StayAcademic MCP connector

Your research library, inside Claude.

Connect StayAcademic and Claude can search and read every paper in your notebooks, quote the passage behind each answer, and save what it finds back to your library.

Connector URL: https://backend-idnxe3jcta-uk.a.run.app/mcp

What it adds to Claude

Claude already knows the open web. Connected to StayAcademic, it also knows your research.

  • Your papers. On its own: Re-upload PDFs in every chat. With StayAcademic: Every notebook, in every chat, with nothing to upload.
  • How much it can use. On its own: A few papers before the chat fills up. With StayAcademic: Hundreds of papers, searched passage by passage.
  • Citations. On its own: Summaries you have to check by hand. With StayAcademic: The exact passage and paper behind each claim.
  • Research gaps. On its own: Guesses from whatever you paste in. With StayAcademic: Gap scans with quoted evidence, checked against the wider field.
  • What it finds. On its own: Gone when the chat ends. With StayAcademic: Saved to your notebook and watched for new papers.

What Claude can do with it

  • Search your papers. Finds the passages that answer your question across a notebook’s full text, labelled so Claude cites them.
  • Read a whole paper. Reads one paper from start to finish, part by part, for a real summary or review.
  • Find research gaps. Runs StayAcademic’s gap scan for contradictions, open questions and untested ideas, each with the quotes behind it.
  • Check the field. Screens a saved gap against OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar and arXiv to see whether someone has already filled it.
  • Build your library. Creates notebooks, finds recent papers, and adds them by DOI or arXiv id with their full text indexed.
  • Briefs and reports. Starts a brief or report from a notebook’s sources, waits for it to finish, and lets you cancel it.

Connect in a minute

  1. Copy the connector URL.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and paste it.
  3. Sign in to StayAcademic when Claude asks, and choose Allow access.

Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http stayacademic https://backend-idnxe3jcta-uk.a.run.app/mcp

ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients: add a remote (HTTP) MCP server with the same URL.

Then just ask

  • What do the papers in my thesis notebook say about sample size?
  • Summarise the Nadj-Perge paper in my Majorana notebook.
  • Find research gaps in my thesis notebook and save the ones I agree with.
  • Start a notebook on iron-based superconductors and add five recent papers.

You stay in control

  • It acts only as you, and sees only your own notebooks.
  • You approve it once on a StayAcademic sign-in page, and can disconnect it any time in Settings → Connectors.
  • It can’t change your account, billing or settings, and can’t delete notebooks.
  • Claude is asked to check with you before it starts anything that uses your plan, like a gap scan or report.

All 17 tools

  • list_notebooks: Your notebooks, with how many sources each holds
  • get_notebook: One notebook’s research question and sources
  • create_notebook: A new notebook, with an optional research question
  • search_notebook: Passages from a notebook’s papers, ready to cite
  • read_source: One paper’s full text, in order, a part at a time
  • search_papers: Recent papers on a topic, from OpenAlex
  • add_paper: Add a paper by DOI or arXiv id
  • list_gaps: Saved gaps and the latest scan’s suggestions
  • save_gap: Save a research gap to a notebook
  • save_suggestion: Keep a scan’s suggestion, with its quotes
  • update_gap: Change a saved gap’s status or wording
  • check_gap: Check a saved gap against the wider field
  • get_gap_check: The result of a field check
  • start_run: Start a gap scan, brief or report
  • get_run: A run’s progress and result, waiting up to 25 seconds
  • cancel_run: Stop a run that is still going
  • list_skills: Your saved StayAcademic skills, offered as prompts

Questions

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude use tools and data from other apps. StayAcademic runs an MCP server, so any MCP client can work with your notebooks.

Which apps does it work with?

Claude on the web and desktop, and Claude Code. It also works with ChatGPT, Cursor and any client that supports remote MCP servers over HTTP.

Does it cost anything?

Connecting is free on every plan. Searching and reading don’t use your run allowance. Gap scans, field checks, briefs and reports count toward your plan, and new notebooks, papers and saved gaps stay within your plan’s limits, just as they do in the app.

Do I need a StayAcademic account?

Yes, a free one. You can make it while you connect: Claude opens the StayAcademic sign-in for you.

What does Claude see?

Only what it asks for in a chat. Each tool returns the notebook details, passages or paper parts it needs, and that text goes to the AI app you connected. Nothing from other accounts is ever reachable.

How do I disconnect it?

In StayAcademic, open Settings → Connectors and choose Disconnect next to the app. You can also remove the connector in Claude.

Bring your papers to Claude.

Start a free notebook, add your papers, then connect.

Start a free notebook