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Crossref MCP server

by jtl-neo·io.github.jtl-neo/crossref-mcp·v0.1.0
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MCP server wrapping the Crossref REST API for scholarly metadata.

C65/100grade C
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Safety scan
C65/100

full report

Adoption
New

0 stars34 downloads/wk

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Crossref tools (18)

write = sends, deletes, buys or posts

Read from the package source without running it. The installed server may list more.

  • get_funder

    Fetch one funder by its Crossref Funder Registry id (e.g. 100000001).

  • get_funder_works

    List works funded by a given funder id.

  • get_journal

    Fetch one journal by ISSN (NNNN-NNNN; hyphen optional).

  • get_journal_works

    List works published in a given journal (by ISSN).

  • get_member

    Fetch one member (publisher) by numeric Crossref member id.

  • get_member_works

    List works published by a given member id.

  • get_prefix

    Look up the owner of a DOI prefix (e.g. "10.1038").

  • get_type

    Fetch one work type by id (e.g. "journal-article").

  • get_work

    Fetch a single work's metadata by DOI.

  • get_work_quality

    Look up the registration agency for a DOI (Crossref, DataCite, ...).

  • get_work_references

    List the reference list of a work (the works it cites), by DOI.

  • list_licenses

    List licenses Crossref has seen. No single-license lookup exists.

  • list_types

    List Crossref work types (journal-article, book-chapter, ...).

  • ping

    Health check tool: returns the server name and version.

  • search_funders

    Search funding bodies by name. Returns funder id, name, location.

  • search_journals

    Search journals by title/keyword. Returns title, ISSNs, publisher.

  • search_members

    Search Crossref members (publishers/societies). Returns id + primary name.

  • search_works

    Search Crossref works (articles, books, datasets, ...).

Public scan report

scanner v0.1.9 · 2026-09-27 · same rubric, same numbers if you re-run it

1 medium
  • Code scan23 source files scanned20/25
  • –Live reliabilityno gateway calls yet and no remote to proben/a
  • –Tool poisoningtools not inspected (local package is not executed); not countedn/a
  • Auth qualitystatic API keys via environment variables6/15
  • Maintenancelast push 95 days ago8/15
  • Maintainer identityregistry namespace matches repository owner; GitHub account older than a year8/10

Findings (1)

  • mediumeval / new Function usedexec.eval
    crossref_mcp-0.1.0/src/crossref_mcp/ratelimit.py: … allowed, wait = await self._redis.eval( _LUA_TOKEN_BUCKET, …
Overall 65/100. Components that don't apply are left out of the denominator. Any critical finding is an F.RubricAppeal a findingJSON

How Crossref compares

Against every graded MCP server, from our own scans and uptime checks. Updated after each scan run.

Safety score
65/100
higher than 20% of 48,255 servers
Tools
18
the typical server has 7
Tools that change things
0%
typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break
Downloads a week
34
more than 23% of 12,191 servers with a package

What its tools let an agent do: 18 read

Install Crossref in Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code

claude mcp add crossref-mcp -- uvx crossref-mcp
Add to Cursor

What the publisher says

From the Crossref repository's README, as published. We do not edit it. Read it on GitHub

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.jtl-neo/crossref-mcp -->

crossref-mcp

English | 中文

An MCP server wrapping the Crossref REST API, exposing scholarly-metadata lookups (works, members, journals, funders, types, licenses, prefixes) as tools an LLM client can call.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Crossref. Data is served live from the

public Crossref API. Set CROSSREF_MAILTO to join Crossref's

polite pool.

Features

exponential backoff honoring Retry-After.

  • All major Crossref resource endpoints as 18 read-only tools.
  • Dual transport: stdio (local) and Streamable HTTP (container).
  • Polite pool (User-Agent + mailto), optional Crossref Plus token.
  • Token-bucket rate limiting (auto-tuned from X-Rate-Limit-* headers) with
  • Cursor deep paging, field select, raw vs simplified output.
  • Optional X-API-Key HTTP auth (/health exempt), /health endpoint.
  • Optional Redis response cache + cross-replica rate limiting.
  • Optional Caddy TLS reverse proxy for public deployment.

Quick start (local, stdio)

uv sync
export CROSSREF_MAILTO="you@example.com"   # recommended (polite pool)
uv run crossref-mcp                         # starts a stdio MCP server

Inspect with the MCP Inspector: uv run mcp dev src/crossref_mcp/server.py.

Configuration

Tools

Works — searchworks, getwork (by DOI), getworkreferences (capped at 50), getworkquality (registration agency). Members / Journals / Funders — searchmembers · getmember · getmemberworks; searchjournals · getjournal (ISSN) · getjournalworks; searchfunders · getfunder · getfunderworks. Types / Licenses / Prefixes — listtypes · gettype; listlicenses; getprefix. Plus ping.

Shared parameters. Search/list tools take query (and querybibliographic / queryauthor / querytitle on works), filter (Crossref key:value,… syntax), sort + order, rows (≤1000) + offset, and select. Deep paging: set cursor="" then reuse the returned next_cursor. All tools return simplified fields by default; pass raw=true for the full Crossref JSON.

Connecting an MCP client

stdio (Claude Desktop / Cursor) — claudedesktopconfig.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crossref-mcp"],
      "env": { "CROSSREF_MAILTO": "you@example.com" }
    }
  }
}

Or run the container over stdio: "command": "docker", "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "CROSSREF_MAILTO", "heyinnaneo/crossref-mcp"].

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.

Nothing above is checked by us. What we check is on the safety report.

Crossref: common questions

Is Crossref MCP server safe?
With care: it is graded C, so read the findings first (65/100). Read the Crossref safety report
How do I install Crossref?
It runs on your machine. Copy the Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or Claude Desktop config from the install section.
Does Crossref need an API key?
Yes. The registry entry asks for CROSSREF_PLUS_TOKEN, MCP_API_KEY.
Is Crossref maintained?
The last commit was 133 days ago (2026-06-24). The latest release is v0.1.0.
How does Crossref compare with other MCP servers?
safety score 65/100 (higher than 20% of 48,255 servers); tools 18 (the typical server has 7); tools that change things 0% (typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break). Full comparison.