Search arXiv papers for academic preprints via x402 micropayment at $0.005 per query.
What it does
The Scout arXiv endpoint (`/scout/arxiv`) lets AI agents and developers search the arXiv preprint repository for academic papers and preprints. It returns titles, authors, abstracts, PDF links, and arXiv categories. Queries can be sorted by relevance or date, filtered by arXiv category (e.g. `cs.AI`, `cs.CL`), and paginated up to 50 results per call. The endpoint is part of the larger Scout Multi-source Intelligence API, which covers 19+ platforms including GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, Semantic Scholar, and more.
Payment is handled via the x402 protocol using USDC on Base. The per-call cost is $0.005 (half a cent) as documented in the OpenAPI spec, though the 402 challenge sample text mentions $0.01 — the OpenAPI description is likely authoritative for this specific endpoint. Alternative access methods are available: a broker API key (via `discovery.hugen.tokyo`), an MCP server at `mcp.hugen.tokyo/mcp`, or the `x402-pay` Python SDK for wallet-free usage.
The endpoint is live and returned a valid 402 challenge with a sample result showing "Attention Is All You Need" by Vaswani et al. for the query "transformer attention", confirming functional connectivity to arXiv. No dedicated documentation pages were found beyond the OpenAPI spec.
Capabilities
Use cases
- —AI agents performing literature reviews on specific topics
- —Automated research pipelines that need to find recent preprints in a given field
- —Developer tools that surface relevant academic papers alongside code search results
- —Building citation graphs or tracking new publications in a category like cs.AI
- —Comparing arXiv coverage with Semantic Scholar results via the same Scout API
Fit
Best for
- —Agents needing quick, pay-per-query access to arXiv without managing API keys or rate limits
- —Multi-source research workflows that combine arXiv with other Scout endpoints (GitHub, HN, etc.)
- —Low-volume academic search where $0.005/query is cheaper than maintaining infrastructure
Not for
- —Bulk downloading or mirroring arXiv (use arXiv's own bulk access)
- —Full-text paper retrieval — this returns metadata and PDF links, not full paper content
- —Non-technical or non-academic web search
Quick start
# Using x402-pay Python SDK (no wallet needed)
pip install x402-pay
import x402_pay
response = x402_pay.get(
'https://scout.hugen.tokyo/scout/arxiv?q=transformer+attention&per_page=5&sort=relevance'
)
print(response.json())Example
Request
{
"url": "https://scout.hugen.tokyo/scout/arxiv?q=transformer+attention&per_page=5&sort=relevance&category=cs.AI",
"method": "GET"
}Response
{
"count": 1,
"query": "transformer attention",
"source": "arxiv",
"results": [
{
"title": "Attention Is All You Need",
"authors": [
"Vaswani et al."
],
"categories": [
"cs.CL"
]
}
]
}Endpoint
Quality
Full OpenAPI schema with parameters and descriptions is available, and the endpoint returned a live 402 challenge with a sample result. However, no dedicated docs page exists, response schema is not formally specified, and the sample response in the challenge is minimal. Price discrepancy between OpenAPI ($0.005) and challenge text ($0.01) introduces minor uncertainty.
Warnings
- —Price discrepancy: OpenAPI spec says $0.005 per call but the 402 challenge notice says $0.01 — actual charge may differ
- —No formal response schema in the OpenAPI spec; response structure is inferred from the 402 challenge sample
- —No dedicated documentation pages found (/docs, /api, /pricing all return 404)
Citations
- —The endpoint searches ArXiv for academic papers and preprints, returning title, authors, abstract, PDF link, and categorieshttps://scout.hugen.tokyo
- —Supports parameters: q (required), per_page (1-50), sort (relevance/date), category filterhttps://scout.hugen.tokyo
- —Part of Scout Multi-source Intelligence API covering 19+ platformshttps://scout.hugen.tokyo
- —Payment via x402 protocol with USDC on Base; OpenAPI lists $0.005 per callhttps://scout.hugen.tokyo
- —402 challenge returned sample result for 'transformer attention' query showing Attention Is All You Needhttps://scout.hugen.tokyo/scout/arxiv
- —Alternative access via broker API key, MCP server, or x402-pay Python SDKhttps://scout.hugen.tokyo