Connect OpenAlex to Copilot Studio
Query OpenAlex directly from Copilot Studio. Arlet links the two through one MCP connection and takes care of API keys.
This server connects your AI client to the OpenAlex REST API (api.openalex.org), a fully open index of the world's research: works, authors, institutions and sources, released under CC0.
Tools:
- search_works: keyword search over all fields with year range, open-access and type filters; sort by relevance, citations or date. Returns title, authors, venue, year, DOI, citation count and open-access link.
- get_work: one work by OpenAlex id or DOI.
- search_authors: researchers by name, with ORCID, works/citation counts, h-index and last known institutions.
- search_institutions: universities, companies and labs by name and country, with ROR id.
- search_sources: journals, conference series and repositories with ISSN, publisher and open-access status.
Abstract handling: the abstract text is returned only for open-access works under a CC licence (or public domain). For everything else the record carries metadata and a link, because abstract text remains the publisher's copyright. Metadata itself is CC0 and may be reused freely.
API key: optional. Anonymous requests share a small free daily budget; a free OpenAlex account gives an API key with a 10x larger daily allowance and paid top-ups beyond that. The key stays in your own Arlet environment variables and usage is attributed to you.
Search terms should be in English: OpenAlex indexes English titles, abstracts and full text.
How to connect OpenAlex to Copilot Studio
- 1
In the Arlet dashboard, open Data tools, find OpenAlex and switch it on. No API key setup is needed.
- 2
Sign in to Copilot Studio with your work account, create a new agent (or open an existing one), and in the Build tab choose Tools → + → Add → Model Context Protocol (MCP) in the right panel.
- 3
In the Add MCP server form, enter "Arlet" as the Server name, https://mcp.arlet.dev/mcp/ as the Server URL, choose OAuth 2.0 for Authentication and "Dynamic (detected)" for Configuration type, then click Add. No Client ID / Secret is needed.
- 4
On the Select a connection screen, choose Create new connection → Create, then sign in with Google on the Arlet authorization screen and click Allow. Click Add to attach the tool to the agent, then Publish to use it from Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Requires a Microsoft work account and a Copilot Studio license (or trial). MCP is available only for agents using generative orchestration and not in Copilot Studio in Teams.