How do I install the Openalex Local skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add aibot88/openalex-local in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Openalex Local safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Openalex Local?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Openalex Local free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Openalex Local?

aibot88 (@aibot88) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Openalex Local by aibot88 — Agent Skill

Name: Openalex Local
Rating: 4.666666666666667 (3 reviews)
Author: aibot88

Openalex Local

Offline, zero-API-key search over the full OpenAlex academic corpus — 284M+ works, abstracts, authors, DOIs in a local SQLite + FTS5 index. Public API — search (full-text), get / get_many (by OpenAlex ID or DOI), exists, count, info, enrich_ids (batch metadata upgrade), configure / get_mode (local vs remote), save (export to JSON/BibTeX/text), plus `jobs`, `aio` (async), and `cache` submodules. Drop-in replacement for `pyalex.Works().search(...)`, the OpenAlex HTTP API (`https://api.openalex.org/works?search=...`), `requests.get` on DOI resolvers, and `bibtexparser` fetch helpers — but works offline, has no rate limits, and returns in milliseconds instead of seconds. Use whenever the user asks to "search papers", "find literature on X", "look up a DOI", "get metadata for this paper", "enrich these OpenAlex IDs", "batch-resolve DOIs to BibTeX", "search by title/abstract/author", "export citations as .bib", or mentions OpenAlex, FTS5 search on papers, local academic database, or wants to avoid hitting the OpenA

aibot88 Updated Sep 9, 2026 3 repo stars

File contents

openalex-local

Interfaces: Python ⭐⭐⭐ (primary) · CLI ⭐⭐ · MCP ⭐⭐ · Skills ⭐⭐ · Hook — · HTTP —

Installation & import

pip install openalex-local installs the standalone:

import openalex_local

This package does not ship as a submodule of the scitex umbrella.

Sub-skills

Core

01_quick-start.md — Basic usage
02_search-syntax.md — FTS5 query syntax

Workflows

10_database-setup.md — Database architecture, build pipeline, access modes
11_cli-reference.md — CLI commands
12_mcp-tools.md — MCP tools for AI agents

CLI

openalex-local search "neural network attention"
openalex-local search-by-id W2741809807

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
`openalex_search`	Full-text search across works
`openalex_search_by_id`	Get work by OpenAlex ID
`openalex_enrich_ids`	Enrich IDs with metadata
`openalex_status`	Database status

---name: openalex-localdescription: Offline, zero-API-key search over the full OpenAlex academic corpus — 284M+ works, abstracts, authors, DOIs in a local SQLite + FTS5 index. Public API — search (full-text), get / get_many (by OpenAlex ID or DOI), exists, count, info, enrich_ids (batch metadata upgrade), configure / get_mode (local vs remote), save (export to JSON/BibTeX/text), plus `jobs`, `aio` (async), and `cache` submodules. Drop-in replacement for `pyalex.Works().search(...)`, the OpenAlex HTTP API (`https://api.openalex.org/works?search=...`), `requests.get` on DOI resolvers, and `bibtexparser` fetch helpers — but works offline, has no rate limits, and returns in milliseconds instead of seconds. Use whenever the user asks to "search papers", "find literature on X", "look up a DOI", "get metadata for this paper", "enrich these OpenAlex IDs", "batch-resolve DOIs to BibTeX", "search by title/abstract/author", "export citations as .bib", or mentions OpenAlex, FTS5 search on papers, local academic database, or wants to avoid hitting the OpenA--- # openalex-local > **Interfaces:** Python ⭐⭐⭐ (primary) · CLI ⭐⭐ · MCP ⭐⭐ · Skills ⭐⭐ · Hook — · HTTP — ## Installation & import `pip install openalex-local` installs the standalone: ```python import openalex_local ``` This package does not ship as a submodule of the `scitex` umbrella. ## Sub-skills ### Core - [01_quick-start.md](01_quick-start.md) — Basic usage - [02_search-syntax.md](02_search-syntax.md) — FTS5 query syntax ### Workflows - [10_database-setup.md](10_database-setup.md) — Database architecture, build pipeline, access modes - [11_cli-reference.md](11_cli-reference.md) — CLI commands - [12_mcp-tools.md](12_mcp-tools.md) — MCP tools for AI agents ## CLI ```bash openalex-local search "neural network attention" openalex-local search-by-id W2741809807 ``` ## MCP Tools | Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | `openalex_search` | Full-text search across works | | `openalex_search_by_id` | Get work by OpenAlex ID | | `openalex_enrich_ids` | Enrich IDs with metadata | | `openalex_status` | Database status |

Frequently asked questions