Connect OpenAlex to Gemini Enterprise
Query OpenAlex directly from Gemini Enterprise. 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 Gemini Enterprise
- 1
In the Arlet dashboard, open Data tools, find OpenAlex and switch it on. No API key setup is needed.
- 2
Sign in to Gemini Enterprise with your organization Google account and open the gear icon at the bottom left → Connectors → Add MCP Server.
- 3
In the MCP info tab, enter https://mcp.arlet.dev/mcp/ as the Server URL and "Arlet" as the Name. In the Auth tab, enter the OAuth settings from the Arlet docs (Authorization URL / Token URL / Client ID / Client Secret / Scopes) and click Add.
- 4
In the connector list on the chat screen, click Connect on Arlet, sign in with Google and authorize. Arlet can then be enabled with the toggle.
Adding custom connectors (MCP) requires a Gemini Enterprise subscription and is not available in the consumer Gemini app. See the docs for the values to enter in the Auth tab.