Openalex MCP Server
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server
answering
Openalex MCP Server is answering right now. Last checked 5 min ago. 741 installs a week from npm. It exposes 5 tools. Last commit 27 Jul 2026.
Access the OpenAlex academic research catalog — 270M+ publications.
Installs per day
peak 460 · avg 91 · +11% w/w
a month agotoday
Uptime history
41 hours of history · worst hour 75%
41 hours agonow
100.0%
Uptime 24h
91 of 91 checks
5
Tools
read from the server
387 ms
Response time
average over 24h
741
Installs / week
npm and PyPI
Connect this server
Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 5 min ago.
run in your terminal
claude mcp add openalex-mcp-server --transport http https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"openalex-mcp-server": {
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
}~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.openalex-mcp-server]
url = "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp".cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"openalex-mcp-server": {
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
}.vscode/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"openalex-mcp-server": {
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
}Available tools 5
Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on.
If a tool disappears, we record the date.
openalex
openalex_analyze_trends
Aggregate OpenAlex entities into groups and count them. Use for trend analysis (group works by publication_year), distribution analysis (group by oa_status, type, country), and comparative analysis (group by institution or topic). Combine with filters to scope the analysis. Returns up to 200 groups per page — use cursor pagination for fields with many distinct values.
openalex_describe_fields
List valid field names for an OpenAlex entity type and context (filter, group_by, or select). Use proactively before constructing a filter or group_by to avoid invalid-field 400 errors. Pass `query` to narrow the results by name similarity — useful when you have a partial or guessed field name.
openalex_get_citation_graph
Walk the citation graph one hop from a seed work. Direction picks the edge: incoming citations (`cites`), the seed's own references (`cited_by`), or OpenAlex's algorithmically-related works (`related_to`). Note: `direction` follows OpenAlex's filter convention, which inverts the common English reading — `cites` returns works that cite the seed; `cited_by` returns works the seed cites. Results use the works schema; combine with filters/sort to narrow further.
openalex_resolve_name
Resolve a name or an identifier to an OpenAlex ID. ALWAYS use this before filtering by entity — names are ambiguous, IDs are not. A name returns up to 10 autocomplete matches with disambiguation hints. An identifier — OpenAlex ID, DOI, ORCID, ROR, PMID, PMCID, or ISSN, bare or in URL form — resolves directly to the one record it addresses, and needs no entity_type.
openalex_search_entities
Search, filter, sort, or retrieve by ID. Covers all OpenAlex entity types (works, authors, sources, institutions, topics, keywords, publishers, funders). Pass `id` to retrieve a single entity. Otherwise, use `query` and/or `filters` for discovery. Supports keyword search with boolean operators, exact phrase matching, and AI semantic search. Use openalex_resolve_name to resolve names to IDs before filtering. Searches and ID lookups return a curated set of fields by default; pass `select` to override with specific fields, or `["*"]` for the full record.
Endpoints
| URL | Transport | State | Latency | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp | streamable-http | answering | 470 ms | 5 min ago |
Openalex MCP Server — questions
Answers built from our own checks of this server.
What can Openalex MCP Server do?
It exposes 5 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: openalex_analyze_trends, openalex_describe_fields, openalex_get_citation_graph, openalex_resolve_name, openalex_search_entities. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README.
How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →
Is Openalex MCP Server working right now?
We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 91 of 91 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 387 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.
How do I connect Openalex 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 is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.
Does Openalex MCP Server need an API key?
No. Openalex MCP Server completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 5 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.
How fast is Openalex MCP Server?
It answers our handshake in 387 ms on average, which is faster than 35% of all working MCP servers we measure. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.
How many people use Openalex MCP Server?
The npm package @cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server was installed 741 times in the last week. Week over week that is +11%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Openalex MCP Server open source?
Yes — it is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, written in TypeScript, 11 stars on GitHub and 6 open issues. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.