asta-skill MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

Eight Semantic Scholar tools via MCP (get_paper, search_papers_by_relevance, get_citations, snippet_search, ...)
Intent→tool decision table so Claude picks the right function
Workflow patterns to avoid context-blow-up pitfalls (fields=citations warning baked in)
Batch operations for efficiency (get_paper_batch)
Works across Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / Windsurf / OpenClaw

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

asta-skill.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asta-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
        "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asta-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
        "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asta-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
        "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "asta-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
        "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "asta-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
        "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "asta-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill",
          "~/.claude/skills/asta-skill"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add asta-skill -- git clone https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill ~/.claude/skills/asta-skill

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use asta-skill

Run a literature review on a specific research question

👤 Grad students and researchers ⏱ ~60 min intermediate

When to use: You have a question and want to quickly map the relevant papers, not wade through Google Scholar.

Prerequisites

Skill cloned — git clone https://github.com/Agents365-ai/asta-skill ~/.claude/skills/asta-skill
Ai2 Asta MCP server reachable — Follow Asta MCP setup; the skill assumes the MCP is configured

Flow

Kick off the search

Use asta-skill — find highly-cited papers on retrieval-augmented generation from 2023-2024.✓ Copied

→ Claude calls search_papers_by_relevance with good filters, not a generic query
Walk the citation graph

For the top 3, show me what cited them since.✓ Copied

→ get_citations calls with appropriate filtering
Pull evidence snippets

Extract a 500-word passage from each paper explaining their main evaluation method.✓ Copied

→ snippet_search returns targeted passages

Outcome: A mapped review with citation chains and evidence snippets — not just titles.

Pitfalls

Requesting fields=citations bulk-returns megabytes — The skill warns against this — trust the guidance and paginate instead

Combine with: planning-with-files

Find a researcher's key papers and trace their influence

👤 Anyone profiling a potential collaborator or advisor ⏱ ~20 min beginner

When to use: You want a fast, accurate view of someone's publication record.

Flow

Resolve the author

asta-skill — find the author 'Jane Smith' who works on graph neural networks.✓ Copied

→ search_authors_by_name with disambiguation
Fetch papers

Get their papers sorted by citation count.✓ Copied

→ get_author_papers call with sort
Impact snapshot

For the top 3, who's cited them most and is building on the work?✓ Copied

→ Citation traversal showing ongoing lineage

Outcome: A one-page profile of a researcher's impact.

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

asta-skill + planning-with-files

Literature reviews span days — persist findings.md and next-reads.md

Use planning-with-files — findings.md for papers read, next-reads.md for the queue.✓ Copied

asta-skill + filesystem

Save extracted snippets as notes in your Obsidian vault

For each paper, save the snippet to ~/obsidian/papers/<title>.md.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
search_papers_by_relevance	query + filters	Starting a literature search from a question	1 MCP call
get_paper / get_paper_batch	id or [ids]	Need full metadata on a known paper or list	1 MCP call (batch saves round-trips)
get_citations	paper id + filters + pagination	Walking citation graph forward	1 MCP call
snippet_search	paper id + query	Need evidence-level passages to ground claims	1 MCP call
search_authors_by_name / get_author_papers	name + disambiguators	Profiling a researcher	1 MCP call

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: Semantic Scholar API limits via Asta MCP — check Ai2's current terms
Tokens per call: Varies; fields=citations can blow up context so avoid it
Monetary: Free — skills are local files; Asta MCP itself is free for research use
Tip: Prefer batch calls and paginated citation fetches; snippet_search beats fetching full bodies.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: No credentials in the skill. Asta MCP setup may involve API keys.

Data egress: Queries go to Semantic Scholar via the Asta MCP server

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Skill not invoked — Claude does a web search instead of calling Asta

Say 'use asta-skill' explicitly; academic tasks alone don't always route to MCP.

Verify: ls ~/.claude/skills/asta-skill/SKILL.md

SKILL.md frontmatter wrong

Re-clone; the description is what triggers auto-activation.

Verify: head ~/.claude/skills/asta-skill/SKILL.md

Wrong trigger keywords — context blows up on citation fetch

Don't request fields=citations — paginate with get_citations and filters.

Alternatives

asta-skill vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
arxiv MCP	You only need preprints, not cross-source citation graphs	Narrower source; no citation traversal
Raw Google Scholar	Quick one-off lookups without MCP setup	No structured tools, scraping-ish

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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