Agent skill · Databases

openalex

Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the OpenAlex API — a free, open catalog of 270M+ works, 90M+ authors, and 100K+ sources. Use this skill whenever the user wants to query OpenAlex for works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, publishers, or funders. Trigger on phrases like "search OpenAlex for X", "find papers in OpenAlex", "OpenAlex works by author Y", "get institution metadata from OpenAlex", "look up this DOI in OpenAlex", "how many works does institution X have in OpenAlex", or any request that specifically involves the OpenAlex API or database. Also trigger when the user pa

majiayu000github.com/majiayu000GitHub ↗
claude-codeMIT
Install
npx skills add majiayu000/claude-skill-registry --skill openalex --agent claude-code

Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.

Facts
Files in the skill folder: 2
SKILL.md size: 8 KB
Bundled scripts: none
Path: skills/analysis/openalex/SKILL.md
Open the folder on GitHub →
Where it comes from
Stars: 534
Language: HTML

Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.

From the SKILL.md

# OpenAlex API Skill Query the [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org) open scholarly metadata catalog via its REST API using curl. **Base URL:** `https://api.openalex.org` **Auth:** API key required (free at https://openalex.org/settings/api). Pass as `?api_key=KEY`. Store in env var `OPENALEX_API_KEY` and use `api_key=$OPENALEX_API_KEY` in queries. --- ## Entity Endpoints | Endpoint | Description | |----------|-------------| | `/works` | Scholarly documents (articles, books, datasets) | | `/authors` | Researcher profiles with disambiguated identities | | `/sources` | Journals, repositories, conferences | | `/institutions` | Universities, research organizations | | `/topics` | Subject classifications (3-level hierarchy) | | `/publishers` | Publishing organizations | | `/funders` | Funding agencies | | `content.openalex.org/works/{id}.pdf` | PDF download ($0.01 each) | Singleton lookups are free (e.g., `/works/W2741809807`). List/filter queries cost $0.0001; search queries cost $0.001. --- ## Critical: Two-Step ID Resolution Names are ambiguous — never filter by display name directly. Resolve to an OpenAlex ID first, then use that ID in filters. ```bash # WRONG /works?filter=author_name:E

What's inside
Steps it walks through
  1. Entity Endpoints
  2. Critical: Two-Step ID Resolution
  3. Query Parameters
  4. Filter Syntax
  5. Common Filter Fields
  6. Works
  7. Authors
  8. Common Patterns with curl Examples
  9. Find works by author (two-step)
  10. Find works from an institution
  11. Bulk DOI lookup (up to 100)
  12. Random sample with seed
  13. Aggregate by field
  14. Single work by OpenAlex ID
Ships with 1 file
  • metadata.json
Commands it runs
WRONG
CORRECT — two steps
curl "https://api.openalex.org/authors?search=Einstein&api_key=$OPENALEX_API_KEY"
Response includes: id = "A5012345678"
curl "https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=authorships.author.id:A5012345678&api_key=$OPENALEX_API_KEY"
Single filter
Multiple filters (AND) — comma-separated
Multiple values (OR) — pipe-separated, up to 100 values
Negation
Comparison operators
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About this skill
What does the openalex skill do?

Search and retrieve scholarly metadata from the OpenAlex API — a free, open catalog of 270M+ works, 90M+ authors, and 100K+ sources. Use this skill whenever the user wants to query OpenAlex for works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, publishers, or funders. Trigger on phrases like "search OpenAlex for X", "find papers in OpenAlex", "OpenAlex works by author Y", "get institution metadata from OpenAlex", "look up this DOI in OpenAlex", "how many works does institution X have in OpenAlex", or any request that specifically involves the OpenAlex API or database. Also trigger when the user pa

How do I install it?

Run `npx skills add majiayu000/claude-skill-registry --skill openalex --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.

Where does this skill come from?

From majiayu000/claude-skill-registry, a repository with 534 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.

Is a popular skill a good skill?

Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.

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