Ask CGIAR Research

A public tool that lets AI assistants search openly licensed CGIAR research publications and answer agrifood questions with citations to the source documents.

29,556publications

1.0Msearchable passages

en · es · fr · ptlanguages, cross-lingual search

It is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, so it works with Claude and any other assistant or agent framework that supports remote MCP servers. Assistants get two tools: search_cgiar_publications (hybrid keyword + semantic search with country, region, year and language filters) and get_cgiar_document (read the passages around a hit).

Connect

Server URL: https://cgiar-ask-cgiar-research.hf.space/mcp (no sign-in).

Claude Code: plugin with search guidance (recommended)

claude plugin marketplace add cgiar/ask-cgiar-research
claude plugin install ask-cgiar-research@cgiar

The plugin adds the server and a skill that teaches the assistant how to search, read and cite the evidence. Then ask, for example: /ask-cgiar-research:ask How do smallholders cope with drought in the Sahel?

Claude Code: server only

claude mcp add --transport http cgiar-research https://cgiar-ask-cgiar-research.hf.space/mcp

Claude.ai and Claude Desktop

Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the server URL, and choose no sign-in. For better answers, also upload the skill (ask-cgiar-research-skill.zip) under Customize → Skills.

Other assistants and agent frameworks

Add the server URL as a remote MCP server using streamable HTTP transport. The server sends usage guidance to clients that support MCP server instructions.

What is included

Publications from the GARDIAN-indexed CGIAR research outputs that carry an open license allowing redistribution: CC-BY (27,771), CC-BY-SA (1,630) and CC0 (155). About 84% are full text; the rest are abstracts. Tables and figure text were removed during processing, so check the source document for exact figures. Coverage is uneven: if nothing is found, that is not evidence that no CGIAR research exists on the topic.

Answers produced with this tool are generated by AI from CGIAR publications. They are not official CGIAR positions, and they can contain errors. Always check the cited sources.

Privacy and usage data

To report on use, CGIAR records for each tool call: the time, the tool, the search query after automated removal of personal information (names, emails, phone numbers, URLs, ID numbers and precise coordinates), filters, the documents returned, response time, the name of the client application, and a session identifier that changes daily. IP addresses and raw queries are not stored. Records are kept in a private CGIAR repository for 24 months and then deleted. Automated removal is not perfect, so please do not include personal details in questions.

Licensing

Each result shows its document's license and source URL. Reuse of passages must follow that license (attribution for CC-BY; attribution and share-alike for CC-BY-SA). The server code is released under the Apache License 2.0.

Contact

Questions and feedback: Jawoo Koo, via the IFPRI contact form.