Paper Distill MCP
Search and curate academic papers across multiple sources from your agent, then sync highlights into Zotero, Obsidian, or push ranked picks to Telegram or Discord.
Overview
Paper Distill MCP is an MCP server for the Idea phase that searches eleven academic sources with AI curation and supports Zotero, Obsidian, Telegram, and Discord outputs.
What is this MCP server?
- Academic paper search across 11 sources with AI curation and ranked push
- Zotero and Obsidian export support for knowledge-base workflows
- Optional Telegram (TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID) and Discord webhook delivery
- OpenAlex polite pool via OPENALEX_EMAIL; CORE_API_KEY for enhanced open-access retrieval
- PyPI package paper-distill-mcp v0.2.4 with uvx runtime hint
- 11 academic paper sources in product description
- Server package version 0.2.4 on PyPI
- 5 documented optional or required environment variables in manifest excerpt
Community signal: 65 GitHub stars.
What problem does it solve?
You waste hours hopping between databases and chat apps when you need credible papers to justify a build or positioning decision.
Who is it for?
Indie builders doing technical or science-heavy ideas who already use Zotero or Obsidian and want agent-driven literature sweeps.
Skip if: Builders who only need casual blog SEO research without citations, PDFs, or bibliography tooling.
What do I get? / Deliverables
After registering paper-distill-mcp, your agent can query multiple indexes, curate ranked papers, and route them into your library or notification channels.
- Cross-source paper search with AI-ranked results
- Exports compatible with Zotero and Obsidian workflows
- Optional push notifications of curated papers to Telegram or Discord
Recommended MCP Servers
Journey fit
Paper discovery belongs in Idea because you use it before committing to a product thesis, tech choice, or niche positioning. Research is the canonical subphase for literature review, competitor science, and evidence gathering across external indexes.
How it compares
Multi-source academic search MCP, not a general web-scrape or brainstorming skill.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is Paper Distill MCP for?
Solo builders and researchers using AI agents who need structured academic search, curation, and export into Zotero, Obsidian, or chat notifications.
When should I use Paper Distill MCP?
Use it in the idea and research step when choosing a technical approach, writing a lit review, or tracking new papers in a niche before you validate with users.
How do I add Paper Distill to my agent?
Add the paper-distill-mcp PyPI server via stdio (uvx hint), set OPENALEX_EMAIL and any optional CORE, Telegram, or Discord vars, then restart your MCP client.