OpenAbstracts changelog

Published September 26, 2026

A running log of notable changes to the OpenAbstracts API and platform.

September 2026

Pricing simplified. Search is now the single billed call: 100 free searches per month, then $1.50 per 1,000 requests, from prepaid credit that never expires. Searches that return no results are never billed.

Focused on search. The paper-lookup endpoint has been removed. Search results already include the abstract, authors, DOI and links, so one endpoint covers discovery and citation.

MCP server. A remote MCP server at https://openabstracts.com/mcp exposes a search_papers tool for Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients. See Connect OpenAbstracts to Claude.

OAuth "Connect" flow. Adding the MCP server to Claude now opens an OpenAbstracts sign-in page where you choose which API key to authorise. Tokens are short-lived and resolve to the key you selected.

Claude Skill. A citation-verification Skill teaches an assistant to search for a paper before citing it. Download the Skill.

Health endpoint. GET /api/health reports whether the database and search index are reachable.

Marketplace access. Partner keys support access through API marketplaces with their own billing.

Docs and legal. Rewritten Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and a new pricing section in the docs.