Real, DOI-backed citations for any topic — REST API and MCP server. Free tier needs no signup. Home · Pricing
GET /api/cite
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
topic | string (required) | — | The subject to find citations for. |
n | int | 5 | Number of works to return. |
since | int (year) | — | Earliest publication year. |
Example:
curl "https://agentcite-api.vercel.app/api/cite?topic=collagen+skin+elasticity&n=3"
Response:
{
"topic": "collagen skin elasticity",
"works": [
{
"title": "A Collagen Supplement Improves Skin Hydration, Elasticity…",
"first_author": "Bölke",
"year": 2019,
"venue": "Nutrients",
"doi": "10.3390/nu11102494",
"doi_url": "https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102494",
"cited_by_count": 188
}
],
"markdown": "- Bölke et al. (2019). A Collagen Supplement…"
}
Every result is a real openAlex record with a resolvable DOI. No fabrication.
Free tier: 25 requests/day, rate-limited by IP, no key needed. Pro: pass your API key as Authorization: Bearer <key> (or x-api-key) for 5,000/day. Get a key by starting a Pro trial.
AgentCite ships a Model Context Protocol server exposing one tool:
get_citations(topic: string, n?: number, since?: number)
→ { works: [ { title, authors, year, venue, doi, doi_url, cited_by_count } ] }
The REST API above needs no install and works today. The MCP server is packaged as agentcite-mcp and is publishing to npm shortly; once live you'll run it (stdio) with:
npx agentcite-mcp # coming soon
Then register it with your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) and, for Pro, set AGENTCITE_API_KEY in the server env. In the meantime, the REST endpoint gives you the same data with zero setup.