# CiteWire [Health: Active]

**Category:** 💻 Developer Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/Openly-Useful/citewire  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 138  
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**Installs:** 0  
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**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/citewire

## Description
Attribution-first MCP server for free news sources and free article APIs.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "citewire": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","citewire"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What CiteWire MCP server does

The CiteWire MCP server gives MCP clients structured, read-only access to news and research metadata. It can wrap a compatible news platform read API or query selected public provider APIs, with both modes available in one deployment. Results retain attribution details and links supplied by the upstream source.

A platform configuration exposes `news.list`, `news.get`, `news.topics`, and `news.about`. These tools support listing and retrieving platform items, reading topic classifications, and inspecting platform facts and attribution policy. The platform contract is generic, so the configured API must provide the documented read surface.

Provider adapters cover news, research, and bibliography sources. Available tools include searches for GDELT documents and context, arXiv preprints, OpenAlex scholarly works, Crossref DOI metadata, Semantic Scholar papers, Europe PMC literature, dblp records, DEV articles, and Hacker News stories and items.

## How it works

CiteWire is an ESM-only Node package for Node.js 18 or newer. It reads a JSON configuration at startup and creates tools based on the enabled sections. `platform` and `providers` are optional; an omitted provider stays disabled, and an empty configuration starts successfully with no tools. The running deployment's `tools/list` response is the definitive inventory.

The default transport is stdio, intended for an MCP client that launches CiteWire as a local process. A stateless HTTP mode can instead listen on a chosen port and accept JSON-RPC at `POST /`. HTTP mode has no sessions or event stream. The server does not retain provider responses, source content, accounts, saved searches, or history.

The optional community policy foundation is local and read-only. It can perform source-policy and rights-evaluation checks in shadow mode, but it makes no network calls, loads no credentials, cannot publish, and reports `publishable: false`.

## Setup and configuration

Install or run the package with `npx` and provide an absolute configuration path when configuring an MCP client. A minimal provider configuration enables OpenAlex with `openalex: { "enabled": true }`. Provider entries must explicitly set `enabled` to `true` before their tools appear.

To use a compatible news platform, provide its display name, site URL, and read API base under `platform`. Deployments can combine this with any enabled providers. Crossref additionally accepts the operator's contact email through its `mailto` configuration field; CiteWire sends that value only to Crossref in the request parameter and User-Agent.

Run stdio with `npx -y citewire --config citewire.config.json`, or start HTTP with `--http` followed by a port such as `8722`. Invalid configuration stops startup and identifies the problematic field.

## Limitations and notes

The CiteWire MCP server is not a crawler, full-text ingestion service, publisher, editorial system, or rights-clearance service. It does not store or republish article bodies, and upstream access does not remove the need to review each provider's current terms.

The Community package is read-only, stateless, dependency-free, and MIT-licensed. It provides no CommonJS entry point. Provider availability and courtesy limits depend on upstream services, whose documentation remains authoritative. Nothing is enabled automatically; deployers choose the platform and providers in configuration.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/citewire/readme_