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How to connect OpenAlex MCP with ChatGPT Work

Connect ChatGPT Work 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 Work

ChatGPT Work is an agent inside ChatGPT built for your most ambitious work. It takes action across your apps and files, stays with a project for hours, and turns 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 Work 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

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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 Work take actions like creating drafts, sending updates, labeling records, and more.
  • 1,000+ 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

  • A ChatGPT account with access to ChatGPT Work (rolling out across Pro, Enterprise, Edu, Plus, and Business plans). We will use the ChatGPT desktop app, which is available on every plan.
  • Access to the OpenAlex workspace you want to connect.
  • Composio MCP.

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 Work

1. Open the MCP settings

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

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

3. Authenticate

Click Authenticate, log in via Composio, and click Allow access to authorize ChatGPT Work to use your Composio account.

Composio login and Allow access screen for ChatGPT Work MCP setup

4. Start using Composio

That is it - Composio tools are now available in ChatGPT Work. Ask it to work with your OpenAlex account and it will run the actions you authorize.

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 Work 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

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Claude Cowork

Use OpenAlex MCP with Claude Cowork

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Hermes

Use OpenAlex MCP with Hermes

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 Work 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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