io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server
REMOTE · OPENALEX.CASEYJHAND.COM · 2 COMPONENTS · SCANNED SEP 22
Access the OpenAlex academic research catalog — 270M+ publications.
Available components
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Endpoint Security66
- The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
- Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 5 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Unverified
- HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path. View diagnostics → Pass
- The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present. View diagnostics → Pass
- DNSSEC is configured correctly; the domain's records validate against the full chain to the root. View diagnostics → Pass
Transport & Reachability100
- Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake. View diagnostics → Pass
Schema Quality & AI Usability76
- 100% of prompts and resources have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the item's name).Pass
- AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 2812 tokens (~562/item across 5 items; 5 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management100
- No destabilizing schema changes in the last 30 days.Pass
Tool Coverage100
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 100% of tool parameters carry a description.Pass
- Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.Pass
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 5 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 6 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).Pass
How do I install the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server?
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server is a hosted endpoint at https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.
remote · openalex.caseyjhand.com
claude mcp add --transport http cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server 'https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
} {
"servers": {
"cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
} [mcp_servers.cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server] url = "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp",
"enabled": true
}
}
} openclaw mcp add cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server --url 'https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp' --transport streamable-http
mcp_servers:
cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server:
url: "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp" {
"McpServers": {
"cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
"Transport": "http",
"Url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
} assistant mcp add cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server -t streamable-http -u 'https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
} The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 19 Sept 26 0
- Server version: 0.7.13 → 0.7.14 functional
- 13 Sept 26 0
- Server version: 0.7.12 → 0.7.13 functional
- 9 Sept 26 0
- Stability: 0.97 → pass security
- Tool “openalex_describe_fields” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads security
- Tool “openalex_resolve_name” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads security
- Schema quality: 501 → 562 ▼ functional
- Server version: 0.7.10 → 0.7.12 functional
- “openalex_describe_fields” reworded the description of “query” cosmetic
- “openalex_search_entities” reworded the description of “select” cosmetic
- “openalex_search_entities” reworded the description of “id” cosmetic
- “openalex_resolve_name” reworded the description of “query” cosmetic
- “openalex_get_citation_graph” reworded the description of “seed_id” cosmetic
- 8 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 93 to 97. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 28 days of observed history at the previous scan, 29 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 7 Sept 26 −1
- Stability: pass → 0.93 functional
- 3 Sept 26 0
- Server version: 0.7.9 → 0.7.10 functional
- 31 Aug 26 0
- Stability: 0.97 → pass security
- 30 Aug 26 0
- Stability: pass → 0.97 functional
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 22 Sept 2026 · Probed https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp
TLS valid
Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .
| Subject | Issuer | Valid from | Valid until | Key | Signature | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN=caseyjhand.com | CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US | 4 Sept 2026 | 3 Dec 2026 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA256 | a6985204ed51ae050e7738aa6be668e9 |
| SANs: caseyjhand.com, *.caseyjhand.com | ||||||
| CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US (CA) | CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US | 13 Dec 2023 | 20 Feb 2029 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA384 | 7ff31977972c224a76155d13b6d685e3 |
| CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US (CA) | CN=GlobalSign Root CA,OU=Root CA,O=GlobalSign nv-sa,C=BE | 15 Nov 2023 | 28 Jan 2028 | ECDSA 384 | SHA256-RSA | 7fe530bf331343bedd821610493d8a1b |
Background: What to check on a remote MCP endpoint →
DNSSEC secure
Validation of openalex.caseyjhand.com. — Secure
| Zone | DS | Keys | Algorithms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | trust_anchor | 20326, 38696 | 8, 8 | Verified |
| com. | present | 19718 | 13 | Verified |
| caseyjhand.com. | present | 2371 | 13 | Verified |
| openalex.caseyjhand.com. | Verified address RRset verified with the apex keys |
Authentication No authorisation required
The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.
