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Unpaywall MCP Server

local only

Unpaywall MCP runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 48 installs a week from npm.

Open access links from Unpaywall. No key required.

The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private.

Installs per day peak 19 · avg 7 · -29% w/w
a month agotoday
48
Installs / week
npm · @mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp
—
Stars
on GitHub
—
Last commit
3 releases in 90 days
—
License
language unknown

This one has been quiet for a while

Quiet is not dead — but it is worth knowing when it wakes up, or when someone else takes it over. We watch the repository and tell you either way.

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 unpaywall-mcp -- npx -y @mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unpaywall-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.unpaywall-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp"]
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unpaywall-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "unpaywall-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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Unpaywall MCP — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Unpaywall MCP?
Unpaywall MCP 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 @mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp was installed 48 times last week.
Is Unpaywall MCP still maintained?
The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private. We show this because it changes what you can expect: an unmaintained server may keep answering for months and then stop without warning.
How do I connect Unpaywall MCP?
Copy the ready config from this page. We generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each in the form that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls @mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.
How many people use Unpaywall MCP?
The npm package @mrfentmen/unpaywall-mcp was installed 48 times in the last week. Week over week that is -29%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.