mcpbeat Sign in

Crossref MCP Server

local only

Crossref MCP Server runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 617 installs a week from npm. Last commit 14 Sep 2026.

Resolve DOIs, search ~155M scholarly works, and fetch references via the Crossref REST API.

Installs per day peak 470 · avg 72 · +234% w/w
a month agotoday
617
Installs / week
npm · @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server
3
Stars
9 open issues
14 Sep 2026
Last commit
0 releases in 90 days
Apache-2.0
License
TypeScript

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Crossref MCP Server every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Three servers free · no card

Connect this server

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add crossref-mcp-server -- npx -y @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref-mcp-server": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.crossref-mcp-server]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"]
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref-mcp-server": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref-mcp-server": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}

This one needs environment variables set before it will start: CROSSREF_MAILTO (Email for polite-pool User-Agent header — optional. Without: anonymous pool with stricter rate limits.), CROSSREF_BASE_URL (Override the Crossref API base URL. Defaults to https://api.crossref.org.), CROSSREF_TIMEOUT_MS (Per-request timeout in milliseconds.), MCP_HTTP_HOST (The hostname for the HTTP server.), MCP_HTTP_PORT (The port to run the HTTP server on.), MCP_HTTP_ENDPOINT_PATH (The endpoint path for the MCP server.), MCP_AUTH_MODE (Authentication mode to use: 'none', 'jwt', or 'oauth'.), MCP_LOG_LEVEL (Sets the minimum log level for output (e.g., 'debug', 'info', 'warn').). The author declared them in the registry entry; get the values from the project itself.

Alternatives to Crossref MCP Server

same job, measured the same way
Crossref
by smaboundless

Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the Crossref REST API

69 installs/wk local only
I
Crossref Scholarly Data
by taru0208

Search 150M+ academic works, journals, and funders via Crossref API.

answering
Crossref MCP
by jtl-neo

MCP server wrapping the Crossref REST API for scholarly metadata.

75 installs/wk local only
DONVI108 Free Research Beta
by ho11-bit

Free scholarly paper and DOI discovery via Crossref. Self-service registration; no invitation.

answering
CiteNexus
by akougkas

Search scholarly sources, verify references, and export citations with traceable evidence.

local only
Federal Reserve MCP Server
by cyanheads

Search and fetch ~800K Federal Reserve economic time-series from the FRED API via MCP.

57 installs/wk local only
Croissant
by getcroissant

Search and book coworking spaces and conference rooms via Croissant.

33 installs/wk local only
Academic Research MCP
by themineworks

Scholarly search: OpenAlex, Crossref, arXiv, OpenCitations and PubMed in one endpoint.

answering

Crossref MCP Server — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Crossref MCP Server?
Crossref MCP Server runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the npm package @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server was installed 617 times last week.
How do I connect Crossref MCP Server?
Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.
How many people use Crossref MCP Server?
The npm package @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server was installed 617 times in the last week. Week over week that is +234%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Crossref MCP Server open source?
Yes — it is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, written in TypeScript, 3 stars on GitHub and 9 open issues. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.