Loading ToolBench
IEEE Xplore MCP — BYOK wrapper over the IEEE Xplore Metadata Search API for searching IEEE standards and research corpus
Three well-named, verb-prefixed tools (ieee_standard_search, ieee_search, ieee_article) with comprehensive descriptions (194 - 392 chars, within baseline). All tools have complete JSON Schema with typed properties and required arrays. Parameters are well-described with enums, ranges, and format guidance. However, output schemas are NOT documented, LLMs cannot predict response structure for downstream chaining. Error handling is mentioned in descriptions but not formalized. No tool annotations (readOnlyHint, idempotentHint). Security is sound (BYOK model, no secrets in params), but no explicit permission gates or audit trail guidance.
Fetch one IEEE Xplore record by its article_number or DOI: full metadata including title, every author with affiliation, the complete abstract, publication venue, year, volume/issue, page range, publisher, IEEE and author index terms, plus standard_number and standard_status when the record is a standard, and the Xplore html_url / pdf_url. Use it to expand a hit from ieee_search or ieee_standard_search, or when an agent already holds an IEEE DOI or article number. Returns metadata plus the abstract; the full text is sold by IEEE — html_url is where to purchase or access it. Requires your own free IEEE Xplore API key via _apiKey (register an app at developer.ieee.org). Example: ieee_article({ article_number: "8766229", _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" }). Example: ieee_article({ doi: "10.1109/IEEESTD.2020.9363693", _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" })
Search the FULL IEEE Xplore corpus — IEEE and IET journal articles, conference proceedings, magazines, books, courses and standards — returning title, authors, abstract, publication venue, year, DOI and the IEEE Xplore link. The broad engineering / computer-science research tool: IEEE paper search, engineering research paper lookup, conference proceedings search, literature review on a technical topic, tracking one author's IEEE publications. Set content_type to focus on a single kind of record ("Conferences", "Journals", "Standards", "Magazines", "Books", "Courses", "Early Access"), or omit it to search every type at once. Returns metadata plus the abstract; the full text is sold by IEEE, so follow html_url to purchase or read it under an institutional subscription. Requires your own free IEEE Xplore API key via _apiKey (register an app at developer.ieee.org). Example: ieee_search({ query: "federated learning edge devices", limit: 10, _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" }). Example: ieee_search({ query: "millimeter wave beamforming", content_type: "Conferences", year: 2024, _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" })
Output schemas not documented. LLMs cannot predict response structure (fields, types, nesting) for downstream tool chaining or data extraction. Descriptions mention 'title, authors, abstract, DOI, html_url' but no formal schema.
No tool annotations (readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, destructiveHint). All three tools are read-only and idempotent, but LLMs cannot infer this from the definition alone. Annotations enable safer agent planning.
Error handling not formalized. Descriptions mention IEEE quirks (inactive developer, approval delays, paywall) but no structured error classification (retryable, user-fixable, fatal) or recovery guidance in the tool definition.
| Scored | Grade | Overall | Spec posture | Rubric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | C | 63 | 2026-07-28+ | v2 |
Search IEEE STANDARDS by number or topic and get each standard's title, abstract/scope, publication year, DOI and IEEE Xplore link. Covers the IEEE standards catalogue: IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi / wireless LAN, IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, IEEE 1588 PTP precision time protocol, IEEE 1547 distributed energy resource interconnection, IEEE 1149.1 JTAG boundary scan, IEEE 754 floating point, IEEE 802.1AS timing, and the rest. Answers "what does IEEE standard X cover", "which IEEE standard defines Y", "find the IEEE 802.3 ethernet spec", "latest revision of IEEE 1588". Returns metadata plus the abstract; the normative clause text is sold by IEEE, so follow html_url to purchase or access it. Requires your own free IEEE Xplore API key via _apiKey (register an app at developer.ieee.org). Example: ieee_standard_search({ query: "802.11 wireless LAN", limit: 5, _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" }). Example: ieee_standard_search({ query: "1588 precision time protocol", year: 2019, _apiKey: "your-ieee-key" })
Pagination parameters (start_record, limit) present but no documented total_count or next_cursor in response. LLMs cannot determine if more results exist or how to iterate safely.
No batch variants. Agents searching for multiple standards or papers must call ieee_search/ieee_standard_search sequentially, wasting tokens and latency. A batch_search tool would improve efficiency.