Which integrations are available for this server?

Allows retrieval of scholarly work metadata by DOI using the OpenAlex API. Enables GitHub Copilot to search and retrieve scholarly metadata from OpenAlex. Allows searching for authors by ORCID identifier using the OpenAlex API. Allows retrieval of scholarly work metadata by PubMed ID using the OpenAlex API.

How do I use openalex-mcp?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@openalex-mcp find papers about CRISPR gene editing from 2024" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

openalex-mcp

by JOSETRA44

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

Python

Remote

OpenAlex MCP Server

Connects any MCP-compatible AI agent to OpenAlex — the world's largest free and open scholarly database with 250+ million works, 300+ million authors, 100,000+ institutions, and billions of citation links.

Works with: Claude Desktop · Claude Code · Cursor · VS Code Copilot · Windsurf · Zed · any MCP client

No paywall. No institutional access required. CC0 licensed data.

Quickstart (2 minutes)

1. Get your free API key at openalex.org/settings/api — takes 30 seconds

2. Install the server

pip install openalex-mcp

3. Add to your AI agent — copy your client's config from Configuration below.

Related MCP server: OpenAlex Author Disambiguation MCP Server

Prerequisites

Python 3.11+

python --version   # needs 3.11 or higher
# Install if missing: https://python.org/downloads

uv (recommended)

# Windows
winget install astral-sh.uv

# macOS / Linux
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

No uv? Use pip install openalex-mcp instead, then replace uvx openalex-mcp in configs with the path from where openalex-mcp (Windows) or which openalex-mcp (macOS/Linux).

Installation Options

Option A — uvx (recommended)

uvx openalex-mcp          # install and run — uv handles everything
uv tool upgrade openalex-mcp  # upgrade later

Option B — pip

pip install openalex-mcp
which openalex-mcp    # macOS/Linux → /usr/local/bin/openalex-mcp
where openalex-mcp    # Windows    → C:\Users\YOU\AppData\...

Option C — From source

git clone https://github.com/JOSETRA44/openalex-mcp.git
cd openalex-mcp
uv sync
cp .env.example .env   # edit .env with your key
uv run openalex-mcp    # run directly

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`OPENALEX_API_KEY`	Recommended	—	Free API key from openalex.org/settings/api
`OPENALEX_EMAIL`	Alt to key	—	Your email — uses the "polite pool" (slower but free, no key)
`OPENALEX_CACHE_TTL`	No	`300`	Response cache duration in seconds (0 = disabled)
`OPENALEX_MAX_RETRIES`	No	`3`	Retries on rate-limit errors
`LOG_LEVEL`	No	`INFO`	`DEBUG` · `INFO` · `WARNING` · `ERROR`

Either OPENALEX_API_KEY or OPENALEX_EMAIL is required. The API key gives 10× more daily quota ($1/day free).

Configuration by Client

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual key in all configs below.

Claude Desktop

Config file:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. You'll see a hammer icon (🔨) confirming tools are loaded.

Claude Code (CLI)

Add to your project's .mcp.json in the repo root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or from source (local development):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory", "/absolute/path/to/openalex-mcp",
        "run", "openalex-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify with /mcp in the Claude Code prompt — you should see openalex with 9 tools.

Cursor

Config file: .cursor/mcp.json in project root, or globally:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\cursor.mcp\mcp.json
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/globalStorage/cursor.mcp/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings → Features → MCP → toggle on → reload window.

VS Code + GitHub Copilot

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "openalex": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Ctrl+Shift+P → GitHub Copilot: Configure MCP

Windsurf

Config file:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json
macOS: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Zed

Edit ~/.config/zed/settings.json:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "openalex": {
      "command": {
        "path": "uvx",
        "args": ["openalex-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Continue.dev

Edit .continue/config.yaml:

mcpServers:
  - name: openalex
    command: uvx
    args:
      - openalex-mcp
    env:
      OPENALEX_API_KEY: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Any other MCP client (generic stdio)

command: uvx
args:    ["openalex-mcp"]
env:     OPENALEX_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE

Automated Setup Script

Auto-detect your installed clients and configure them:

# Interactive
python setup_mcp.py

# Non-interactive — configure all detected clients
python setup_mcp.py --key YOUR_API_KEY_HERE --yes

# Preview without writing files
python setup_mcp.py --key YOUR_API_KEY_HERE --dry-run --yes

# Show detected clients only
python setup_mcp.py --list

The script backs up existing config files before modifying them.

Available Tools (9 total)

Tool	What it does
`openalex_search_works`	Keyword + filter search over 250M+ scholarly works
`openalex_get_work`	Full metadata for one work (by OpenAlex ID, DOI, or PubMed ID)
`openalex_search_authors`	Find researchers by name, institution, ORCID, or metrics
`openalex_get_author`	Author profile: h-index, i10-index, citations by year, topics
`openalex_search_institutions`	Search universities and research organizations by name/country
`openalex_get_institution`	Institution details: country, type, h-index, top topics
`openalex_search_sources`	Search journals, conferences, and repositories
`openalex_get_source`	Source details: ISSN, publisher, OA status, h-index
`openalex_aggregate_works`	Group/count works by year, type, country, topic, etc.

