What is Scira used for?

Scira is an open-source AI search and research tool that plans, retrieves and cites sources, accepting questions, PDFs and URLs. It is a good fit for researching topics with cited answers and running a self-hosted AI search app.

Is Scira open source?

Yes. Scira is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at zaidmukaddam/scira and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Scira is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $15 per month.

Can I self-host Scira?

Yes. Scira can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Scira an alternative to?

Scira is an open-source alternative to Perplexity, Consensus, You.com and SciSpace. Other open-source alternatives to Perplexity include GPT Researcher, Farfalle and Vane.

Is Scira actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Scira was on 12 August 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.

Scira: open-source alternative to Perplexity, Consensus

About Scira

Scira, formerly called MiniPerplx, is a minimalistic AI search tool that finds information online and cites where it came from. The project describes it as an agentic research platform that plans, retrieves and cites, and it is available as a hosted site at scira.ai.

You can start by asking a question, uploading a PDF or pasting a link. Behind it, the README credits the Vercel AI SDK for model integration and streaming, Exa AI for web search and content retrieval, and Upstash for serverless Redis and rate limiting. It is written in TypeScript as a web app you can run yourself with your own provider keys.

Scira is licensed under AGPL-3.0, so modified versions offered over a network must share their source. It suits developers who want a reference AI search app to run or adapt, and individuals who want a cited, minimalistic alternative to conventional search.

Key features

AI search with cited sources
Agentic research that plans and retrieves
PDF upload and URL input
Built on the Vercel AI SDK
Web search through Exa
Self-hostable TypeScript app

Good fit for

→Researching topics with cited answers
→Running a self-hosted AI search app

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: ai-search; research; search-engine; citations; vercel-ai-sdk; typescript; self-hosted; llm

Scira: questions and answers

What is Scira used for?: Scira is an open-source AI search and research tool that plans, retrieves and cites sources, accepting questions, PDFs and URLs. It is a good fit for researching topics with cited answers and running a self-hosted AI search app.
Is Scira open source?: Yes. Scira is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at zaidmukaddam/scira and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Scira free?: Yes. Scira is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $15 per month.
Can I self-host Scira?: Yes. Scira can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Scira an alternative to?: Scira is an open-source alternative to Perplexity, Consensus, You.com and SciSpace. Other open-source alternatives to Perplexity include GPT Researcher, Farfalle and Vane.
Is Scira actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Scira was on 12 August 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.