# Installation

Install Research Scan with uv, and confirm what the install can actually do.

Research Scan is a Python package published on PyPI as
[`research-scan`](https://pypi.org/project/research-scan/). It needs Python 3.11
or newer and [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/).

## Install

```bash
uvx research-scan doctor          # run any command without installing
uv tool install research-scan     # or put it on PATH permanently
```

`uvx` resolves and caches the package on first use, then runs it. Nothing is added
to your PATH, which makes it the right choice for trying the tool out and for the
MCP configuration further on. `uv tool install` is the choice once you want
`research-scan` available as a normal command.

Both routes install the same package. There are no optional extras to choose: the
MCP server ships in the core dependencies.

## Confirm the install

`version` reports more than a number — it reports what this particular install can
do.

```bash
research-scan version
```

```
research-scan 0.5.1
python       3.13.13
platform     macOS-14.2.1-arm64-arm-64bit-Mach-O
mcp          enabled
```

The `python` and `platform` lines reflect the machine that ran the command; yours
will differ. `mcp enabled` is the one to read: it means `fastmcp` imported
cleanly and [the MCP server](/integrations/mcp-clients/) will start. Because
`fastmcp` is a core dependency rather than an extra, `disabled` means a broken or
incomplete install, not a missing option — reinstall with
`uv tool install research-scan`.

The same report is available as JSON:

```bash
research-scan version --json
```

```json
{
  "version": "0.5.1",
  "python": "3.13.13",
  "platform": "macOS-14.2.1-arm64-arm-64bit-Mach-O",
  "mcp": "enabled"
}
```

The bare `--version` flag on the root command prints only the number, so scripts
that already parse it keep working:

```bash
research-scan --version
```

```
0.5.1
```

## There is no one-shot `scan` command

`research-scan --help` lists fourteen commands, and `scan` is not one of them:

```
$ research-scan scan --help
Usage: research-scan [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Try 'research-scan --help' for help.
╭─ Error ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ No such command 'scan'. Did you mean 'schema'?                               │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
```

This is by design. The pipeline needs a model's judgement between stages —
screening scores, gap queries, the rerank — and a one-shot command would have to
fabricate them. You drive Research Scan from an agent, which supplies that
judgement at each decision point. See [your first scan](/getting-started/first-scan/).

## Shell completion

```bash
eval "$(research-scan completion bash)"   # add to ~/.bashrc
eval "$(research-scan completion zsh)"    # add to ~/.zshrc
research-scan completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/research-scan.fish
```

## Next

[Configure your credentials](/getting-started/configuration/), then
[check that everything works](/getting-started/doctor/).