OokCite MCP Server

Give any LLM the ability to validate DOIs, format citations, and catch hallucinated references. Works with any MCP client: Claude, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Qwen agents, and more.

Install

cargo-binstall (fastest):

cargo binstall ookcite-mcp

cargo install (from source):

cargo install ookcite-mcp

Pre-built binaries: Download from GitHub Releases for Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, aarch64), and Windows.

Configure

Add to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ookcite": {
      "command": "ookcite-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Common config file locations:

Client	Config file
Claude Desktop (Linux)	`~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Claude Desktop (macOS)	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Claude Code	`.mcp.json` (project) or `~/.claude/settings.json` (global)
Cursor	Settings > MCP Servers
Codex	`~/.codex/config.json`

No API key required. No Node.js needed. Just the binary.

Tools

Tool	Purpose
`validate_doi`	Check if a DOI exists (anti-hallucination)
`lookup_isbn`	Look up a book by ISBN
`reverse_lookup`	Find a paper from messy citation text
`format_citation`	Format a DOI in any of 2900+ CSL styles
`verify_references`	Batch-check a list of DOIs
`batch_format`	Format multiple citations at once

Anti-Hallucination

Add this to your system prompt:

Before citing any paper, use validate_doi to confirm the reference exists. If validation fails, do not include the citation.

How It Works

The MCP server connects to the public OokCite API to look up and format citations. It's a thin MCP wrapper around the OokCite REST API -- no local database, no heavy dependencies.

Rate limits apply: 10 lookups/day anonymous, 30/day with a free account. Sign up for more, or upgrade to Academic ($4/month) for unlimited.

Documentation

License

MIT -- see LICENSE.

ookcite-mcp 0.1.0