openalex-search
Open academic metadata via OpenAlex API. Use when: user needs author profiles, institution data, concept mapping, or open citation data. NOT for: full-text search or downloading papers.
Best use case
openalex-search is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.
Open academic metadata via OpenAlex API. Use when: user needs author profiles, institution data, concept mapping, or open citation data. NOT for: full-text search or downloading papers.
Teams using openalex-search should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.
When to use this skill
- You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.
When not to use this skill
- You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
- You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/openalex-search/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How openalex-search Compares
| Feature / Agent | openalex-search | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Not specified | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Open academic metadata via OpenAlex API. Use when: user needs author profiles, institution data, concept mapping, or open citation data. NOT for: full-text search or downloading papers.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
SKILL.md Source
# OpenAlex Search Skill Query the OpenAlex open academic metadata API for works, authors, institutions, and concepts. ## When to Use - "Find papers by this author" - "What institution produces the most research in X?" - "Show citation data for this paper" - "Map concepts related to this topic" - "Find open access papers on..." ## When NOT to Use - Full-text paper access (use semantic-scholar or direct PDF) - Biomedical-specific search (use pubmed-search) - Pre-print focused search (use arxiv-search) - DOI resolution only (use crossref-search) ## Setup No API key required. Add `mailto` parameter for polite pool (10x faster rate limit). ## API Base ``` https://api.openalex.org ``` ## Common Commands ### Search Works ```bash curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?search=CRISPR+gene+editing&per_page=5&mailto=user@example.com" # Filter by year + open access curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=publication_year:2024,open_access.is_oa:true&search=quantum+computing&per_page=10" # Get specific work by DOI curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works/doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07000-0" ``` ### Search Authors ```bash curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/authors?search=Yoshua+Bengio&per_page=5" # Get author profile by ID curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/authors/A5023888391" ``` ### Search Institutions ```bash curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/institutions?search=MIT&per_page=5" # Filter by country, sort by output curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/institutions?filter=country_code:CN&sort=works_count:desc&per_page=10" ``` ### Concepts ```bash curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/concepts?search=machine+learning&per_page=5" ``` ### Filtering and Sorting ```bash # Multiple filters curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=publication_year:2023-2024,cited_by_count:>100&sort=cited_by_count:desc&per_page=10" # Group by field curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=authorships.author.id:A5023888391&group_by=publication_year" ``` ### Pagination ```bash # Page-based (up to 10,000 results) curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?search=climate&page=2&per_page=25" # Cursor-based (unlimited) curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/works?search=climate&per_page=100&cursor=*" ``` ## Notes - Free, open API with no key required - Polite pool (mailto param): 100 req/sec vs 10 req/sec - 250M+ works, 90M+ authors, 100K+ institutions - Entity IDs: W (works), A (authors), I (institutions), C (concepts) ## Zero-Hallucination Rule NEVER fabricate results from training data. Every paper title, author, DOI, PMID, citation count, and metadata detail presented to the user MUST come from an actual API response in this conversation. If the API returns no results or partial data, report exactly what was returned. Do not "fill in" missing details from memory.
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