What this skill does
Search academic papers and conduct literature reviews using OpenAlex API (free, no key needed).
Academic Research is part of the Developer Tools category — developer tools that help your agent write, review, debug, and ship code. You can install it on its own or alongside other developer tools skills from the OpenClaw catalog.
How to install Academic Research
The easiest path is via the OpenClaw Easy desktop app — one click, no terminal required:
- Download OpenClaw Easy for macOS or Windows (free, one-click installer, ~30 seconds).
- Open the in-app Skills panel.
- Search for
academic-researchand click Install. - The skill activates automatically when an incoming message matches its description.
Install from the command line
If you already run the OpenClaw CLI, add Academic Research with a single command:
openclaw skills add academic-research
This pulls academic-research from ClawHub and installs it into ~/.openclaw/skills/academic-research/. Restart the OpenClaw gateway afterwards so the new skill is discovered.
How to use Academic Research
Once installed, Academic Research activates on its own: when an incoming message on WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu or Line matches the skill's description, your OpenClaw agent loads it and runs the workflow. You can also trigger it explicitly by describing the task in chat. No extra configuration is required after install.
Manual install (advanced)
If you prefer manual installation:
- Click the Download .zip button above to grab
academic-research-1.0.0.zipdirectly from our S3 mirror. - Unzip into
~/.openclaw/skills/academic-research/(create the directory if it does not exist). - Restart OpenClaw Easy (or the OpenClaw CLI gateway) so the new skill is discovered.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install Academic Research?
Install Academic Research in the OpenClaw Easy desktop app by opening the Skills panel, searching for academic-research, and clicking Install. From a terminal you can run: openclaw skills add academic-research. Either way the skill is placed in ~/.openclaw/skills/academic-research/.
Is Academic Research free?
Yes. Academic Research is free and open-source, distributed under the Apache-2.0 license through ClawHub. No account or payment is required to download or run it.
What does Academic Research do?
Search academic papers and conduct literature reviews using OpenAlex API (free, no key needed).
Related: more developer tools skills
If Academic Research looks useful, you may also want to check out other developer tools skills in the OpenClaw catalog:
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Free, open-source · Apache-2.0 · Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or local Ollama models