Documentation

Tools exposed by Citation Library and the limits that apply.

Connect

Server URL: https://cite.tidybutton.com/mcp. Authentication is OAuth with dynamic client registration and an email sign-in code. Claude: Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector.

Tools

lookup_reference

Resolves a DOI, ISBN, arXiv id or PubMed id to verified metadata formatted in four styles plus BibTeX. For a title, returns up to 5 candidates with a match score.

• Inputs: query (identifier, URL containing one, or title text)
• Limits: Counts one lookup per record fetched from a source. Records fetched in the last 30 days are not counted again.

add_to_library

Resolves up to 10 identifiers and saves the resolved records in a named library, creating it if needed. Repeats are skipped.

• Inputs: library (name), identifiers (up to 10 DOIs, ISBNs, arXiv ids or PubMed ids)
• Limits: One lookup per record fetched from a source. Plan limits apply to libraries and to references per library.

list_libraries

Lists the libraries on the account with reference counts and the plan limits.

• Inputs: none
• Limits: Up to 500 libraries listed.

get_library

Returns a page of a library formatted as APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago author-date, Harvard or BibTeX, sorted by first author or by date added.

• Inputs: library, style, sort, offset, limit (1 to 100)
• Limits: At most 100 entries per call. Italics are marked with asterisks.

export_library

Writes a library to a downloadable .bib, .ris, .json or .txt file.

• Inputs: library, format (bibtex, ris, csl-json, text), style (for text), offset, limit (1 to 1,000)
• Limits: Up to 1,000 references per file; larger libraries are exported in parts. Files are kept for 90 days.

remove_from_library

Deletes references from a library by citation key or identifier, or deletes the whole library.

• Inputs: library, references (up to 50 keys or identifiers) or delete_library (true)
• Limits: Deleted references cannot be restored.

account_status

Shows the account email, plan, usage and limits.

• Inputs: none
• Limits: none

activate_license

Binds a licence key to the account.

• Inputs: license_key (string)
• Limits: Key must belong to this product.

Plan limits

Network behaviour

Outbound requests use the user agent TidyButtonBot/1.0 (+https://cite.tidybutton.com/bot), time out after 8 seconds and are blocked from private, loopback and link-local addresses.