/T 7714 numeric, APA, and BibTeX. For larger reference lists, a batch tool accepts multiple DOIs and returns BibTeX entries while identifying DOIs that could not be processed.

A related-works tool uses OpenAlex to retrieve works related to a supplied DOI. This makes the server suitable for agents that need to move from an initial paper to nearby literature, as well as for workflows that require formatted references after searching.

How it works

The package is a thin MCP wrapper around the dsh-lit-search package. An MCP host starts the server as a local process, and the exposed tools handle requests from the connected agent. Searches can be limited by result count, constrained with a start and end year, and sorted by citations, date, or relevance.

Search spans three scholarly metadata services rather than relying on one index. The merged output is deduplicated using DOI values, so the same publication returned by multiple sources is represented once. Citation formatting and BibTeX generation operate from DOI-based publication metadata. Related-paper lookup is routed through OpenAlex.

No API key is required according to the project documentation. The server requires Node.js version 20 or newer.

Setup and configuration

Install and run dsh-lit-search MCP server with npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lit-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dsh-lit-search-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

This configuration can be used with MCP hosts such as Cursor. Claude Code can add the server with:

claude mcp add lit-search -- npx -y dsh-lit-search-mcp

The material does not specify environment variables or additional configuration values. The project is listed in the official MCP Registry as io.github.Flan246/dsh-lit-search.

Tools and capabilities

• lit_search: Searches Crossref, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar. Accepts limit, year_from, year_to, and sort; supported sort values are citations, date, and relevance.
• lit_cite: Formats one DOI as GB/T 7714, GB/T 7714 numeric, APA, or BibTeX. GB/T 7714 is the default format.
• lit_bib: Produces BibTeX entries for a list of DOIs and reports failures.
• lit_related: Finds related works for a DOI through OpenAlex.

Limitations and notes

The documentation does not describe full-text retrieval, PDF downloading, or access to subscription content. The search result set depends on the metadata returned by Crossref, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar. Citation formatting and BibTeX generation require DOI-based inputs, while failed DOI processing is reported by the batch tool rather than silently omitted.