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crossref

by io.github.pipeworx-io

Search Works

search_works
Read-onlyIdempotent

Search academic papers, books, and datasets via Crossref. For "search works titled X" / finding a SPECIFIC paper by its title, pass title (title-scoped — ranks the exact paper first). Beyond keyword search you can SORT by citation count or publication date and FILTER by date range, work type, and author — e.g. "most-cited papers on transformers" (sort=citations), "papers on LLMs since 2024" (from_date=2024-01-01), "recent journal articles by an author". Returns titles, authors, journal, DOIs, citation counts, and dates.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
sortNoResult ordering: "relevance" (default), "citations" (most-cited first), or "published" (newest first; note Crossref has some records with erroneous future dates).
typeNoRestrict to a Crossref work type, e.g. "journal-article", "book", "proceedings-article", "dataset", "posted-content" (preprints).
limitNoNumber of results to return (1-100, default 10)
queryNoKeyword query over all fields (e.g. "climate change machine learning"). Optional if "title" or "author" is given.
titleNoTitle-scoped search — use when looking for a specific paper by its (partial or full) title, e.g. "Remus High Availability Asynchronous Virtual Machine Replication".
authorNoSearch/restrict by author name (e.g. "Hinton", "Yann LeCun").
from_dateNoOnly works published on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).
until_dateNoOnly works published on/before this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
resultsYesArray of search results
total_resultsYesTotal number of results matching the search query

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections. Dates show when Glama detected each change.

  1. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • changedInput schema / properties / query / description
      Previous value: -"Keyword query (e.g. \"climate change machine learning\"). Optional if \"author\" is given."New value: +"Keyword query over all fields (e.g. \"climate change machine learning\"). Optional if \"title\" or \"author\" is given."
    • addedInput schema / properties / title
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Title-scoped search — use when looking for a specific paper by its (partial or full) title, e.g. \"Remus High Availability Asynchronous Virtual Machine Replication\".",
+  "type": "string"
+}
  2. Changed7 schema fields changed
    • addedInput schema / properties / author
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Search/restrict by author name (e.g. \"Hinton\", \"Yann LeCun\").",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedInput schema / properties / from_date
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only works published on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • changedInput schema / properties / query / description
      Previous value: -"Search query (e.g., \"climate change machine learning\")"New value: +"Keyword query (e.g. \"climate change machine learning\"). Optional if \"author\" is given."
    • addedInput schema / properties / sort
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Result ordering: \"relevance\" (default), \"citations\" (most-cited first), or \"published\" (newest first; note Crossref has some records with erroneous future dates).",
+  "enum": [
+    "relevance",
+    "citations",
+    "published"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedInput schema / properties / type
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Restrict to a Crossref work type, e.g. \"journal-article\", \"book\", \"proceedings-article\", \"dataset\", \"posted-content\" (preprints).",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedInput schema / properties / until_date
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only works published on/before this date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY).",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • changedInput schema / required
      Previous value: -[
-  "query"
-]New value: +[]
  3. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • addedInput schema / examples
      Added value: +[
+  {
+    "query": "climate change machine learning"
+  },
+  {
+    "limit": 20,
+    "query": "CRISPR gene editing"
+  }
+]
    • changedOutput schema / (root)
      Previous value: -nullNew value: +{
+  "properties": {
+    "results": {
+      "description": "Array of search results",
+      "items": {
+        "properties": {
+          "abstract": {
+            "description": "Work abstract or summary",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "authors": {
+            "description": "List of author names",
+            "items": {
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          },
+          "citations": {
+            "description": "Number of citations referencing this work",
+            "type": [
+              "number",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "doi": {
+            "description": "Digital Object Identifier",
+            "type": "string"
+          },
+          "journal": {
+            "description": "Journal or container title",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "published": {
+            "description": "Publication date in YYYY-MM-DD format",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "publisher": {
+            "description": "Publisher name",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "subjects": {
+            "description": "Subject categories or keywords",
+            "items": {
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          },
+          "title": {
+            "description": "Work title",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "type": {
+            "description": "Work type (e.g., journal-article, book)",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "url": {
+            "description": "URL to access the work",
+            "type": "string"
+          }
+        },
+        "required": [
+          "doi",
+          "title",
+          "journal",
+          "authors",
+          "published",
+          "type",
+          "publisher",
+          "abstract",
+          "citations",
+          "subjects",
+          "url"
+        ],
+        "type": "object"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    "total_results": {
+      "description": "Total number of results matching the search query",
+      "type": "number"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "total_results",
+    "results"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}
  4. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • removedInput schema / examples
      Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "query": "transformer neural networks"
-  },
-  {
-    "limit": 20,
-    "query": "CRISPR gene editing"
-  }
-]
    • changedOutput schema / (root)
      Previous value: -{
-  "properties": {
-    "results": {
-      "items": {
-        "properties": {
-          "abstract": {
-            "description": "Work abstract text",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "authors": {
-            "description": "List of author names",
-            "items": {
-              "type": "string"
-            },
-            "type": "array"
-          },
-          "cited_by_count": {
-            "description": "Number of citations",
-            "type": "number"
-          },
-          "concepts": {
-            "description": "Top research concepts/fields (up to 5)",
-            "items": {
-              "type": "string"
-            },
-            "type": "array"
-          },
-          "doi": {
-            "description": "Digital Object Identifier",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "id": {
-            "description": "OpenAlex work ID",
-            "type": "string"
-          },
-          "journal": {
-            "description": "Journal or publication venue name",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "oa_url": {
-            "description": "Open access URL if available",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "open_access": {
-            "description": "Whether work is open access",
-            "type": "boolean"
-          },
-          "publication_year": {
-            "description": "Year of publication",
-            "type": [
-              "number",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "title": {
-            "description": "Work title",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          },
-          "type": {
-            "description": "Work type (e.g., journal-article)",
-            "type": [
-              "string",
-              "null"
-            ]
-          }
-        },
-        "required": [
-          "id",
-          "doi",
-          "title",
-          "publication_year",
-          "type",
-          "open_access",
-          "oa_url",
-          "cited_by_count",
-          "journal",
-          "authors",
-          "concepts",
-          "abstract"
-        ],
-        "type": "object"
-      },
-      "type": "array"
-    },
-    "total": {
-      "description": "Total number of works matching the query",
-      "type": "number"
-    }
-  },
-  "required": [
-    "total",
-    "results"
-  ],
-  "type": "object"
-}New value: +null
  5. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedOutput schema / (root)
      Previous value: -nullNew value: +{
+  "properties": {
+    "results": {
+      "items": {
+        "properties": {
+          "abstract": {
+            "description": "Work abstract text",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "authors": {
+            "description": "List of author names",
+            "items": {
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          },
+          "cited_by_count": {
+            "description": "Number of citations",
+            "type": "number"
+          },
+          "concepts": {
+            "description": "Top research concepts/fields (up to 5)",
+            "items": {
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          },
+          "doi": {
+            "description": "Digital Object Identifier",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "id": {
+            "description": "OpenAlex work ID",
+            "type": "string"
+          },
+          "journal": {
+            "description": "Journal or publication venue name",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "oa_url": {
+            "description": "Open access URL if available",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "open_access": {
+            "description": "Whether work is open access",
+            "type": "boolean"
+          },
+          "publication_year": {
+            "description": "Year of publication",
+            "type": [
+              "number",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "title": {
+            "description": "Work title",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          },
+          "type": {
+            "description": "Work type (e.g., journal-article)",
+            "type": [
+              "string",
+              "null"
+            ]
+          }
+        },
+        "required": [
+          "id",
+          "doi",
+          "title",
+          "publication_year",
+          "type",
+          "open_access",
+          "oa_url",
+          "cited_by_count",
+          "journal",
+          "authors",
+          "concepts",
+          "abstract"
+        ],
+        "type": "object"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    "total": {
+      "description": "Total number of works matching the query",
+      "type": "number"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "total",
+    "results"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}
  6. Changed1 schema field changed
    • addedInput schema / examples
      Added value: +[
+  {
+    "query": "transformer neural networks"
+  },
+  {
+    "limit": 20,
+    "query": "CRISPR gene editing"
+  }
+]
  7. First observed

