Openalex Mcp Server
Search and cite the OpenAlex scholarly graph from your agent while researching markets, papers, and technical novelty before you commit to a build.
Overview
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server is a MCP server for the Idea phase that lets agents search the OpenAlex catalog of 270M+ academic publications.
What is this MCP server?
- Queries the OpenAlex academic catalog described as 270M+ publications
- Polite pool access when OPENALEX_API_KEY or mailto identity is configured
- STDIO (Node) and streamable-http remote at openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp
- Configurable OPENALEX_BASE_URL defaulting to https://api.openalex.org
- Version 0.7.0 MCP server with MCP_LOG_LEVEL for traceable research sessions
- OpenAlex catalog scale stated as 270M+ publications
- Server version 0.7.0
- Default API base https://api.openalex.org
Community signal: 7 GitHub stars.
What problem does it solve?
Solo builders waste hours manually searching papers and metadata when agents could query a unified scholarly index if it were exposed as MCP tools.
Who is it for?
Indie hackers, technical founders, and content builders who need fast literature and citation discovery across the open scholarly web.
Skip if: Users who need full-text paywalled PDFs, clinical trial registries only, or offline corpora with no network calls.
What do I get? / Deliverables
Your agent can retrieve OpenAlex works and related entities through MCP, with optional keyed polite-pool access for steadier research sessions.
- Agent-queryable access to OpenAlex publication and entity metadata
- Configurable API base for custom or mirrored OpenAlex endpoints
- Research-ready MCP transport via stdio or hosted remote
Recommended MCP Servers
Journey fit
Academic discovery is canonically shelved under Idea because solo builders use literature scans to pick problems and positioning first. Research subphase fits a catalog MCP aimed at publications, authors, institutions, and citation metadata rather than shipping code.
How it compares
Scholarly catalog MCP over OpenAlex, not a general web scraper or codebase review skill.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server for?
Builders and researchers using Claude Code or Cursor who want agent-driven access to OpenAlex publications and metadata.
When should I use io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server?
Use it in Idea research, Validate scoping, or docs work when you need evidence, citations, or landscape scans from academic literature.
How do I add io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server to my agent?
Install @cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server from npm, run start:stdio with Node, optionally set OPENALEX_API_KEY, and add stdio or the openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp remote to your MCP config.