About OpenAlex MCP Server
OpenAlex MCP Server lets AI agents and research users search scholarly works, authors, institutions, citations, and references through OpenAlex. It returns compact JSON with abstracts and provides read-only tools hosted on Apify.
Key features
- 01Search scholarly works
- 02Retrieve work details
- 03Explore citations and references
- 04Search authors and institutions
- 05Read-only tool calls
Use cases
- 01Find papers on a research topic
- 02Review an author's publications
- 03Trace citations and references
MCP support
Exposes read-only OpenAlex search and retrieval tools to MCP clients over streamable HTTP. An Apify token is required.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http agenticsolutions-hq-openalex https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp{"mcpServers":{"agenticsolutions-hq-openalex":{"type":"http","url":"https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"agenticsolutions-hq-openalex":{"type":"http","url":"https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"agenticsolutions-hq-openalex":{"type":"http","url":"https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"agenticsolutions-hq-openalex":{"serverUrl":"https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcpAuth requiredTools
Details
From the project READMEOpenAlex MCP Server (listing)
This repository is listing metadata only. It holds no source code. The server is hosted on Apify: https://apify.com/agentic_solutions/openalex-mcp
An MCP server that lets Claude, Cursor and other AI agents search OpenAlex: scholarly works, authors, institutions, and citations/references. It returns compact JSON with abstracts.
Connect
Endpoint (streamable HTTP): https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp
Auth header: Authorization: Bearer <your Apify API token>
{"mcpServers": {"openalex": {"url": "https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
"headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"}}}}
For stdio-only clients: npx mcp-remote https://agentic-solutions--openalex-mcp.apify.actor/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
Tools
search_works, get_work, get_citations, get_references, search_authors, get_author, search_institutions. All are read-only.
Pricing
$0.015 per successful tool call, billed through your Apify account. Failed calls, initialize and tools/list aren't charged. Scoped Apify tokens need "Full access" run mode for Standby. Apify also bills its normal Standby platform usage. An OpenAlex API key is optional (bring your own for higher limits).
Data and licence
Data from OpenAlex (CC0). Please cite: Priem, J., Piwowar, H., & Orr, R. (2022). arXiv:2205.01833. Not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAlex or OurResearch.
Maintained by Agentica ([email protected]).
Listed on: 
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