SIGN UPLOG IN
X (Twitter)LinkedInGitHubDiscordYouTube

How to integrate Semanticscholar MCP with Google ADK

Connect Google ADK to Semanticscholar MCP. Find the latest papers on graph neural networks, list citations for a specific research paper, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

Get started for freeGet a demo
Semanticscholar logoSemanticscholar
Api Key

Semantic Scholar is an AI-powered academic search engine for scientific literature. It helps researchers quickly discover, analyze, and understand research papers across disciplines.

20 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Semanticscholar to Google ADK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Semanticscholar agent that can search papers by title or relevance, look up authors, trace citations and references, find paper recommendations, and search text snippets through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Google ADK agent real control over a Semanticscholar account through Composio's Semanticscholar MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Also integrate Semanticscholar with

Claude CodeClaude CoworkOpenAI Agents SDKClaude Agent SDKMuseCodexOpenClawHermesAtomic AgentLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndexCrewAIPydantic AIAutoGen

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get a Semanticscholar account set up and connected to Composio
  • Install the Google ADK and Composio packages
  • Create a Composio Tool Router session for Semanticscholar
  • Build an agent that connects to Semanticscholar through MCP
  • Interact with Semanticscholar using natural language

What is Google ADK?

Google ADK (Agents Development Kit) is Google's framework for building AI agents powered by Gemini models. It provides tools for creating agents that can use external services through the Model Context Protocol.

Key features include:

  • Gemini Integration: Native support for Google's Gemini models
  • MCP Toolset: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol tools
  • Streamable HTTP: Connect to external services through streamable HTTP
  • CLI and Web UI: Run agents via command line or web interface

What is the Semanticscholar MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Semantic Scholar MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Semantic Scholar account. It provides structured and secure access to academic papers, author profiles, citations, recommendations, and dataset releases, so your agent can search literature, examine research, explore authors, find related papers, and retrieve dataset information on your behalf.

  • Academic paper discovery: Have your agent search papers by relevance, run bulk literature searches, find a paper by title, complete partial queries, or locate matching text snippets within papers.
  • Paper details and authorship: Let the agent retrieve details about one or more papers, identify their authors, and review key information about each work.
  • Citations and references: Direct your agent to inspect the papers that cite a study and the references used by that study.
  • Author research: Instruct your agent to search for researchers by name, review author profiles and publication statistics, or examine papers written by selected authors.
  • Recommendations and research datasets: Have your agent find related papers from positive and negative examples, list dataset releases, review release details, and retrieve dataset downloads or incremental updates.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Composio SDK

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Step by step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • A Google API key for Gemini models
  • A Composio account and API key
  • Python 3.9 or later installed
  • Basic familiarity with Python
2

Getting API Keys for Google and Composio

Google API Key
  • Go to Google AI Studio and create an API key.
  • Copy the key and keep it safe. You will put this in GOOGLE_API_KEY.
Composio API Key and User ID
  • Log in to the Composio dashboard.
  • Go to Settings → API Keys and copy your Composio API key. Use this for COMPOSIO_API_KEY.
  • Decide on a stable user identifier to scope sessions, often your email or a user ID. Use this for COMPOSIO_USER_ID.
3

Install dependencies

bash
pip install google-adk composio python-dotenv

Inside your virtual environment, install the required packages.

What's happening:

  • google-adk is Google's Agents Development Kit
  • composio connects your agent to Semanticscholar via MCP
  • python-dotenv loads environment variables
4

Set up ADK project

bash
adk create my_agent

Set up a new Google ADK project.

What's happening:

  • This creates an agent folder with a root agent file and .env file
5

Set environment variables

bash
GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-google-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key
COMPOSIO_USER_ID=your-user-id-or-email

Save all your credentials in the .env file.

What's happening:

  • GOOGLE_API_KEY authenticates with Google's Gemini models
  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates with Composio
  • COMPOSIO_USER_ID identifies the user for session management
6

Import modules and validate environment

python
import os
import warnings

from composio import Composio
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from google.adk.agents.llm_agent import Agent
from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool.mcp_session_manager import StreamableHTTPConnectionParams
from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool.mcp_toolset import McpToolset

load_dotenv()

warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", message=".*BaseAuthenticatedTool.*")

GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not GOOGLE_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("GOOGLE_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set in the environment.")
What's happening:
  • os reads environment variables
  • Composio is the main Composio SDK client
  • GoogleProvider declares that you are using Google ADK as the agent runtime
  • Agent is the Google ADK LLM agent class
  • McpToolset lets the ADK agent call MCP tools over HTTP
7

Create Composio client and Tool Router session

python
composio_client = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY)

composio_session = composio_client.create(
    user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID,
    toolkits=["semanticscholar"],
)

COMPOSIO_MCP_URL = composio_session.mcp.url,
print(f"Composio MCP URL: {COMPOSIO_MCP_URL}")
What's happening:
  • Authenticates to Composio with your API key
  • Declares Google ADK as the provider
  • Spins up a short-lived MCP endpoint for your user and selected toolkit
  • Stores the MCP HTTP URL for the ADK MCP integration
8

Set up the McpToolset and create the Agent

python
composio_toolset = McpToolset(
    connection_params=StreamableHTTPConnectionParams(
        url=COMPOSIO_MCP_URL,
        headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY}
    )
)

root_agent = Agent(
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    name="composio_agent",
    description="An agent that uses Composio tools to perform actions.",
    instruction=(
        "You are a helpful assistant connected to Composio. "
        "You have the following tools available: "
        "COMPOSIO_SEARCH_TOOLS, COMPOSIO_MULTI_EXECUTE_TOOL, "
        "COMPOSIO_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS, COMPOSIO_REMOTE_BASH_TOOL, COMPOSIO_REMOTE_WORKBENCH. "
        "Use these tools to help users with Semanticscholar operations."
    ),
    tools=[composio_toolset],
)

print("\nAgent setup complete. You can now run this agent directly ;)")
What's happening:
  • Connects the ADK agent to the Composio MCP endpoint through McpToolset
  • Uses Gemini as the model powering the agent
  • Lists exact tool names in instruction to reduce misnamed tool calls
9

Run the agent

bash
# Run in CLI mode
adk run my_agent

# Or run in web UI mode
adk web

Execute the agent from the project root. The web command opens a web portal where you can chat with the agent.

