paper-search-mcp (bbutlerau/paper-search-mcp) is an MCP server listed on the M8ven Trust Index. M8ven has not graded it: we have no way to read this server ourselves. No publisher has claimed this listing.

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C
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71/100
22 days ago

paper-search-mcp

Enables searching scholarly literature across CrossRef, ERIC, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex, and retrieving open-access PDFs via Unpaywall.

→ bbutlerau/paper-search-mcp· listed on glama

Limited view. Automated analysis covers part of this stack. Findings reflect what we verified. Grades reflect the full trust pyramid: code, verification depth, and reputation. New projects cap at C until adoption is earned.

Limited view: static analysis for Python is partially covered.

How we verified

Code Verified⚡ Live Monitored: not connected

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⚡ Connect GitHub → continuous verification on every pushwhy connect →

Who stands behind it

bbutlerau

Source: Glama

Is this your MCP?

Claim it to get a verified publisher badge, a free copy of our full audit findings, and direct contact for any high-priority issues we find. Or connect your repo for our deepest verification, Live Monitored: read-only, revoke anytime. What we access →

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Install from

Glama

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// key findings
✅
No credential exfiltration, no sensitive file access, no obfuscation
Static analysis found nothing flowing your secrets to unexpected places.
✅
Open source with a license and README
Anyone can audit the code, the license is declared, and the publisher documents what it does.
🔐
You'll be asked for 1 credential: SEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEY
These are read from process.env at runtime. Make sure you trust where they’ll be sent.
// environment variables
To run this server yourself, you supply these values. They go in your own MCP client configuration and stay on your machine. The secret label means the value is sensitive, not that the server mishandles it.
configMCP_ALLOWED_HOSTSComma-separated Host headers to accept (DNS-rebinding protection); required when behind a reverse proxy
configMCP_PUBLIC_URLExternally-visible base URL. When set, enables OAuth 2.1. Leave unset for local stdio use.
configMCP_HOST/ MCP_PORT Bind address (default 127.0.0.1:8000)
configMCP_PORTMCP_HOST / Bind address (default 127.0.0.1:8000)
configPAPER_SEARCH_CONTACT_EMAILe =you@example.com \
🔐 secretSEMANTIC_SCHOLAR_API_KEYA personal Semantic Scholar key. Without one, S2 calls fall back to the shared unauthenticated rate limit, which is slower and more prone to 429s. Everything else works unaffected.
configMCP_TRANSPORTstdio (default) or streamable-http
// quality suggestions

Tool annotations

No tools have read-only/destructive annotations

Add readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations to every tool so hosts can warn users before invoking.

All four hints declared on every tool

9/9 tools missing one or more hints — search_crossref (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint); get_crossref_work (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint); search_eric (missing: readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint), +6 more. OpenAI's directory rejects tools where any of the four hints are missing or non-boolean.

For every tool, set all four hints (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint) to explicit true/false values that match the handler’s actual behaviour.

Tool handlers catch errors

Only 0/9 tool handlers wrap calls in try/catch (0%)

Wrap each tool handler body in try/catch and return a structured error response.

Tests exist

No test files found

Add tests that exercise each declared tool.

Claim the listing to review these findings one by one and send us a correction where you disagree, straight to the team. Claiming also means we tell you when the grade moves, and reach you first if we find anything urgent.

// full audit trail
The findings above are the summary. The full trail, every check we ran, each deduction, the network hosts observed and the dependency advisories, goes to verified publishers, along with an alert whenever a new one lands. Verified publishers can also review each finding and dispute it in one click. Publisher corrections have sharpened several of our checks this month, because the maintainer knows the codebase better than any scanner.
// improvement guidance — verified publishers only
We have 4 concrete improvements we can share with the publisher of this MCP. Each comes with specific guidance to raise the trust score.
// embed badge in your README
[![M8ven Score](https://m8ven.ai/badge/mcp/bbutlerau-paper-search-mcp-10mq5b)](https://m8ven.ai/mcp/bbutlerau-paper-search-mcp-10mq5b)
Shows your grade and updates automatically. Prefer no grade? Append ?variant=verified to the badge URL.
commit: 28ebaa642fd9e86f3ce4519463593e5a7ec22694
code hash: c891bc373bcd8e8c59e5fcc38930b28c135bc91924c5ad4d48536156e83335e6
verified: 8/11/2026, 7:43:06 AM
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