Claude alphaXiv connectorWhat Claude can do in your alphaXiv account.
The Claude alphaXiv connector exposes 6 tools. 5 read research papers and their code, 0 write anything, 1 is undocumented. Here: how Claude finds and reads arXiv papers for you, what counts against your quota, and where the publisher and the directory disagree.
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What changes when Claude can search arXiv for you
alphaXiv sits on top of arXiv, the open archive where millions of research pre-prints are posted. With this connector, you no longer skim abstracts in twenty tabs: Claude searches the corpus, opens the papers that matter, quotes the right pages and even reads the code repository behind a paper, then answers you with references you can check.
A literature scan before a meeting. Two retrieval tools, full_text_papers_search and embedding_similarity_search, cover the keyword and embedding search the directory describes, so Claude can gather candidates on a topic quickly.
Citations you can verify. answer_pdf_queries returns only the page-level text of a PDF that answers your questions, in a format built for citations, which keeps every quote traceable.
From claim to code. read_files_from_github opens a paper's repository, so Claude can check whether the implementation matches what the paper says.
What Claude will not do here: by default the directory sheet only exposes reading. The publisher's documentation describes a larger set of tools under other names, and none of the tools on this sheet is described as changing anything. One tool, agentic_paper_retrieval, has no description. And nothing runs on its own: no alert comes when a new paper lands on your topic. That background job belongs to an automation tool, another trade; the Integrations hub covers that side.
Five words in one minute
The terms you will see when you connect alphaXiv to Claude.
- Connector
- The link you set up once between Claude and an account you already have, so Claude can use it while it answers you.
- Tool
- One named capability a connector gives Claude. Claude picks the tools it needs on its own; the directory sheet lists them by name.
- Authorization
- The service's own sign-in screen, where you grant the access Claude will use. Given once, per person, and withdrawn the same way.
- Approval
- The confirmation Claude waits for before doing something that changes an account, shown in the conversation at the moment it counts.
- MCP
- The common standard behind connectors: it is what lets an assistant like Claude talk to an outside service such as alphaXiv.
Connect alphaXiv to Claude in three steps
- 01
Find alphaXiv in Claude
Open Claude's settings, go to Customize, then Connectors, and look for alphaXiv in the list. On a Team or Enterprise workspace, an Owner or Primary Owner enables the connector before members can sign in.
- 02
Start the connection
Click Connect on its row, then sign in to alphaXiv in the browser window it opens on first use. If the link breaks, Disconnect and connect again; access can also be revoked from alphaXiv.
- 03
Read the authorization screen
Read the authorization screen before you accept. It is alphaXiv's screen, not Claude's, and it decides what the access covers. Once accepted, ask Claude a research question.
The 6 alphaXiv tools, by what they do
alphaXiv gives Claude 6 tools: 5 that read your account, 0 that change something in it, and 1 no official source describes.
Two groups: what Claude reads, and what no official source describes. Names stay as Claude shows them.
- 5 read
- 1 not documented
What Claude reads (5)
5 toolsFive tools that search and read papers without changing anything.
answer_pdf_queries
Takes one or more questions about a single paper and returns only the page-level text that answers them, as XML from which citations can be built, so Claude can quote precisely.
get_paper_content
Returns the text of an arXiv or alphaXiv paper. By default it is an AI-generated structured report; when none exists, it falls back to the full extracted text, and a full-text option skips the report.
read_files_from_github
Reads files or folders from the GitHub repository linked to a paper. Asking for the root returns the whole file tree, a folder brings all its files at once, a file brings its content.
embedding_similarity_search
Part of the fast retrieval the directory describes over the millions of papers in arXiv, covering keyword and embedding search between this tool and its neighbour. The sheet does not split the two any further.
full_text_papers_search
The other half of that retrieval pair, run across the arXiv corpus so Claude can line up candidate papers on a subject before opening any of them.
Undocumented (1)
1 toolThe directory publishes this name and nothing more. No official text says what it does, and this page will not guess.
agentic_paper_retrieval
This name is on the directory's tool list and nowhere in alphaXiv's documentation read for this page, which presents its tools under other names. No Claude page describes it either.
What Claude asks before acting
By default, Claude stops and asks for your confirmation before any action it carries out on an account for you. The five documented alphaXiv tools only read, and no source says whether a confirmation shows up for any of the six.
On a Team or Enterprise workspace, owners decide whether members may let certain actions through without being asked each time. They can also limit what a connector may do for the whole organisation, keeping reading open and closing writing for example, and nobody gets around that from a personal account. Claude works with the rights of the person who connected and nothing more: what your alphaXiv account cannot reach, Claude cannot reach either.
Which plans include it
None of the 819 sheets in the official directory shows plan availability. That information, connector by connector, is published nowhere: a real gap in the catalogue.
The general rule is public: remote connectors are open to all users on Claude, Cowork, Claude Desktop and mobile. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner enables the connector for the organisation before members can connect. The publisher applies its own usage quota on its side, which is a separate matter. For the current state, check the connector's sheet in the directory.
Where this connector stops
A connector is not an automation. Claude calls these tools while it answers you: nothing starts when a new paper appears on arXiv.
A tool list that only reads is an observed floor, not a guarantee: an administrator can open actions shown on no public sheet. The verification badge is not a security audit, and Anthropic writes on each sheet that it does not choose a publisher's tools. Everything here comes from alphaXiv's documentation and the directory sheet; no Claude help article covers this connector. For a connector that writes, compare with the Claude activecampaign connector.
Which tools does the alphaXiv connector expose, and does it work in Claude on the web?
- Claude directory sheet ↗October 2026Six tools, including read_files_from_github and agentic_paper_retrieval; works with Claude, Claude Code and Claude Desktop.
- alphaXiv documentation ↗undated, read October 2026A larger set of tools, mostly under different names, and direct use inside claude.ai in a browser is not supported.
What this page followsThe two texts do not describe the same server at the same moment, and the publisher's page carries no date that would settle it. For what Claude actually exposes, the directory sheet is the reference; check it on your own account, and if the web version fails, try Claude Desktop.
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