What's happening:

  • adk run runs the agent in CLI mode
  • adk web . opens a web UI for interactive testing

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Semanticscholar and Google ADK:

python
import os
import warnings

from composio import Composio
from composio_google import GoogleProvider
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from google.adk.agents.llm_agent import Agent
from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool.mcp_session_manager import StreamableHTTPConnectionParams
from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool.mcp_toolset import McpToolset

load_dotenv()
warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", message=".*BaseAuthenticatedTool.*")

GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not GOOGLE_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("GOOGLE_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set in the environment.")

composio_client = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY, provider=GoogleProvider())

composio_session = composio_client.create(
    user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID,
    toolkits=["semanticscholar"],
)

COMPOSIO_MCP_URL = composio_session.mcp.url


composio_toolset = McpToolset(
    connection_params=StreamableHTTPConnectionParams(
        url=COMPOSIO_MCP_URL,
        headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY}
    )
)

root_agent = Agent(
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    name="composio_agent",
    description="An agent that uses Composio tools to perform actions.",
    instruction=(
        "You are a helpful assistant connected to Composio. "
        "You have the following tools available: "
        "COMPOSIO_SEARCH_TOOLS, COMPOSIO_MULTI_EXECUTE_TOOL, "
        "COMPOSIO_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS, COMPOSIO_REMOTE_BASH_TOOL, COMPOSIO_REMOTE_WORKBENCH. "
        "Use these tools to help users with Semanticscholar operations."
    ),  
    tools=[composio_toolset],
)

print("\nAgent setup complete. You can now run this agent directly ;)")

Conclusion

You've successfully integrated Semanticscholar with the Google ADK through Composio's MCP Tool Router. Your agent can now interact with Semanticscholar using natural language commands.

Key takeaways:

  • The Tool Router approach dynamically routes requests to the appropriate Semanticscholar tools
  • Environment variables keep your credentials secure and separate from code
  • Clear agent instructions reduce tool calling errors
  • The ADK web UI provides an interactive interface for testing and development

You can extend this setup by adding more toolkits to the toolkits array in your session configuration.

TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Semanticscholar action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Details about an author

Retrieve detailed information about an author from Semantic Scholar, including name, affiliations, publication statistics (paperCount, citationCount, h-index), external IDs (ORCID, DBLP), and optionally papers.

Details about an author s papers

Retrieves a list of papers authored or co-authored by a specific researcher identified by their unique Semantic Scholar author ID.

Details about a paper

Retrieve details for a paper by its ID, with selectable fields.

Details about a paper s authors

Retrieve a paginated list of authors for a Semantic Scholar paper, identified by a supported ID such as a Semantic Scholar ID, DOI, or arXiv ID.

Details about a paper s citations

Retrieve a paginated list of papers citing a specified paper.

Details about a paper s references

Retrieves the list of references cited by a specific paper in the Semantic Scholar database.

Get dataset download links

Tool to get download links for a specific dataset within a release.

Get dataset diffs

Get download links for incremental diffs between dataset releases.

Get details for multiple authors at once

Retrieve details for up to 1,000 Semantic Scholar authors by ID in one batch, with selectable author and paper fields.

Get details for multiple papers at once

Retrieve detailed information for multiple academic papers in a single API call using the Semantic Scholar paper batch endpoint.

Get paper recommendations

Tool to get paper recommendations based on positive and negative example papers.

Get recommendations for paper

Tool to get recommended papers for a single positive example paper.

Get dataset release information

Tool to retrieve metadata for a specific Semantic Scholar dataset release.

List available dataset releases

Tool to list all available dataset releases from Semantic Scholar.

Paper title search

Behaves similarly to /paper/search, but is intended for retrieval of a single paper based on closest title match to given query.

Search Bulk Papers

Tool to perform bulk search for academic papers.

Search for authors by name

Search for academic authors in the Semantic Scholar database by name.

Search papers by relevance

Tool to search for academic papers by relevance in the Semantic Scholar database.

Suggest paper query completions

Get autocomplete suggestions for paper queries.

Text snippet search

Search for text snippets matching a plain-text query in academic papers.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Semanticscholar MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Claude Cowork

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Semanticscholar MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Muse logo

Muse

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Muse

Codex logo

Codex

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Semanticscholar MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Hermes

Atomic Agent logo

Atomic Agent

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Atomic Agent

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Semanticscholar MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Semanticscholar MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Semanticscholar MCP with CrewAI

Pydantic AI logo

Pydantic AI

Use Semanticscholar MCP with Pydantic AI

AutoGen logo

AutoGen

Use Semanticscholar MCP with AutoGen

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

With a standalone Semanticscholar MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Semanticscholar tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Semanticscholar and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Yes, you can. Google ADK fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Semanticscholar tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Semanticscholar scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Semanticscholar data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

Start with Semanticscholar.It takes 30 seconds.

Managed auth, hosted MCP servers, and every Semanticscholar tool your agent needs.Free to start.

Start building