Opencitations vs Filesystem
A side-by-side look at the Opencitations and Filesystem MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Opencitations for research work as a local process; choose Filesystem for file systems as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Opencitations when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Research domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
references, citations, citation_count.
Choose Filesystem when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the File Systems domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
path, head, tail.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Research | File Systems |
| Quality signal | 59/100 · Good | 85/100 · Excellent |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | No auth required |
| Pricing | Not declared | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Verified |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 91,512 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 11 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 6 | 17 |
| Full listing | View Opencitations | View Filesystem |
Tools & capabilities
Opencitations tools 6
references"What does paper [DOI] cite" / "references in [paper]" / "what sources does this paper use" — DOIs cited BY the given DOI (the paper's reference list / bibliography). Use for citation-graph traversal, literature review, source tracking.citations"Who cites paper [DOI]" / "what papers reference [DOI]" / "incoming citations to [paper]" / "what work has cited [study]" — DOIs that CITE the given DOI (reverse-direction from references). Use for impact analysis, follow-on research discovery, "is this paper influential" questions.citation_count"How many times has paper [DOI] been cited" / "citation count for [paper]" / "is [study] highly cited" — incoming citation count for a DOI. Fast version of `citations` when you only need the number, not the citing DOIs.references_count"How many references does paper [DOI] have" / "how big is the bibliography of [paper]" — outgoing reference count for a DOI. Fast version of `references` when you only need the number.metadata"Get paper info for [DOI]" / "bibliographic details for [paper]" / "title / authors / year of [DOI]" — bibliographic metadata for one or more DOIs (up to 50 at once). Returns title, authors, year, journal, publisher.citationFetch one citation record by its Open Citation Identifier (OCI — a compound ID of the form citing-DOI__cited-DOI). Returns citing/cited DOI pair, creation date, and journal self-citation flag. Use `citations` or `references` instead when you only have a DOI.
Filesystem tools 17
pathheadtailpathscontenteditsoldTextnewTextdryRunsortBysourcedestination- +5 more on the listing page
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Opencitations
{
"mcpServers": {
"opencitations": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-opencitations"
]
}
}
}
Filesystem
{
"mcpServers": {
"filesystem": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Opencitations is categorized under Research and uses a local stdio subprocess. Filesystem belongs to File Systems and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Opencitations for research work and Filesystem for file systems.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Opencitations has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Filesystem is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add opencitations and filesystem as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Opencitations has a quality signal of 59/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. Filesystem has 85/100 (Excellent) with 11 views, 0 installs and 91,512 GitHub stars.