PaperShelf

A native-feeling Mac desktop app for managing research papers. Search arXiv, save and annotate PDFs, organize with collections and tags, explore citation graphs, and let AI assistants access your library via MCP.

Install

Download the latest .dmg from Releases, open it, and drag PaperShelf to Applications.

Requires macOS (Apple Silicon). The app is signed and notarized.

Features

• arXiv search -- find papers and save them to your library with one click
• PDF viewer -- read, highlight, and add sticky notes directly on papers
• Collections & tags -- organize papers with colored collections and tags
• Citation graph -- visualize how papers cite each other using Semantic Scholar data
• Full-text search -- FTS5-powered search across titles, abstracts, and full paper text
• MCP server -- expose your library to AI assistants (Claude, etc.) over the Model Context Protocol
• Keyboard-driven -- customizable shortcuts for fast navigation

MCP integration

PaperShelf includes a built-in MCP server that lets AI assistants search your library, read papers, and manage collections.

Setup

1. Open PaperShelf Settings and enable the MCP server
2. Add to your MCP client config (e.g. Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "papershelf": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3847/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Port 3847 in production, 13847 in development.

Available tools

Tool	Description
search_arxiv	Search arXiv for papers
search_library	Full-text search your saved papers
get_paper	Get details for a specific paper
list_papers	List papers with optional collection/tag filters
save_paper	Save an arXiv paper to your library
fetch_paper_html	Fetch the HTML content of a paper
get_bibtex	Generate a BibTeX citation for a paper
list_collections	List all collections
list_tags	List all tags
list_categories	List arXiv categories
create_collection	Create a new collection
create_tag	Create a new tag
add_paper_to_collection	Add a paper to a collection
remove_paper_from_collection	Remove a paper from a collection
add_tag_to_paper	Add a tag to a paper
remove_tag_from_paper	Remove a tag from a paper
toggle_favorite	Toggle favorite status on a paper

Development

npm install          # also runs @electron/rebuild for better-sqlite3

# dev mode with isolated data directory
PAPERSHELF_DATA_DIR=/tmp/papershelf-dev npm run dev

npm run test         # run tests (vitest)
npm run lint         # biome check
npm run build        # build main + renderer

Tech stack

Electron + React + TypeScript + SQLite + Tailwind CSS

License

MIT

Support

If you find PaperShelf useful, consider sponsoring the project.