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OpenAlex for AI agents

OpenAlex is an open catalog of scholarly works, authors, institutions, and research topics. Researchers and academic tools use it to search and analyze the scholarly literature. Connect it once through Arc0, and your agent, or Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, can use it through one MCP endpoint, limited to what each user approved.

Connect OpenAlexSee the 14 actions ↓
Databases and spreadsheetsAPI keyMCP + RESTopenalex.org
AUDIT LOG · OPENALEXPOLICY: acme-support
09:41:07 · claude · u_8f2read
openalex.list_my_collections
List My Collections✓ allowed · 212ms
09:41:08 · claude · u_8f2read
openalex.get_entity
Get Metadata Entity✓ allowed · 164ms
09:41:09 · claude · u_8f2write
openalex.create_collection
Create Collection✓ approved · approved by user
09:41:12 · claude · u_8f2destructive
openalex.delete_collection
Delete Collection✕ blocked · policy: deny
EVERY OPENALEX CALL, ON THE RECORD
01 · USE CASES

What agents do in OpenAlex.

01

Query scholarly works on a topic

Search works matching a research topic to build a literature review reading list.

02

Build a collection of papers

Add relevant works to a saved collection for ongoing research tracking.

03

Check rate limit status read-only

Look up remaining API rate limit before running a large batch of queries.

02 · ACTIONS

14 OpenAlex actions, graded by risk.

Every OpenAlex action is tagged read, write or destructive, so one policy covers the whole app and new actions inherit the right default.

read

8

Look things up. Allowed by default.

  • openalex.get_entity
    Get Metadata Entity
  • openalex.query_works
    Query Works
  • openalex.get_collection
    Get Collection
  • openalex.query_entities
    Query Metadata Entities
  • openalex.list_my_collections
    List My Collections
  • openalex.get_rate_limit_status
    Get Rate Limit Status
  • openalex.list_collection_entities
    List Collection Entities
  • openalex.download_work_content
    Download Work Content

write

4

Create and change things. Allow, or ask the user first.

  • openalex.create_collection
    Create Collection
  • openalex.update_collection
    Update Collection
  • openalex.add_collection_entities
    Add Collection Entities
  • openalex.autocomplete_entities
    Autocomplete Entities

destructive

2

Delete, cancel or archive. Ask first, or deny outright.

  • openalex.delete_collection
    Delete Collection
  • openalex.remove_collection_entities
    Remove Collection Entities
03 · HOW IT WORKS

OpenAlex in three steps.

  1. 01Your users connect OpenAlexThey add their OpenAlex api key on Arc0 Connect, under your brand. It goes straight into the vault.
  2. 02You set the rulesReads run, writes like “create Collection” can wait for the user, and “delete Collection” can be denied outright.
  3. 03Any agent can actYour agent calls OpenAlex through the Arc0 SDK or MCP, and so can Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. Every call lands on the audit log.
POLICY.TS
await arc0.policies.set('openalex', {
  read: 'allow',
  write: 'ask',        // create_collection
  destructive: 'deny',  // delete_collection
})

# Claude Code: the same connection, one URL
$ claude mcp add --transport http arc0 \
    https://mcp.arc0.ai/u/u_8f2
04 · AUTH AND DATA

How OpenAlex connects.

Users add their OpenAlex api key on Arc0 Connect. It is encrypted in the vault, never shown to the model, and each user can rotate or revoke it at any time.

The same OpenAlex connection serves your agent over MCP and your own backend over REST and the proxy, so a user connects once. How Arc0 handles credentials →

AUTH
API key
CREDENTIALS
Per-tenant encrypted vault
MODEL SEES
Results only, never credentials
AUDIT LOG
Every call, on every plan
05 · WORKS WITH

Use OpenAlex from any agent.

Claude
ChatGPT
Cursor
Codex
VS Code
OpenAI Agents SDK
Claude Agent SDK
Vercel AI SDK
Mastra
LangGraph
06 · RELATED

More databases and spreadsheets apps.

Google Sheets58 actionsExcel55 actionsSnowflake17 actionsAnyDB9 actionsGigasheet150 actionsNeon110 actionsGoogle BigQuery63 actionsNocoDB28 actions
ALL DATABASES AND SPREADSHEETS APPS →
07 · FAQ

OpenAlex and Arc0, answered.

Q01

Can I use OpenAlex with Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor?

Yes. Connect OpenAlex to Arc0 once, then add your Arc0 MCP URL to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code or any other remote-MCP client. Each assistant only gets the OpenAlex actions you allow.

Q02

How do users connect OpenAlex?

Users add their OpenAlex api key on Arc0 Connect. It is encrypted in the vault, never shown to the model, and each user can rotate or revoke it at any time.

Q03

Which OpenAlex actions can my agent take?

14 in total: 8 read, 4 write and 2 destructive, such as “create Collection”. Your policies decide which of them each agent may call.

Q04

Can I stop my agent from deleting things in OpenAlex?

Yes. Actions like “delete Collection” are graded destructive. Set destructive actions to deny, or to ask so the user approves each one, and blocked calls still show up on the audit log.

Q05

Can my own backend call OpenAlex too?

Yes. The same OpenAlex connection is available over REST and through the Arc0 proxy, so your product and your agent share one connection per user.

Get started

Plug OpenAlex into your agent.

Your users connect OpenAlex once, under your brand. Your agent gets 14 actions behind your policies, with every call on the record.

Connect OpenAlexBrowse all apps →

Free to build · MCP + REST · Audit log on every plan