Skill

openalex

The OpenAlex API provides access to a comprehensive catalog of scholarly works, authors, sources, institutions,...

Verified: 2026-05-13 (printing-press-ingest-2026-05-13+enrich-capability-skill)

When to use openalex

Choose if

You're running research / bibliometric / literature-review workflows from an agent loop and need free, read-only access to OpenAlex's catalog of scholarly works, authors, institutions, sources, and topics — with compact JSON, field selection, filters, and a built-in rate-limit inspector. Pick this over paid bibliographic services (Scopus, Web of Science) when open scholarly metadata is sufficient.

Avoid if

You need the bulk Changefiles feed (gated behind a paid OpenAlex plan), the deprecated concepts/text-classify endpoints, or proprietary metrics Scopus/WoS provide that OpenAlex doesn't (e.g., proprietary impact factors). Also avoid for write operations — OpenAlex is read-only.

Risk Flags

  • MEDIUM rate_limit The CLI exposes `openalex-pp-cli rate-limit get` to check current usage / remaining allowance, but the README discloses no concrete thresholds. Agents on heavy bibliometric backfills must query the rate-limit endpoint to avoid hard cutoffs.
  • LOW scope Read-only by design — no create / update / delete / publish / send / mutate. Changefiles (bulk-diff feed) is gated behind a paid plan; concepts and text-classify endpoints are deprecated.
  • LOW runtime Default install needs Node.js (npx); pre-built binaries available for platforms without Node.

Cost

Type: Freemium · Free tier: Standard OpenAlex API access is free for search across 20+ entity types (works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, etc.). The CLI binary is a free wrapper.

Hidden costs

  • Text classification endpoint costs $0.01 per request (deprecated per README).
  • Changefiles feature requires a paid OpenAlex plan — contact [email protected].

Install

Default

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press install openalex

Estimated time to first success: ~5 min

Dependencies

Minimum runtime: Node.js 18+ (or pre-built binary)

Distribution

Repository
https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library