harcx-mcp

MCP server for verifying BibTeX citations using harcx. Allows AI assistants like Claude to check your bibliography against Semantic Scholar, DBLP, and other academic databases.

Thanks to the original harcx package for providing the citation verification functionality.

Quick Setup

1. Create a .vscode folder in your project (if it doesn't exist)
2. Create .vscode/mcp.json with:

   {
     "servers": {
       "harcx": {
         "command": "python",
         "args": ["/path/to/harcx_mcp.py"]
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Use #harcx in Claude Code to access the tools:

   verify citations in references.bib
   verify urls in references.bib
   

Installation

pip install "mcp[cli]" harcx

Usage

With Claude Code

Add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "harcx": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/harcx_mcp.py"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask Claude to verify your citations:

verify citations in references.bib

With Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "harcx": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/harcx_mcp.py"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

verify_citations

Verify academic papers and books against Semantic Scholar and DBLP.

Parameters:

• bib_content (required): Path to .bib file or inline BibTeX content
• author_threshold (optional): Author name match tolerance, 0.0-1.0 (default: 0.6)
• check_urls (optional): Also verify URLs in citations (default: false)
• api_key (optional): Semantic Scholar API key for higher rate limits

Example:

Check the citations in my thesis.bib file

verify_urls

Check that URLs in your bibliography are accessible.

Parameters:

• bib_content (required): Path to .bib file or inline BibTeX content

Example:

Verify all URLs in references.bib are still working

Rate Limits

Semantic Scholar has rate limits. If you're checking many citations, you may see 429 errors and retries. For higher limits, get a free API key from Semantic Scholar and pass it via the api_key parameter.

License

MIT