MCP Resource

Resource	Contents
`openalex://filter-reference`	Complete filter syntax: 100+ field codes, operators, and examples

Example Queries

# Find recent papers on a topic
openalex_search_works(
    query="federated learning privacy",
    filters="publication_year:>2021,type:article",
    sort="cited_by_count:desc"
)

# Get full paper details by DOI
openalex_get_work("10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2")

# Find an author and get their profile
openalex_search_authors(query="Geoffrey Hinton")
openalex_get_author("A2208157607")

# Find an institution, then see its recent output
openalex_search_institutions(query="UNAM", country_code="MX")
openalex_search_works(
    filters="institutions.id:I865918315,publication_year:>2020",
    sort="cited_by_count:desc"
)

# Annual publication trend for a topic
openalex_aggregate_works(
    group_by="publication_year",
    filters="type:article",
    query="machine learning"
)

# Find open-access journals in a field
openalex_search_sources(
    query="bioinformatics",
    is_oa=True,
    source_type="journal"
)

Filter Quick Reference

Pattern	Example
Year range	`publication_year:2020-2024`
Newer than	`publication_year:>2021`
Work type	`type:article` · `type:preprint` · `type:book`
Open access only	`open_access.is_oa:true`
Highly cited	`cited_by_count:>100`
By institution	`institutions.id:I97018004`
By country	`institutions.country_code:US`
In a journal	`primary_location.source.id:S137773608`
By language	`language:en` · `language:es` · `language:zh`
Papers citing a work	`cites:W2741809807`
Has DOI	`has_doi:true`
Has abstract	`has_abstract:true`

For the full filter reference, read the openalex://filter-reference resource or see developers.openalex.org.

Rate Limits & Quotas

Auth method	Daily budget	Calls/second
API key (free)	$1.00/day	~10
Email (polite pool)	$0.10/day	~3
No auth	$0.10/day	~1

The server tracks rate-limit headers and automatically sleeps when the quota is low.

Action costs (free tier):

Action	Daily allowance
Get single entity (by ID/DOI)	Unlimited
List + filter	10,000 calls / 1M results
Full-text search	1,000 calls / 100K results

Tip: Use openalex_get_work (unlimited) for single-record lookups rather than search.

Verify It's Working

MCP Inspector (interactive UI)

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx openalex-mcp

Open the URL, click Connect, List Tools — you should see all 9 tools.

Quick smoke test

echo "" | OPENALEX_API_KEY=your_key uvx openalex-mcp
# Should start without errors, then exit when stdin closes

Run unit tests (source install)

uv sync --group dev
uv run pytest tests/ -v
# Expected: 28 passed

Troubleshooting

"Configuration error: Set OPENALEX_API_KEY..."

Add OPENALEX_API_KEY to your MCP client's env block. Get a free key at openalex.org/settings/api.

"command not found: uvx"

Install uv: docs.astral.sh/uv

401 error

API key is invalid. Regenerate at openalex.org/settings/api.

404 error on a work/author/institution

The identifier may be wrong. Try looking up the entity with a search tool first, then use the returned openalex_id.

"uvx openalex-mcp" slow on first run

uv is downloading and caching the package — subsequent starts are instant (~0.2s).

Tools appear but return empty results

Broaden your query: remove publication_year filters, or try query= instead of filters=.

vs. Scopus / Web of Science

	OpenAlex	Scopus	Web of Science
Cost	Free	Subscription	Subscription
Coverage	250M+ works	90M works	170M works
Open data	CC0	Proprietary	Proprietary
API quota	10K calls/day	20K/week	Limited
Non-English	Excellent	Good	Fair
Full-text links	Yes	Partial	Partial

Project Structure

openalex-mcp/
├── src/openalex_mcp/
│   ├── server.py           # FastMCP entry point
│   ├── config.py           # Env var configuration (pydantic-settings)
│   ├── client.py           # Async HTTP client + TTL cache + rate limiting
│   ├── exceptions.py       # Error hierarchy
│   ├── formatters.py       # Raw OpenAlex JSON → clean AI-friendly dicts
│   ├── tools/              # 9 MCP tools (works, authors, institutions, sources, aggregate)
│   └── resources/          # openalex://filter-reference static resource
├── openalex-researcher/    # Agent skill
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   └── references/         # Filter syntax, workflows, output reference
├── tests/                  # Unit tests (28 cases, no network required)
├── setup_mcp.py            # Automated config installer
├── .env.example            # Environment variable template
└── pyproject.toml          # Package definition

License

MIT — see LICENSE

Data from OpenAlex is CC0 (public domain).

Install Server

license - permissive license

quality

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

–Response time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Commit activity

Resources

GitHub Repository

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