OpenAlex MCP: research papers and citations in your AI app

Add OpenAlex to your AI app

1. 1Click Connect OpenAlex free and sign in to OpenAlex.
2. 2Searching works and authors is the main use. Downloading a work's PDF currently costs $0.01 per call, and deleting a collection removes it for good, so switch those off if you don't need them.
3. 3Add ContextGate to your AI app as a connector or MCP server. The steps for each app are on the Works with page.
4. 4Ask your AI app for the most cited papers on a topic since 2020 and the query it used, then open Activity to see the call.

Literature research in plain language

• Search, filter, sort and group scholarly works, with the query cost shown.
• Look up authors, institutions, venues, topics, funders and more.
• Turn a partial name or title into the right OpenAlex ID.
• Keep private collections of works or authors, and add or remove entries.
• Download a cached PDF of a work when OpenAlex has one.

Research with a record

• Switch off PDF downloads and collection deletes, and keep search.
• Set a policy to warn before a paid download runs.
• Activity records every OpenAlex search, so a literature review shows the queries behind it.

What you get with OpenAlex and ContextGate

• Your AI apps can use OpenAlexClaude, Cursor, ChatGPT and other AI apps reach OpenAlex through the one ContextGate connection you add to them.
• You choose which tools they can useSwitch off any OpenAlex tool you don't want used. It's hidden from your AI apps and refused if called.
• Every call is checked and recordedYour policies check each call (for example, personal data is hidden and secrets are blocked), and Activity keeps a record of it.

ContextGate sees only the tool calls that go through it, not your AI app's built-in tools or your chats.

OpenAlex tools

Examples of what your AI apps can do in OpenAlex. You'll see the exact list of tools after you connect it.

• Add Collection EntitiesBulk-add one or more matching OpenAlex entity IDs to an owned collection without duplicating existing memberships.
• Autocomplete EntitiesResolve a partial name or title to likely OpenAlex entity IDs before filtering or retrieving metadata.
• Create CollectionCreate a private, single-entity-type OpenAlex collection, optionally with an initial bounded set of entity IDs.
• Delete CollectionPermanently delete exactly one owned private OpenAlex collection and all of its collection memberships. This does not delete the underlying OpenAlex entities.
• Download Work ContentDownload an OpenAlex-cached PDF or gzipped GROBID TEI file for a work. Choose the format matching the work's has_content flags. Each call currently costs $0.01, and source copyright terms still apply.
• Get CollectionGet metadata for one private OpenAlex collection owned by the connected user.
• Get Metadata EntityRetrieve one OpenAlex work, author, source, institution, topic, keyword, publisher, funder, award, taxonomy item, country, continent, or language by its supported identifier. Returns the provider's en
• Get Rate Limit StatusValidate the connected OpenAlex API key and inspect daily budget, prepaid balance, reset timing, and current endpoint costs before expensive queries or downloads.
• List Collection EntitiesList one page of entity IDs in an owned private collection together with collection metadata and page totals.
• List My CollectionsList private OpenAlex collections owned by the connected API-key user, optionally finding collections that contain an entity.
• Query Metadata EntitiesSearch, filter, sort, sample, select, or group one OpenAlex metadata resource other than works, including authors, venues, organizations, taxonomy, geography, awards, and enumerations. Returns one cur
• Query WorksSearch, filter, sort, sample, select, or group scholarly works. Returns one cursor-controlled page and its OpenAlex query cost; use the snapshot for whole-catalog exports.
• Remove Collection EntitiesBulk-remove one or more entity memberships from an owned private OpenAlex collection without deleting the underlying OpenAlex entities.
• Update CollectionUpdate a private collection's name or description, or change its entity type while the collection is empty. Provide at least one of display_name, description, or entity_type.