TDQS

A4.5/5.0
Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, and destructiveHint=false, so the safety profile is known. The description adds meaningful behavioral context beyond annotations: title-scoped ranking, sort/filter capabilities, and the return fields. No contradictions with annotations.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is three sentences, front-loaded with the core purpose, then expands into usage details and examples. No wasted words; each clause earns its place. The structure flows naturally from purpose to usage to returns.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

Given the 8-parameter complexity and the presence of an output schema, the description is remarkably complete. It covers the main search behavior, sorting/filtering options, the title-scoped special case, and the return fields. It even includes concrete examples for common queries, making it easy for an agent to map natural language requests to parameters.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3. The description adds value by connecting parameters to real-use scenarios (e.g., 'most-cited papers on transformers' for sort=citations, 'papers on LLMs since 2024' for from_date), and it clarifies the distinction between title and query. This goes beyond the schema's per-field descriptions.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description opens with a specific verb+resource statement: 'Search academic papers, books, and datasets via Crossref.' It also immediately distinguishes a specialized title-scoped search mode, which sets it apart from sibling tools like get_work or get_journal that retrieve specific works.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Provides clear when-to-use guidance: 'For "search works titled X" / finding a SPECIFIC paper by its title, pass title.' It also gives concrete examples for sorting and filtering use cases. However, it does not explicitly mention alternative tools or when not to use this tool (e.g., when you already have a DOI, use get_work), so it stops short of full exclusion guidance.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

All crossref toolsInspect
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TDQS

A3.8/5.0
Disambiguation2/5

Several tools overlap heavily: ask_pipeworx, ask_pipeworx_beta, ask_pipeworx_grounded, deep_research, discover_tools, and suggest_questions all serve queries, with ask_pipeworx_beta explicitly identical to ask_pipeworx. Prediction-market tools (polymarket_edges, polymarket_arbitrage, polymarket_fill_risk, bet_research, etc.) also have unclear boundaries, making tool selection tricky for an agent.

Naming Consistency4/5

Tool names are consistently lowercase snake_case with a mostly verb-first pattern (get_work, search_works, list_subscriptions, validate_claim). Minor deviations exist: some names are noun-first (entity_profile, recent_changes) and prefixes vary (get/search/list/ask/scan), but the overall convention is predictable and readable.

Tool Count2/5

34 tools is far too many for a server named 'crossref', and only three tools actually relate to Crossref. The rest form a sprawling utility belt covering data routing, memory, subscriptions, prediction markets, AI visibility, and npm scanning — a scope mismatch that makes the server feel like a kitchen sink rather than a focused offering.

Completeness2/5

The Crossref-specific surface is thin: search_works, get_work, and get_journal cover discovery and metadata but lack citation lookup, author search, and funder information. The broader Pipeworx surface is extensive but has no unifying domain, so it's impossible to consider the overall toolset complete for any coherent purpose.

Resources