Refd vs Openreview
A side-by-side look at the Refd and Openreview MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Refd for research work over a hosted endpoint; choose Openreview for research as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Refd when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Research domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
JWT_SECRET, BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN, BRIGHTDATA_WEBHOOK_SECRET, ADMIN_EMAILS, EXA_API_KEY, PUBLIC_BASE_URL, DASHBOARD_ORIGIN, PUBLIC_SITE_ORIGIN.
Choose Openreview when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Research domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
list_venues, get_venue, list_submissions.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Research | Research |
| Quality signal | 41/100 · Fair | 59/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Remote HTTP/SSE | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | JWT_SECRETBRIGHTDATA_API_TOKENBRIGHTDATA_WEBHOOK_SECRETADMIN_EMAILSEXA_API_KEYPUBLIC_BASE_URLDASHBOARD_ORIGINPUBLIC_SITE_ORIGIN | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 2 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 6 |
| Full listing | View Refd | View Openreview |
Tools & capabilities
Refd tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Openreview tools 6
list_venuesList venue groups (conferences, workshops). Use the returned group id to query submissions.get_venueVenue (group) metadata by group id.list_submissionsPapers submitted to an academic CONFERENCE venue on OpenReview — ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML, COLM and similar. PREFER for "ICLR 2024 papers about diffusion models", "NeurIPS submissions on RLHF", "what did ICML publish on optimizers". Pass the venue group id as venue_id (use list_venues to find it) together with a topic in query.get_noteSingle note — paper, review, comment, decision, etc.get_paperPaper + all child notes (reviews, rebuttal, decision, metareview). Pass the forum id (= paper note id).search_notesFull-text search across OpenReview notes (papers, reviews, decisions) by query string; optionally restrict to a content field (e.g. title, abstract) or filter by author signature; returns matching note ids, titles, and venues.
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.
Refd
{
"mcpServers": {
"refd": {
"url": "https://api.refd.ai/mcp"
}
}
}
Openreview
{
"mcpServers": {
"openreview": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-openreview"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Refd is categorized under Research and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. Openreview belongs to Research and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Refd for research work and Openreview for research.
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.
Refd has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Openreview has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. 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 refd and openreview as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Refd has a quality signal of 41/100 (Fair) with 1 views, 0 installs and 2 GitHub stars. Openreview has 59/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.