How do I install the Openalex Search skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add beita6969/openalex-search 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 Search safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: makes network calls. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Openalex Search?

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 Search free to use?

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

Who published Openalex Search?

beita6969 (@beita6969) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Openalex Search by beita6969 — Agent Skill

Name: Openalex Search
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Author: beita6969

File contents

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

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

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

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

curl -s "https://api.openalex.org/concepts?search=machine+learning&per_page=5"

Filtering and Sorting

# 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

# 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.

---name: openalex-searchdescription: 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.--- # 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.

Frequently asked questions

Openalex Search