DataCite MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that wraps the DataCite REST API, giving Claude and other MCP clients read-only access to DataCite's index of 125M+ research DOIs. No API key is required. The server runs as a local stdio process and communicates with Claude Desktop via the MCP protocol, enabling natural-language queries against the full DataCite catalogue: searching by keyword, person, funder, or repository; retrieving full metadata records; and exploring relationships between research outputs.
Claude Desktop Configuration
Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json (found at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):
{
"mcpServers": {
"datacite": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/Users/[user_name]/Claude/projects/datacite/dist/index.js"]
}
}
}
Build Instructions
cd /Users/[user_name]/Claude/projects/datacite
npm install
npm run build
To inspect the server interactively:
npm run inspector
Available Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
search_dois | Full-text search across DataCite's 125M+ DOI index with filters for resource type, funder, year, repository, and more. Supports cursor-based pagination. |
get_doi | Retrieve complete metadata for a single DOI. Accepts any common DOI format (bare, URL, doi: prefix). Optionally includes the raw DataCite Schema XML. |
format_citation | Format a DOI as a formatted citation string. Supports APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver, BibTeX, and CSL JSON. |
get_doi_metrics | Retrieve view, download, and citation counts for a DOI. Optionally include time-series arrays. |
get_related_works | Explore the relationship graph for a DOI — citations, references, versions, and parts. |
search_by_person | Find all DOIs associated with a researcher by ORCID iD or name. |
list_repositories | Browse DataCite member repositories (clients) with optional search and filtering. |
get_doi_schema_xml | Fetch the raw DataCite Metadata Schema XML for a DOI (base64-decoded). |
Available Prompts
Prompts are pre-built workflows invocable from Claude Desktop's prompt menu (⌘K → "Use a prompt").
| Prompt | Arguments | Description |
|---|---|---|
find-top-works-by-topic | resource_type (required), topic (required) | Find the top 10 most relevant DataCite records for a resource type and subject area. Returns a ranked table with repository/year observations and a suggested follow-up. |
repository-summary | repository_name (required) | Full metadata quality and activity report for a repository. Pass a common name like "Zenodo" or "Dryad" — the prompt resolves it to a DataCite client_id automatically. |
researcher-profile | identifier (required) | Researcher profile from DataCite records. Pass an ORCID iD (0000-0001-8135-3489) for exact matching, or a name ("Jane Smith") for fuzzy search with disambiguation. |
Available Resources
| Resource URI | Description |
|---|---|
datacite://schema/resource-types | The complete DataCite resourceTypeGeneral controlled vocabulary. |
datacite://providers | All DataCite member providers (organisations). |
datacite://clients | All DataCite repository clients. |
datacite://doi/{doi} | Full metadata record for a given DOI as JSON. |
datacite://doi/{doi}/citations | Works that cite the given DOI. |
datacite://doi/{doi}/references | Works cited by the given DOI. |
datacite://provider/{id} | Metadata for a specific DataCite provider. |
datacite://client/{id} | Metadata for a specific DataCite repository client. |
Environment Variables
Copy .env.example to .env and adjust as needed. All variables are optional — defaults work out of the box.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
MCP_USER_AGENT_URL | https://github.com/alexwade/datacite-mcp | URL included in the HTTP User-Agent header |
MCP_USER_AGENT_EMAIL | (empty) | Contact email for DataCite's polite pool |
DATACITE_RATE_LIMIT_RPS | 10 | Max API requests per second |
CACHE_DOI_TTL_SECONDS | 3600 | DOI cache TTL (1 hour) |
CACHE_SEARCH_TTL_SECONDS | 300 | Search cache TTL (5 minutes) |
CACHE_STATIC_TTL_SECONDS | 86400 | Static data cache TTL (24 hours) |