| Result | No authorisation required |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
| strict-transport-security | max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload |
| x-content-type-options | nosniff |
Background: How OAuth 2.1 works in the 2026 MCP spec →
Transports 2 probes
| Transport | URL | Outcome | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| streamable-http | https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp | Verified | 200 | |
| http (plaintext) | http://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp | HTTPS enforced | 301 | https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp |
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
openalex_analyze_trends Openalex Analyze Trends ~433
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.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | string | – | Pagination cursor from a previous response. Only relevant when order is "key" — count-descending results have no next page. Pass the next_cursor from the previous response to advance. |
| entity_type | string | yes | Entity type to aggregate. |
| filters | object | – | Filter criteria (same syntax as openalex_search_entities filters). Narrows the population before aggregation. For full-text within filters, use abstract.search, title.search, or default.search — ther… |
| group_by | string | yes | Field to group by. Works examples: "publication_year", "type", "oa_status", "primary_topic.field.id", "authorships.institutions.country_code", "is_retracted". Authors: "last_known_institutions.countr… |
| include_unknown | boolean | – | Include a group for entities with no value for the grouped field. Hidden by default. |
| order | string | – | Sort order for groups. Omit or pass "count" (default) to return the top-N groups by count descending — no further pages. Pass "key" to enumerate all distinct values in key-ascending order with cursor… |
| per_page | integer | – | Maximum groups per page (1-200). Default 200 (the upstream cap). A real top-N knob when order is count (the default) — reduce to return only the highest-count groups. |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| budget | object | – | What this call cost against the OpenAlex daily budget and what is left of it — weigh `remainingUsd` against `costUsd` before enumerating every group with `order: "key"`. Absent when OpenAlex omitted… |
| echo | string | – | Compact echo of the input criteria (entity_type, group_by, filters) — surfaces what was actually requested when no groups are returned. |
| error | object | – | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. |
| groups | array | – | Aggregation groups with counts. |
| meta | object | – | Aggregation metadata. |
| notice | string | – | Guidance notice. Set when no groups are returned (recovery suggestions) or when the page is full and more groups likely exist (truncation signal with narrowing advice). Absent otherwise. |
| totalCount | number | – | Total entities matching the filters before grouping (across all pages). |
No examples provided.
openalex_describe_fields Openalex Describe Fields ~246
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 rank the list by name similarity — useful when you have a partial or guessed field name. Ranking never drops a field: the full list comes back either way.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| context | string | yes | Field usage context. "filter": fields accepted in the filter param. "group_by": fields accepted in group_by — a subset of the filter set (raw date and *.search fields are excluded; they cannot be gro… |
| entity_type | string | yes | OpenAlex entity type to list fields for. |
| query | string | – | Optional partial or guessed field name to sort results by similarity. Pass the field you tried (e.g. "funder") to get the closest matches first. The complete field list is returned either way — a que… |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| context | string | – | Context queried (filter, group_by, or select). |
| entity_type | string | – | Entity type queried. |
| error | object | – | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. |
| fields | array | – | Every valid field name for this entity_type + context — the complete pool, ranked by similarity when `query` is provided. Never truncated, so this always holds `total` entries. |
| total | number | – | Total number of valid fields for this entity_type + context. |
No examples provided.
openalex_get_citation_graph Openalex Get Citation Graph ~488
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.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | string | – | Pagination cursor from a previous response. Pass to get the next page. |
| direction | string | yes | "cites": works that cite seed_id (incoming citations). "cited_by": works that seed_id cites (its reference list). "related_to": OpenAlex algorithmically-related works (~8-30 typical, may be empty for… |
| filters | object | – | Additional filters to narrow the graph, same syntax as openalex_search_entities. Example: publication_year=">2020", is_oa="true". Do not include cites/cited_by/related_to — those are set by the `dire… |
| per_page | integer | – | Results per page (1-100). Default 25. |
| seed_id | string | yes | Seed work identifier. Accepts OpenAlex ID ("W2741809807"), DOI ("10.1038/nature12373" or full URL), or PMID ("12345678" or "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12345678"). A PMCID is recognized too, bare… |
| select | array | – | OpenAlex work field names to return. Always returned: id, display_name. Defaults to the curated works select if omitted. |
| sort | string | – | Sort field. Prefix with "-" for descending. Comma-separate for a multi-key sort, applied left to right, with the "-" prefix set per key ("-publication_year,cited_by_count" sorts by year descending, t… |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| budget | object | – | What this call cost against the OpenAlex daily budget and what is left of it. Price a full walk before committing to it: `totalCount` ÷ `per_page` × `costUsd` against `remainingUsd`. Absent when Open… |
| echo | string | – | Compact echo of seed_id, direction, filters, sort — surfaces what was actually queried when no edges are returned. |
| error | object | – | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. |
| meta | object | – | Result metadata including pagination. |
| notice | string | – | Recovery guidance when no edges are returned — suggests verifying the seed_id, broadening filters, or trying a different direction. Absent when results are present. |
| results | array | – | Works on the citation graph in this direction. |
| totalCount | number | – | Total edges from seed_id in this direction across all pages. |
No examples provided.
