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.
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.
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.
claude mcp add crossref-mcp-server -- npx -y @cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server
{
"mcpServers": {
"crossref-mcp-server": {
"args": [
"-y",
"@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"
],
"command": "npx"
}
}
}
[mcp_servers.crossref-mcp-server]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"]
{
"mcpServers": {
"crossref-mcp-server": {
"args": [
"-y",
"@cyanheads/crossref-mcp-server"
],
"command": "npx"
}
}
}
{
"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.
Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the Crossref REST API
Search 150M+ academic works, journals, and funders via Crossref API.
MCP server wrapping the Crossref REST API for scholarly metadata.
Free scholarly paper and DOI discovery via Crossref. Self-service registration; no invitation.
Search scholarly sources, verify references, and export citations with traceable evidence.
Search and fetch ~800K Federal Reserve economic time-series from the FRED API via MCP.
Search and book coworking spaces and conference rooms via Croissant.
Scholarly search: OpenAlex, Crossref, arXiv, OpenCitations and PubMed in one endpoint.
Answers built from our own checks of this server.