Crossref MCP server

by SMABoundless·io.github.SMABoundless/crossref·v1.0.0

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Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the Crossref REST API

A85/100grade A

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Safety scan

A85/100

full report

Adoption

New

0 stars24 downloads/wk

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If you have run it, two minutes of your experience saves the next person an afternoon.

Crossref tools (10)

write = sends, deletes, buys or posts

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

crossref_author_search
Search CrossRef for works by a specific author, optionally combined with a topic keyword.
crossref_doi_lookup
Retrieve full metadata for a specific work by its DOI.
crossref_export_bibtex
Export the most recent search results as BibTeX format.
crossref_export_ris
Export the most recent search results as RIS format. Import into Zotero: File → Import → paste or save as .ris file.
crossref_funder_search
Search for funding organizations in CrossRef.
crossref_journal_search
Search for journals in the CrossRef database.
crossref_journal_works
Get works published in a specific journal by its ISSN.
crossref_references
Get the reference list for a specific work by DOI. Returns the references cited by the given work.
crossref_search
Search CrossRef for scholarly works by keyword.
crossref_title_search
Search CrossRef specifically by title. More precise than keyword search when you know the title or partial title of a work.

Public scan report

scanner v0.1.9 · 2026-09-26 · same rubric, same numbers if you re-run it

no findings

Code scan4 source files scanned25/25
–Live reliabilityno gateway calls yet and no remote to proben/a
–Tool poisoningtools not inspected (local package is not executed); not countedn/a
Auth qualitylocal package, no credentials required12/15
Maintenancelast push 52 days ago12/15
Maintainer identityregistry namespace matches repository owner6/10

Overall 85/100. Components that don't apply are left out of the denominator. Any critical finding is an F.Rubric Appeal a finding JSON

How Crossref compares

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

Safety score: 85/100; higher than 75% of 3,470 Web search servers
Tools: 10; the typical Web search server has 5
Tools that change things: 0%; typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break
Downloads a week: 24; more than 10% of 827 Web search servers with a package

What its tools let an agent do: 10 read

Install Crossref in Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code

claude mcp add crossref -- uvx crossref-mcp-server

Add to Cursor

What the publisher says

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

CrossRef MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for searching and retrieving scholarly metadata from the CrossRef REST API — 150M+ records across all publishers and disciplines.

Built with FastMCP. No API key required.

Tools

Setup

1. Install

cd crossref-mcp-server
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Configure environment (optional)

CrossRef doesn't require an API key, but setting a mailto address gives you access to their faster "polite" API pool:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your email address

3. Add to Claude Desktop

Add this to your claudedesktopconfig.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crossref": {
      "command": "/path/to/crossref-mcp-server/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/crossref-mcp-server/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "CROSSREF_MAILTO": "your.email@example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or if using Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add crossref \
  /path/to/crossref-mcp-server/venv/bin/python \
  /path/to/crossref-mcp-server/server.py \
  -e CROSSREF_MAILTO=your.email@example.com

Usage examples

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like:

"Search CrossRef for recent papers on transformer architectures"
"Find works by Jane Smith on educational psychology from 2020-2024"
"Look up the metadata for DOI 10.1038/nature14539"
"Search for journals about machine learning"
"Get the reference list for this paper and export as RIS for Zotero"

License

MIT

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

Crossref: common questions

Is Crossref MCP server safe?: Yes, by our scan: it is graded A (85/100). 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?: No secret keys are declared. It reads 1 setting from the environment.
Is Crossref maintained?: The last commit was 91 days ago (2026-08-05). The latest release is v1.0.0.
What can I use instead of Crossref?: Servers from other publishers that do the same job: GitHits MCP server, Zotero MCP server and Calibre MCP server.
How does Crossref compare with other Web search MCP servers?: safety score 85/100 (higher than 75% of 3,470 Web search servers); tools 10 (the typical Web search server has 5); tools that change things 0% (typical: 0%. Fewer write tools means less an agent can break). Full comparison.

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