Databases

OpenAlex, worked by an AI employee

Not another app for your team to learn, and not a set of rules for you to build. You hire an AI employee, you give it access to your OpenAlex account, and you ask it for things in Slack or Teams the way you would ask anyone else on the team. There is nothing to map and nothing to maintain.

  • Databases
  • Connects with a key
  • 14 ready-made tools
  • Asked in Slack or Teams
At work

An illustration of how the conversation reads, not a transcript from a client account.

What OpenAlex is

OpenAlex is an open catalog of scholarly works, authors, institutions, sources, topics, and related research metadata.

You paste in a key from your own OpenAlex account. It is kept encrypted, and you can withdraw it from inside OpenAlex whenever you like.

How a run works

One message in, the work done in OpenAlex.

  1. 01

    You ask

    You message your AI employee in the chat your team already has open, in one sentence, in your own words.

  2. 02

    It works out the step

    It decides what the job needs in OpenAlex. You do not pick anything from a menu or wire anything together.

  3. 03

    It does the work

    Signed in to your own OpenAlex account, inside the access you granted it, doing the thing you asked for.

  4. 04

    It reports back

    It tells you what it did, in the same thread. If it could not do something, it says so rather than guessing.

14 tools it already has

What it can do in OpenAlex

These are the ready-made tools your AI employee already has in OpenAlex. It is not limited to them, but it never has to be taught these.

  • Add Collection EntitiesBulk-add one or more matching OpenAlex entity IDs to an owned collection without duplicating existing memberships.
  • Autocomplete EntitiesResolve a partial name or title to likely OpenAlex entity IDs before filtering or retrieving metadata.
  • Create CollectionCreate a private, single-entity-type OpenAlex collection, optionally with an initial bounded set of entity IDs.
  • Delete CollectionPermanently delete exactly one owned private OpenAlex collection and all of its collection memberships. This does not delete the underlying OpenAlex entities.
  • Download Work ContentDownload an OpenAlex-cached PDF or gzipped GROBID TEI file for a work. Choose the format matching the work's hascontent flags. Each call currently costs $0.01, and source copyright
  • Get CollectionGet metadata for one private OpenAlex collection owned by the connected user.
  • Get Metadata EntityRetrieve one OpenAlex work, author, source, institution, topic, keyword, publisher, funder, award, taxonomy item, country, continent, or language by its supported identifier. Retur
  • Get Rate Limit StatusValidate the connected OpenAlex API key and inspect daily budget, prepaid balance, reset timing, and current endpoint costs before expensive queries or downloads.
  • List Collection EntitiesList one page of entity IDs in an owned private collection together with collection metadata and page totals.
  • List My CollectionsList private OpenAlex collections owned by the connected API-key user, optionally finding collections that contain an entity.
  • Query Metadata EntitiesSearch, filter, sort, sample, select, or group one OpenAlex metadata resource other than works, including authors, venues, organizations, taxonomy, geography, awards, and enumerati
  • Query WorksSearch, filter, sort, sample, select, or group scholarly works. Returns one cursor-controlled page and its OpenAlex query cost; use the snapshot for whole-catalog exports.
  • Remove Collection EntitiesBulk-remove one or more entity memberships from an owned private OpenAlex collection without deleting the underlying OpenAlex entities.
  • Update CollectionUpdate a private collection's name or description, or change its entity type while the collection is empty. Provide at least one of displayname, description, or entitytype.
Access, and who is in charge of it

You stay the boss of your OpenAlex account.

Nothing connects until you approve it. You grant access one app at a time, you can take it back the same way, and everything your AI employee does in there is written down where you can see it.

How we handle your data
  • It signs in to your own OpenAlex account. You are not moving anything into ours.
  • You grant access one app at a time, and you can take it back the same way.
  • Everything it does in OpenAlex is written down, with what it did and when.
  • Anything you tell it to check with you first, it checks with you first.
Other apps in the same corner of the business

It works in OpenAlex and the rest of your software in the same job

A real job rarely stays in one place. Reading a message in one app, checking a record in another and writing the result in a third is one request to your AI employee, not three.

Questions people ask about OpenAlex

Can an AI employee really work inside OpenAlex?
Yes. It signs in to your own OpenAlex account and works in it the way a new hire would, from the chat your team already has open. Nobody installs anything, and nobody learns a new screen.
Do I have to move anything out of OpenAlex?
No. Nothing moves and nothing is replaced. Your records stay in OpenAlex, your team carries on in the same screens they used yesterday, and your AI employee works alongside them in there.
How does it get into my OpenAlex account?
You paste in a key from your own OpenAlex account. It is kept encrypted, and you can withdraw it from inside OpenAlex whenever you like. You approve it before anything connects, and you can take the access back the same way you gave it.
What can it actually do in OpenAlex?
It has 14 ready-made tools in OpenAlex today, among them Add Collection Entities, Autocomplete Entities and Create Collection. The full list is on this page. It is not limited to those, but it never has to be taught them.
Can it use OpenAlex and the rest of my software in the same job?
Yes, and that is usually the point. Reading a message in one app, checking a record in OpenAlex and writing the result somewhere else is one request to your AI employee, not three separate ones you stitch together.
Who decides what it is allowed to do in OpenAlex?
You do. You grant access one app at a time and can withdraw it at any time, anything you ask it to check with you first it checks with you first, and everything it does in OpenAlex is written down with what it did and when.