Available Tools

ads-mcp registers 13 tools with the MCP host. Each tool accepts structured arguments and returns plain-text output that is easy for an AI assistant to interpret and relay to the user.

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search_ads

Search the ADS database using the full ADS/Solr query syntax.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
query	str	(required)	ADS query string
rows	int	10	Number of results to return (1–2000)
start	int	0	Pagination offset
sort	str	"date desc"	Sort order
fields	str	sensible defaults	Comma-separated ADS fields

Example queries:

• "dark matter annihilation" — keyword search

• "author:Einstein AND title:relativity" — field-specific search

• "abs:exoplanet AND year:2020-2024" — abstract + year filter

• "property:refereed AND keyword:black hole" — refereed papers only

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get_abstract

Retrieve full metadata and the abstract of a paper by its ADS bibcode.

Parameter	Type	Description
bibcode	str	ADS bibcode, e.g. "2019ApJ...887L..24M"

Returns: title, authors, journal, DOI, arXiv ID, keywords, full abstract, and ADS URL.

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get_references

Retrieve the reference list of a paper.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
bibcode	str	(required)	ADS bibcode
rows	int	50	Maximum references to return

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get_citations

Retrieve papers that cite a given paper.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
bibcode	str	(required)	ADS bibcode
rows	int	50	Maximum citing papers to return

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export_bibtex

Export one or more papers as a BibTeX bibliography.

Parameter	Type	Description
bibcodes	list[str]	List of ADS bibcodes

Example: export_bibtex(["2019ApJ...887L..24M", "2023A&A...670A..42S"])

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export_ris

Export one or more papers in RIS format (compatible with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote).

Parameter	Type	Description
bibcodes	list[str]	List of ADS bibcodes

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export_citation

Export papers in any format supported by ADS.

Parameter	Type	Description
bibcodes	list[str]	List of ADS bibcodes
fmt	str	Target format (see below)

Supported formats: bibtex, bibtexabs, ris, endnote, procite, refworks, aastex, icarus, mnras, soph, dcxml, refxml, refabsxml, ads, medlars, votable.

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find_arxiv

Look up a paper by its arXiv identifier.

Parameter	Type	Description
arxiv_id	str	arXiv ID, e.g. "2301.07688" or "astro-ph/0612138"

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find_doi

Look up a paper by its DOI.

Parameter	Type	Description
doi	str	DOI, e.g. "10.3847/2041-8213/ab5c56"

Accepts both bare DOIs and https://doi.org/... URL forms.

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get_metrics

Retrieve citation and usage metrics for one or more papers.

Parameter	Type	Description
bibcodes	list[str]	List of ADS bibcodes

Returns: number of papers, total reads, total downloads, citation counts, and bibliometric indicators (h-index, g-index, i10-index, etc.).

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get_similar

Find papers similar to a given paper using ADS’s more-like-this operator.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
bibcode	str	(required)	ADS bibcode
rows	int	10	Number of similar papers

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author_search

Search for papers by a specific author.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
author	str	(required)	Author name, e.g. "Einstein, A"
rows	int	20	Maximum results
sort	str	"citation_count desc"	Sort order
refereed_only	bool	False	Restrict to refereed journals

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get_paper_details

Retrieve a comprehensive set of metadata fields for a paper.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
bibcode	str	(required)	ADS bibcode
fields	str	all available fields	Comma-separated field names

Returns a verbose key-value dump of all available ADS metadata for the paper.