# io.github.cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server (remote · openalex.caseyjhand.com)

Access the OpenAlex academic research catalog — 270M+ publications.

- Trust score: 70/100 (medium)
- Change this week: +4
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-08-03

## Components

- remote · `openalex.caseyjhand.com`: 70/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex)
- npm · `@cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server`: 35/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `0.7.8`

## Trust breakdown

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. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-08-03.

- **Endpoint Security**: 66/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - 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.
  - HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path.
  - The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present.
  - DNSSEC is configured correctly; the domain's records validate against the full chain to the root.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 74/100
  - 100% of prompts and resources have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the item's name).
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 2506 tokens (~501/item across 5 items; 5 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 27/100
  - Stability observed for 8 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 100/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 100% of tool parameters carry a description.
  - Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server]
url = "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server --url https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server:
    url: "https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
```

### Other

```json
{
  "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.

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-08-02 (score 70, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 20 to 23. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 6 days of observed history at the previous scan, 7 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-08-01 (score 69, +1)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-07-30 (score 68, +1)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-07-29 (score 67, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 7 to 10. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 2 days of observed history at the previous scan, 3 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-07-27 (score 66, +1)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-07-26 (score 65)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (5)

### `openalex_resolve_name` (~301 tokens)

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.

Input parameters:

- `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, required): 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:…

Output parameters:

- `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…
- `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.

### `openalex_search_entities` (~1069 tokens)

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.

Input parameters:

- `cursor` (string): Pagination cursor from a previous response. Pass to get the next page.
- `entity_type` (string, required): 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"), PMCID ("PMC123…
- `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…

Output parameters:

- `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…
- `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.

### `openalex_analyze_trends` (~433 tokens)

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.

Input parameters:

- `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, required): 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, required): 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.

Output parameters:

- `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.
- `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).

### `openalex_get_citation_graph` (~432 tokens)

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.

Input parameters:

- `cursor` (string): Pagination cursor from a previous response. Pass to get the next page.
- `direction` (string, required): "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, required): Seed work identifier. Accepts OpenAlex ID ("W2741809807"), DOI ("10.1038/nature12373" or full URL), PMID, or PMCID. Use openalex_resolve_name first if you only have a title.
- `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…

Output parameters:

- `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.
- `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.

### `openalex_describe_fields` (~198 tokens)

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.

Input parameters:

- `context` (string, required): 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, required): OpenAlex entity type to list fields for.
- `query` (string): Optional partial or guessed field name to rank results by similarity. Pass the field you tried (e.g. "funder") to get the closest matches first. Omit to return all fields for the entity_type + contex…

Output parameters:

- `context` (string): Context queried (filter, group_by, or select).
- `entity_type` (string): Entity type queried.
- `fields` (array): Valid field names, ranked by similarity to query when provided.
- `total` (number): Total number of valid fields for this entity_type + context.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-08-03: 70
- 2026-08-02: 70
- 2026-08-01: 69
- 2026-07-30: 68
- 2026-07-29: 67
- 2026-07-28: 66
- 2026-07-27: 66
- 2026-07-26: 65

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://openalex.caseyjhand.com/mcp
- Repository: https://github.com/cyanheads/openalex-mcp-server
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex/changelog.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex/changelog.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/cyanheads-openalex-mcp-server/openalex