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How to connect OpenAlex with ChatGPT

Connect ChatGPT to OpenAlex MCP. Find recent papers on causal inference, list top authors in linguistics field, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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OpenAlex is an open catalog of scholarly works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, and research metadata. Use it to discover research and enrich apps with structured academic metadata.

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How to connect OpenAlex MCP with ChatGPT

ChatGPT can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours, and turn a goal into finished materials like sheets, slides, and docs, not just answers.

In this guide, I will explain the easiest and most secure way to connect your OpenAlex account to ChatGPT via Composio Connect, so it can search works, fetch author profiles, retrieve institution metadata, explore related topics, and pull citations through natural language commands without ever putting your account credentials at risk.

Also integrate OpenAlex with

Claude CoworkHermesAtomic Agent

Why use Composio over default connectors?

  • Apps with read and write access. Default connectors mostly can read your data. Composio's OpenAlex integration lets ChatGPT take actions like creating drafts, sending updates, labeling records, and more.
  • 1,500+ SaaS toolkits out of the box. Composio gives you instant access to a vast catalog of pre-built connectors, from Gmail and Slack to Notion, Linear, and Salesforce.
  • One MCP server for every app. Connect any of your applications on demand through a single endpoint, rather than juggling a separate server for each app.
  • Smart, context-aware tool loading. Unlike traditional MCP servers that dump every available tool into the LLM context window, Composio searches for and loads only the tools relevant to the task at hand.
  • Cross-app automation. Chain actions across multiple apps in a single run - fetch a thread, summarize it in Notion, and post highlights to Slack without leaving the conversation.

Prerequisites

Note: Composio connects through OAuth. You will be asked to sign in and approve specific permissions. Review the permission screen carefully if you are using a work account.

Step-by-step: Connect OpenAlex to ChatGPT

1. Install the Composio plugin

Click the button. ChatGPT opens the Composio plugin page. Click Install plugin.

Install in ChatGPT

Composio plugin page in ChatGPT with the Install plugin button

You can also find it inside ChatGPT: go to Settings, open Plugins, search the marketplace for Composio, and click Install plugin.

2. Authenticate

After you install, ChatGPT asks you to authenticate with Composio. Log in and click Allow access to authorize ChatGPT to use your Composio account.

Composio login and Allow access screen for ChatGPT

3. Start using Composio

That is it. Composio tools are now available in ChatGPT. Type @Composio followed by your request, for example @Composio find unread OpenAlex messages and summarize them, and it will run the actions you authorize. On first use it asks you to authorize OpenAlex.

Option 2: Add Composio as an MCP server

If you cannot use the plugin marketplace, add Composio as a custom MCP server instead.

1. Open the MCP settings

In ChatGPT, go to Settings and open the Plugins section. Inside the Plugins page, click the MCP tab.

ChatGPT settings showing the Plugins page with the MCP tab selected

2. Add the server

Click Add server. In the Name field enter Composio, for Type select Streamable HTTP, and in the URL field paste the Composio MCP server URL:

bash
https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
ChatGPT Add server dialog with the name Composio, type Streamable HTTP, and the Composio MCP URL

Then click Save. The Composio server now appears in your MCP plugins list.

ChatGPT Plugins page showing the Composio MCP server added to the list

3. Authenticate

Click Authenticate on the Composio entry, log in via Composio, and click Allow access. Composio tools are then available in ChatGPT the same way as with the plugin.

What you can do after connecting OpenAlex

  • Find recent papers on causal inference
  • List top authors in linguistics field
  • Get citation count for a DOI

Security + privacy notes (important)

  • Use least-privilege access: Only grant permissions you actually need.
  • Review OAuth permissions before approving: Make sure requested scopes match what you expect Composio and ChatGPT to do.
  • Keep write actions human-reviewed: For actions like sending messages, creating labels, or editing drafts, keep manual confirmation enabled.
  • Be careful with sensitive data: Avoid using this setup with highly sensitive information unless allowed by your personal, company, or client policies.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every OpenAlex action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Add Collection Entities

Bulk-add one or more matching OpenAlex entity IDs to an owned collection without duplicating existing memberships.

Autocomplete Entities

Resolve a partial name or title to likely OpenAlex entity IDs before filtering or retrieving metadata.

Create Collection

Create a private, single-entity-type OpenAlex collection, optionally with an initial bounded set of entity IDs.

Delete Collection

Permanently delete exactly one owned private OpenAlex collection and all of its collection memberships.

Download Work Content

Download an OpenAlex-cached PDF or gzipped GROBID TEI file for a work.

Get Collection

Get metadata for one private OpenAlex collection owned by the connected user.

Get Metadata Entity

Retrieve one OpenAlex work, author, source, institution, topic, keyword, publisher, funder, award, taxonomy item, country, continent, or language by its supported identifier.

Get Rate Limit Status

Validate the connected OpenAlex API key and inspect daily budget, prepaid balance, reset timing, and current endpoint costs before expensive queries or downloads.

List Collection Entities

List one page of entity IDs in an owned private collection together with collection metadata and page totals.

List My Collections

List private OpenAlex collections owned by the connected API-key user, optionally finding collections that contain an entity.

Query Metadata Entities

Search, filter, sort, sample, select, or group one OpenAlex metadata resource other than works, including authors, venues, organizations, taxonomy, geography, awards, and enumerations.

Query Works

Search, filter, sort, sample, select, or group scholarly works.

Remove Collection Entities

Bulk-remove one or more entity memberships from an owned private OpenAlex collection without deleting the underlying OpenAlex entities.

Update Collection

Update a private collection's name or description, or change its entity type while the collection is empty.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build OpenAlex MCP Agent with another framework

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Claude Cowork

Use OpenAlex MCP with Claude Cowork

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Hermes

Use OpenAlex MCP with Hermes

Atomic Agent logo

Atomic Agent

Use OpenAlex MCP with Atomic Agent

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

With a standalone OpenAlex MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of OpenAlex tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from OpenAlex and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Yes, you can. ChatGPT fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right OpenAlex tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which OpenAlex scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your OpenAlex data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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