openalex_resolve_name Openalex Resolve Name ~386
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, or ISSN, bare or in URL form — resolves directly to the one record it addresses, and needs no entity_type. A PMCID is recognized as well, bare or as a PubMed Central URL, but OpenAlex indexes no PMCIDs, so it resolves nothing — pass the work's PMID or DOI instead.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| entity_type | string | – | Entity type to search. Omit for cross-entity search (useful when entity type is unknown). Not applied when `query` is an identifier — an identifier determines its own entity type. |
| filters | object | – | Narrow autocomplete results with filters. Example: restrict to a specific country or publication year range. Applies to name queries only — an identifier already addresses a single record. |
| query | string | yes | Name or partial name to resolve. Also accepts an identifier, bare or in URL form — OpenAlex ID ("W2741809807", "F4320332161"), DOI ("10.1038/nature12373"), ORCID ("0000-0002-1825-0097"), ROR ("https:… |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| budget | object | – | What this call cost against the OpenAlex daily budget and what is left of it. Read `remainingUsd` here to size the search or traversal this resolution feeds. Absent when OpenAlex omitted the accounti… |
| error | object | – | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. |
| notice | string | – | Guidance notice. Set when nothing matched (echoes the query and suggests corrections) or when an identifier query was passed name-search parameters that do not apply to it. Absent otherwise. |
| results | array | – | Autocomplete matches, up to 10. |
No examples provided.
openalex_search_entities Openalex Search Entities ~1,186
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.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | string | – | Pagination cursor from a previous response. Pass to get the next page. |
| entity_type | string | yes | Type of scholarly entity to search. |
| filters | object | – | Filter criteria as field:value pairs. AND across fields (multiple keys). OR within field: pipe-separate ("us|gb"). NOT: prefix "!" ("!us"). Range: "2020-2024". Comparison: ">100", "<50". AND within s… |
| id | string | – | Retrieve a single entity by ID. Supports: OpenAlex ID ("W2741809807"), DOI ("10.1038/nature12373"), ORCID ("0000-0002-1825-0097"), ROR ("https://ror.org/00hx57361"), PMID ("12345678" or "https://pubm… |
| per_page | integer | – | Results per page (1-100). Default 25. Semantic search caps at 50 — when search_mode="semantic", set per_page ≤ 50 (also subject to a 1 req/sec rate limit upstream). The cap applies to searches only;… |
| query | string | – | Text search query. Supports boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), quoted phrases ("exact match"), wildcards (machin*), fuzzy matching (machin~1), and proximity ("climate change"~5). Omit for filter-only… |
| sample | integer | – | Return a random sample of this many entities matching the filters (1-100). Single page only — pagination via `cursor` is not supported with sampling. Overrides `per_page`. Useful for unbiased explora… |
| search_mode | string | – | Search strategy. "keyword": stemmed full-text (default). "exact": no stemming, matches individual words (use quoted phrases for multi-word exact match). "semantic": AI embedding similarity (max 50 re… |
| seed | string | – | Deterministic seed for `sample`. Same seed + same filters = same results — pass when reproducibility matters. Has no effect without `sample`, and a search that passes it alone is rejected. |
| select | array | – | OpenAlex top-level field names to return. Always returned: `id`, `display_name` — additional fields you list are appended. A curated default per entity type applies to both searches and single-entity… |
| sort | string | – | Sort field. Prefix with "-" for descending. Comma-separate for a multi-key sort, applied left to right, with the "-" prefix set per key ("-publication_year,cited_by_count" sorts by year descending, t… |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| budget | object | – | What this call cost against the OpenAlex daily budget and what is left of it. Price a full traversal before committing to it: `totalCount` ÷ `per_page` × `costUsd` against `remainingUsd`. Absent when… |
| echo | string | – | Compact echo of the criteria that actually ran (entity_type, query, filters, sort, search_mode) — surfaces what was searched when results are empty. An `id` lookup echoes entity_type and id alone, be… |
| error | object | – | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. |
| meta | object | – | Result metadata including pagination. |
| notice | string | – | Guidance notice. Set when results are empty (echoes the criteria and suggests how to broaden) or when an `id` lookup was passed search criteria it does not apply (names them). Absent otherwise. |
| results | array | – | OpenAlex entity objects passed through unchanged. Additional fields depend on entity_type and select. |
| totalCount | number | – | Total results matching the query/filters across all pages. |
No examples provided.
What is the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server?
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server is listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server. Access the OpenAlex academic research catalog, 270M+ publications. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp).
Is the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server safe to use?
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server scores 82 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.
What tools does the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server expose?
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server exposes 5 tools: openalex_resolve_name, openalex_search_entities, openalex_analyze_trends, openalex_get_citation_graph, openalex_describe_fields. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 2,739 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Does the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server require authentication?
No. We connected to io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.
Is the io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server server still maintained?
io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 22 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.