openalex-research-mcp: Instructions file for Claude Code

CLAUDE.md

openalex-research-mcp CLAUDE.md is an instructions file for Claude Code from oksure/openalex-research-mcp. It costs 2,844 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Developer instructions for an MCP server that connects AI assistants to OpenAlex, a research database containing scholarly works and citation information. They describe the server's modules, search tools, API limits, and retry behaviour.

In plain words
What is it for?
Developing or maintaining the OpenAlex research server, searching scholarly literature, analysing citations and trends, and running code that communicates with the OpenAlex API.
Why use it?
They give contributors the context needed to change the research service without breaking its API access or project structure. They also explain how its many research tools are organised.

Instructions file for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: the file is CLAUDE.md. Also seen: mentions CLAUDE.md; mentions Claude Code.

This is oksure/openalex-research-mcp's own configuration. It tells Claude Code how to work on openalex-research-mcp itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything openalex-research-mcp configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to oksure/openalex-research-mcp. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oksure/openalex-research-mcp/master/CLAUDE.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oksure/openalex-research-mcp

Made for: Claude Code.

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Per session 2,844 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 2,844 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.02844 $0.02844
Opus 5 $0.01422 $0.01422
Sonnet 5 $0.00569 $0.00569
Haiku 4.5 $0.00284 $0.00284

Measured 9d ago against content hash b14c1d82552c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

openalex-research-mcp CLAUDE.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

CLAUDE.md · 283 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 283 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Developer Guide for Claude Code

This file provides guidance for AI assistants (particularly Claude Code) when working with this codebase.

Project Overview

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server providing access to the OpenAlex API for literature review and research landscaping. Exposes 31 specialized tools through the MCP protocol, enabling AI assistants to search 240+ million scholarly works, analyze citations, track research trends, and map collaboration networks.

Architecture

Module Structure

  1. OpenAlex Client Layer (src/openalex-client.ts)

    • Handles HTTP communication with OpenAlex API (api.openalex.org)
    • Manages rate limiting (10 req/s, 100K req/day) and 429 error handling with bounded retry
    • Implements "polite pool" access via email parameter or API key
    • Key methods: getEntity(), searchEntities(), autocomplete(), getWorks(), getAuthors(), etc.
  2. MCP Server Layer (src/index.ts)

    • Implements stdio transport for MCP protocol
    • Defines 31 tools organized into 7 categories (see README for tool list)
    • Contains tool handler switch block
  3. Supporting Modules

    • src/presets.ts — VENUE_PRESETS (9 journal/conference lists) and INSTITUTION_GROUPS (7 presets)
    • src/formatters.ts — Response formatting: summarizeWork(), getFullWorkDetails(), reconstructAbstract(), etc.
    • src/filter.tsbuildFilter() maps MCP tool params to OpenAlex filter format (exported for testing)
    • src/config.ts — Configuration constants and debug() helper (gated on OPENALEX_DEBUG)
    • src/validation.ts — Zod schemas for input validation

Key Design Patterns

Response Optimization
  • List operations (search, citations, etc.): Use summarizeWork() to return compact summaries

    • Authors limited to first 5 (with authors_truncated flag)
    • Only primary topic included
    • Abstracts truncated to 500 chars
    • Typical response: ~1.7 KB per work (down from ~10+ KB)
  • Single work retrieval (get_work): Use getFullWorkDetails() to return complete information

    • ALL authors with positions (first, middle, last), institutions, ORCID IDs, corresponding author flags
    • Full abstract reconstructed from inverted index
    • All topics (not just primary)
    • Complete bibliographic data, funding, keywords
    • Use this when detailed author information is needed (e.g., identifying PIs, corresponding authors)

Read the full file on GitHub · 283 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 283 lines · 2,844 tokens per session scan A b14c1d82552c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

openalex-research-mcp CLAUDE.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository oksure/openalex-research-mcp (50 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 2,844 tokens to every session, about $0.0142 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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