Ookcite Mcp
LLMs hallucinate citations. OokCite catches them.
Every LLM invents references. Plausible DOIs, real author names, convincing titles -- for papers that never existed. OokCite validates every citation against a real database before it reaches your paper, grant proposal, or pitch deck.
One tool call instead of twenty web searches
Without OokCite, an agent verifying citations has three options, all of which are wasteful:
- Web search: each DOI fires a separate tool call, fetches a full web page, and the model parses kilobytes of HTML to extract a few metadata fields. 20 references = 20 searches, each burning tokens on irrelevant content, paywalls, and broken markup.
- Raw CrossRef API: the agent constructs URLs, handles pagination, parses nested JSON, and formats output. Hundreds of tokens of reasoning per citation, spent on plumbing.
- Python script (
habanero,requests): spawns a code execution sandbox, installs dependencies, writes a script, runs it, parses the output. All to get a title and author list.
OokCite replaces all of that. The model sends a DOI, gets back structured metadata in milliseconds. batch_format resolves 20 messy citations in one call -- not 20 separate web searches. For agentic workflows processing dozens of references, the token savings compound quickly.
Tools
Validate before you cite
validate_doi-- confirm a DOI exists before including itverify_references-- batch-check an entire reference list in one callreverse_lookup-- paste a messy or partial citation, get the real paper
Format in any style
format_citation-- APA, IEEE, Chicago, Nature, and 2,900+ CSL stylesbatch_format-- format multiple citations at oncesearch_styles-- find the right CSL style ID by namegroup_cite-- generate grouped markers like [1-3, 7]
Manage collections
- Save citations to named collections
- Import BibTeX and RIS files
- Export as BibTeX with Better BibTeX citation keys
- Search, tag, reorder, and deduplicate entries
- Share collections via link
29 tools total. Full list in the README.
Anti-hallucination prompt
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.
Install
One command:
npx @turtletech/ookcite-mcp setup
Auto-detects Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and writes the config. Or add manually:
{
"mcpServers": {
"ookcite": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@turtletech/ookcite-mcp"]
}
}
}
Also available via cargo binstall ookcite-mcp (no Node.js needed) or as pre-built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Pricing
| Tier | Price | Lookups/day | Collections |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymous | Free | 10 | -- |
| Free | Free | 30 | 1 |
| Academic | $4/mo | 10,000 | 5 |
| Business | $12/mo | 10,000 | 10 |
Papers saved to a collection stay free to re-lookup -- only new lookups count against the daily quota.
Academic pricing covers students, researchers, and educators at accredited institutions.
Links
Server Config
{
"mcpServers": {
"ookcite": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@turtletech/ookcite-mcp"
]
}
}
}