CLI Reference

Main Commands

openalex-local

Usage: openalex-local [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Local OpenAlex database with 284M+ works and full-text search.

Options:
  --version         Show the version and exit.
  --http            Use HTTP API instead of direct database
  --api-url TEXT    API URL for http mode (default: auto-detect)
  --help-recursive  Show help for all commands recursively.
  -h, --help        Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  mcp            MCP (Model Context Protocol) server commands.
  relay          Run HTTP relay server for remote database access.
  search         Search for works by title, abstract, or authors.
  search-by-doi  Search for a work by DOI.
  status         Show status and configuration.

search

Usage: openalex-local search [OPTIONS] QUERY

Search for works by title, abstract, or authors.

Options:
  -n, --number INTEGER  Number of results  [default: 10]
  -o, --offset INTEGER  Skip first N results  [default: 0]
  -a, --abstracts       Show abstracts
  -A, --authors         Show authors
  --concepts            Show concepts/topics
  --json                Output as JSON
  -h, --help            Show this message and exit.

Examples:

# Basic search
openalex-local search "machine learning"

# With abstracts and authors
openalex-local search "CRISPR" -a -A -n 5

# JSON output for scripting
openalex-local search "neural networks" --json

search-by-doi

Usage: openalex-local search-by-doi [OPTIONS] DOI

Search for a work by DOI.

Options:
  --json     Output as JSON
  -h, --help Show this message and exit.

Examples:

# By DOI
openalex-local search-by-doi 10.1038/nature12373

# By OpenAlex ID
openalex-local search-by-doi W2741809807

relay

Usage: openalex-local relay [OPTIONS]

Run HTTP relay server for remote database access.

Options:
  --host TEXT     Host to bind  [env: OPENALEX_LOCAL_HOST]
  --port INTEGER  Port to listen on (default: 31292)  [env: OPENALEX_LOCAL_PORT]
  -h, --help      Show this message and exit.

Example:

# Start relay on default port
openalex-local relay

# Custom port
openalex-local relay --port 8080

MCP Commands

mcp start

Usage: openalex-local mcp start [OPTIONS]

Start the MCP server.

Options:
  -t, --transport [stdio|sse|http]  Transport protocol
  --host TEXT                       Host for HTTP/SSE transport
  --port INTEGER                    Port for HTTP/SSE transport
  -h, --help                        Show this message and exit.

mcp doctor

Diagnose MCP server setup and dependencies.

openalex-local mcp doctor

mcp installation

Show MCP client installation instructions.

openalex-local mcp installation

mcp list-tools

List available MCP tools.

openalex-local mcp list-tools