# OpenAlex

> OpenAlex's own MCP server: your agent searches the open scholarly catalog for papers, citations, authors, institutions and research trends.

OpenAlex is a free and open catalog of the world's scholarly research, run by a nonprofit team. Its MCP server, which OpenAlex calls the AI agent connector, lets your agent ask the catalog about the literature in plain language. Answers come with titles, authors, venues, citation counts and links, plus the exact query that ran.

What you can do with it
- Find papers by keyword or by meaning, with filters for year, type, open access, citations, and author, institution, journal, topic or funder
- Check a pasted bibliography: whether each reference is real, how well it matched, and its DOI
- See who cites a paper, what it references and related work
- Find authors, institutions, journals, topics, funders and publishers, and read their profiles
- Count and profile a body of work, such as an institution's output, a funder's portfolio or a topic: open-access and top-cited shares, trends by year, fields and collaborators
- Build a systematic search, preview the count and a sample, and get the query in OpenAlex's query language (OQL) to reuse
- Fix your own OpenAlex author profile: claim it, find works missing from it and submit corrections

How it connects
Add https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp as a connector or remote MCP server. It's in Claude's connector directory as OpenAlex, and works in Claude on the web, desktop and mobile and in Claude Code. The first time, you sign in at openalex.org with a free OpenAlex account and approve the connection.

Good to know
- Queries run on your own OpenAlex API key and daily budget, shown on your usage dashboard. If you own an OpenAlex organization, it uses the organization's key.
- It changes nothing except your own author profile, and only when you ask. Every other tool only reads.
- Retracted works are left out unless you ask for them.
- It doesn't fetch full-text PDFs, total the citations across a set of works, or bulk-export results.
- A ChatGPT version is on the way; until then ChatGPT can use OpenAlex through its API.

- Type: Plugin
- Made by: Openalex
- Category: Research
- Formats: Remote MCP
- Version: 0.5.0
- Website: https://help.openalex.org/access/connector/
- Page: https://pluginboard.ai/plugins/openalex

## Works with

- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Muse
- Grok Bot
- Gemini
- Grok
- GitHub Copilot
- Cursor
- Claude Code
- Codex
- Antigravity
- Gemini CLI
- Replit
- OpenClaw
- OpenCode
- Hermes Agent

## Install

### ChatGPT

In ChatGPT on the web: Plugins → + → Add custom MCP server, then paste https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp under Connection. Business and Enterprise plans; Pro can add read-only servers.

### Claude

In Claude (web or desktop): Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector, then paste https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp

### Muse

In Muse: In a Muse chat, ask it to create a custom connector for the MCP server at https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp. Then tap Connect on the card it shows and sign in, or add your key.

### Grok Bot

In Grok Bot: In a chat with your Bot, say "Add this MCP server: https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp". It confirms the details with you and sets it up, and the tools are ready from your next message.

### Gemini

In Gemini: At gemini.google.com: Settings → Connected Apps → Add a custom app, then paste https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp

### Grok

In Grok on the web: At grok.com/connectors: New Connector → Custom, then enter https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp and sign in if it asks.

### GitHub Copilot

Add to VS Code: vscode:mcp/install?%7B%22name%22%3A%22openalex%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22http%22%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fmcp.openalex.org%2Fmcp%22%7D

Copilot CLI:

```shell
copilot mcp add --transport http openalex https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

### Cursor

Add to Cursor: cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=openalex&config=eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL21jcC5vcGVuYWxleC5vcmcvbWNwIn0%3D

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "url": "https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Code

Run in your terminal:

```shell
claude mcp add --transport http openalex https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

### Codex

Run in your terminal:

```shell
codex mcp add openalex --url https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

### Antigravity

Add to ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex": {
      "url": "https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Gemini CLI

Run in your terminal:

```shell
gemini mcp add --transport http openalex https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

### Replit

In Replit: At replit.com/integrations, open MCP Servers → + Add MCP server, paste https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp (add any headers under Advanced settings), then click Test & save.

### OpenClaw

Run in your terminal:

```shell
openclaw mcp add openalex --url https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp --transport streamable-http
```

If it needs a key or sign-in: For https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp, add --header NAME=value for each header it needs, or --auth oauth and then run openclaw mcp login openalex.

### OpenCode

Run in your terminal:

```shell
opencode mcp add openalex --url https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

If it needs a key: For https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp, add --header 'NAME=value' for each header it needs. Add --global to use it in every project.

### Hermes Agent

Run in your terminal:

```shell
hermes mcp add openalex --url https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp
```

Add to ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

```json
{
  "mcp_servers": {
    "openalex": {
      "url": "https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

If it signs in with OAuth: If https://mcp.openalex.org/mcp asks you to sign in, add --auth oauth to the command, or auth: oauth to its entry.

---
From Pluginboard (https://pluginboard.ai).