OpenAlex MCP

An MCP server that provides access to the OpenAlex academic research catalog, enabling agents to search, filter, and aggregate data across 270M+ publications, 90M+ authors, and other scholarly entities. It supports tools for entity search, trend analysis, name resolution, citation graph traversal, and field description, along with prompts for literature reviews and research landscape analysis.

Package and access

Local package with source-attributed installation metadata. Koskamo does not execute packages during review.

Community listingLocal stdioSource reviewed; not executedPublished by cyanheads

Vendor documentation

What you can do with it

Search and filter scholarly entities by ID or keyword
Analyze research trends and distribution via group-by aggregation
Resolve ambiguous names to canonical OpenAlex IDs
Walk citation graphs to find citing or cited works

Source and maintenance

Community listingRegistry 0.11.0

mcp-registry: io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@0.11.0 Source repository

Maintenance checked: Oct 31, 2026, 10:27 PM UTC

Packages and installation

Source-provided package data. Koskamo has not executed or live-probed this package.

@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server 0.11.0

npmnpx

@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server package definition

{
  "version": "0.11.0",
  "transport": "stdio",
  "identifier": "@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server",
  "runtimeHint": "npx",
  "registryType": "npm",
  "registryBaseUrl": "https://registry.npmjs.org",
  "environmentVariables": [
    {
      "name": "OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE",
      "format": "string",
      "default": "true",
      "description": "Clamp oversized count inputs (per_page, semantic-search per_page, sample, slice.limit) to their caps with a notice. Set false to reject them instead."
    },
    {
      "name": "OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT",
      "format": "string",
      "default": "true",
      "description": "Accept unambiguous native filter strings on search_entities. Set false to require record objects."
    },
    {
      "name": "OPENALEX_API_KEY",
      "format": "string",
      "description": "OpenAlex account API key, sent as api_key= - optional (free from https://openalex.org/settings/api). Without it, anonymous rate limits apply."
    },
    {
      "name": "OPENALEX_MAILTO",
      "format": "string",
      "description": "Optional email sent as mailto= to identify yourself to OpenAlex (the polite pool). Separate from the API key."
    },
    {
      "name": "OPENALEX_BASE_URL",
      "format": "string",
      "default": "https://api.openalex.org",
      "description": "OpenAlex API base URL."
    },
    {
      "name": "MCP_LOG_LEVEL",
      "format": "string",
      "default": "info",
      "description": "Sets the minimum log level for output (e.g., 'debug', 'info', 'warn')."
    }
  ]
}

Tools

Reported by the attributed source; not independently observed by Koskamo.

No tool definitions available.

Connect from your client

Each snippet configures the same source-provided package; replace placeholders before use.

This server is operated by the named third party. Listing and endpoint checks are not an endorsement or a security audit. Review the operator's permissions, terms, and data handling before connecting. How listings are checked and corrected.

Cursor

Merge this local stdio configuration, replace every placeholder environment value, and restart Cursor. Koskamo has not executed this package.

Cursor configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex-mcp-cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@0.11.0"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE>",
        "OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT>",
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_API_KEY>",
        "OPENALEX_MAILTO": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_MAILTO>",
        "OPENALEX_BASE_URL": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_BASE_URL>",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "<YOUR_MCP_LOG_LEVEL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cline

Merge this local stdio configuration, replace every placeholder environment value, and restart Cline. Koskamo has not executed this package.

Cline configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex-mcp-cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@0.11.0"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE>",
        "OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT>",
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_API_KEY>",
        "OPENALEX_MAILTO": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_MAILTO>",
        "OPENALEX_BASE_URL": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_BASE_URL>",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "<YOUR_MCP_LOG_LEVEL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Merge this local stdio configuration, replace every placeholder environment value, and restart VS Code. Koskamo has not executed this package.

VS Code configuration

{
  "servers": {
    "openalex-mcp-cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@0.11.0"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE>",
        "OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT>",
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_API_KEY>",
        "OPENALEX_MAILTO": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_MAILTO>",
        "OPENALEX_BASE_URL": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_BASE_URL>",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "<YOUR_MCP_LOG_LEVEL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Merge this local stdio configuration, replace every placeholder environment value, and restart Claude Desktop. Koskamo has not executed this package.

Claude Desktop configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openalex-mcp-cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server@0.11.0"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_CLAMP_PER_PAGE>",
        "OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_FILTER_STRING_INPUT>",
        "OPENALEX_API_KEY": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_API_KEY>",
        "OPENALEX_MAILTO": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_MAILTO>",
        "OPENALEX_BASE_URL": "<YOUR_OPENALEX_BASE_URL>",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "<YOUR_MCP_LOG_LEVEL>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Let your agent find its tools

Find servers like OpenAlex MCP from your agent. Add Koskamo once to search the index for endpoints, access requirements, and client setup. Public discovery needs no key.

Connect Koskamo Explore workflows

See all 1,978