bgpt-paper-search - Claude MCP Skill

# BGPT Paper Search

## Overview

BGPT is a remote MCP server that searches a curated database of scientific papers built from raw experimental data extracted from full-text studies. Unlike traditional literature databases that return titles and abstracts, BGPT returns structured data from the actual paper content — methods, quantitative results, sample sizes, quality assessments, and 25+ metadata fields per paper.

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:
- Searching for scientific papers with specific experimental details
- Conducting systematic or scoping literature reviews
- Finding quantitative results, sample sizes, or effect sizes across studies
- Comparing methodologies used in different studies
- Looking for papers with quality scores or evidence grading
- Needing structured data from full-text papers (not just abstracts)
- Building evidence tables for meta-analyses or clinical guidelines

## Setup

BGPT is a remote MCP server — no local installation required. Configure it in your agent's MCP settings before use; this skill instructs the agent to call the `search_papers` MCP tool and does not enable MCP access by itself.

### Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP configuration:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bgpt": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://bgpt.pro/mcp/sse"]
    }
  }
}
```

### npm (alternative)

```bash
npx bgpt-mcp
```

## Usage

Once the BGPT MCP server is configured, call its `search_papers` tool via the agent's MCP interface (not via Bash):

```
Search for papers about: "CRISPR gene editing efficiency in human cells"
```

The server returns structured results including:
- **Title, authors, journal, year, DOI**
- **Methods**: Experimental techniques, models, protocols
- **Results**: Key findings with quantitative data
- **Sample sizes**: Number of subjects/samples
- **Quality scores**: Study quality assessments
- **Conclusions**: Author conclusions and implications

## Pricing

- **Free tier**: 50 searches per network, no API key required
- **Paid**: $0.01 per result with an API key from [bgpt.pro/mcp](https://bgpt.pro/mcp)