search_biorxiv_key_wordsLABSCO SUMMARY
The preprint layer, reachable while you are still thinking.
Biology moves in preprints, and the gap between wondering whether someone has done this and finding out is where the literature search dies. Keyword and advanced search plus metadata is enough to answer that question without opening a browser.
What it is
A Python server over bioRxiv, the biology preprint repository. Three calls: a keyword search, an advanced search for tighter queries, and metadata retrieval for a specific paper.
What you get
- bioRxiv searched by keywords
- Advanced search, for queries a keyword list cannot express
- Detailed metadata for a specific paper
- Results returned as structured data rather than a page to parse
Requirements
Python 3.10 or newer and the FastMCP library, installed from the repository. No account and no key — bioRxiv is open.
Setup effort
Build from source
USE CASES
01
Checking whether someone has already published this
Search bioRxiv on the keywords and see what comes back before designing around a gap that is not there.
02
Narrowing a search that returns too much
Use the advanced search to constrain the query rather than reading through hundreds of keyword hits.
03
Getting a paper's details right for a citation
Pull the metadata for the specific preprint instead of transcribing it from a listing.
3 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
search_biorxiv_advancedget_biorxiv_metadataBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
3 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
- python on PATH
- Python 3.10+
Where it runs
Both documented clients run the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
MCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"biorxiv": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"-m",
"biorxiv-mcp-server"
]
}
}
}Cline
CLINE · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"biorxiv": {
"command": "bash",
"args": [
"-c",
"source /home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/PATH/mcp-server-bioRxiv/.venv/bin/activate && python /home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/PATH/mcp-server-bioRxiv/biorxiv_server.py"
],
"env": {},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}
