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Search RxNorm Drugs

rxnorm_search
Read-onlyIdempotent

Search for drugs in RxNorm (Normalized names for clinical drugs).

Use this tool to:

  • Find drug concepts by brand or generic name

  • Look up medications for prescribing

  • Search for drug formulations

Returns matching drugs with RxCUI identifiers, names, and term types.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
queryYesDrug name to search (brand or generic)
max_resultsNoMaximum number of results (1-100). Default: 25

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
drugsYes
queryYes
provenanceYesProvenance block: source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, origin diagnostics, citation, license
attributionYesCanonical source URLs of this response (attribution list)
total_countYes

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / notices / description
      Previous value: -"Notices the source publishes alongside the data (license statements, caveats), verbatim. Absent when there is none"New value: +"Caveats the source publishes about the data, verbatim (license statements are not repeated here; see the info://licenses resource). Absent when there is none"
  2. Changed7 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / description
      Previous value: -"Provenance block (contract v1.1): source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, origin diagnostics, citation, license"New value: +"Provenance block: source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, origin diagnostics, citation, license"
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / derivation_note
      Added value: +{
      +  "description": "What this server computed; present together with derived",
      +  "type": "string"
      +}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / derived
      Added value: +{
      +  "description": "Present (true) only when this server computed the value (e.g. a ranking or summary statistics) instead of passing on what the source returned",
      +  "type": "boolean"
      +}
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / field_sources / description
      Previous value: -"Present only when the response joins parts from different origins or extraction instants (contract v1.2): for each group of fields, its URL, extraction instant and whether it came from cache. Absent in single-origin responses"New value: +"Present only when the response joins parts from different origins or extraction instants: for each group of fields, its URL, extraction instant and whether it came from cache. Absent in single-origin responses"
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / notices
      Added value: +{
      +  "description": "Notices the source publishes alongside the data (license statements, caveats), verbatim. Absent when there is none",
      +  "items": {
      +    "type": "string"
      +  },
      +  "minItems": 1,
      +  "type": "array"
      +}
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / retrieval / description
      Previous value: -"Origin diagnostics of THIS source in this call (contract v1.1): requests made to the upstream, attempts summed across retries, anomalies worked around (kind + count); unstable=true when any anomaly happened. null when nothing was measured (bundled dataset, or response served entirely from cache)"New value: +"Origin diagnostics of THIS source in this call: requests made to the upstream, attempts summed across retries, anomalies worked around (kind + count); unstable=true when any anomaly happened. null when nothing was measured (bundled dataset, or response served entirely from cache)"
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / revision
      Added value: +{
      +  "additionalProperties": false,
      +  "description": "Whether the data can still change at the source: current = the version in force, the source may revise it; provisional = preliminary; final = will not change. Absent when unknown",
      +  "properties": {
      +    "note": {
      +      "description": "O específico da fonte: o que revisa, quando, por quê",
      +      "type": [
      +        "string",
      +        "null"
      +      ]
      +    },
      +    "status": {
      +      "description": "current = versão vigente, a fonte pode revisá-la; provisional = preliminar, incompleta ou sujeita a mudança (não compare como se fosse fechada); final = não muda mais, declarado pela fonte",
      +      "enum": [
      +        "current",
      +        "provisional",
      +        "final"
      +      ],
      +      "type": "string"
      +    }
      +  },
      +  "required": [
      +    "status",
      +    "note"
      +  ],
      +  "type": "object"
      +}
  3. Changed1 schema field changed
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / field_sources
      Added value: +{
      +  "description": "Present only when the response joins parts from different origins or extraction instants (contract v1.2): for each group of fields, its URL, extraction instant and whether it came from cache. Absent in single-origin responses",
      +  "items": {
      +    "additionalProperties": false,
      +    "description": "Proveniência de um grupo de campos da resposta: de onde veio e quando foi extraído",
      +    "properties": {
      +      "data_vintage": {
      +        "description": "Vintage/competência da sub-fonte",
      +        "type": [
      +          "string",
      +          "null"
      +        ]
      +      },
      +      "dataset_id": {
      +        "description": "Identificador do conjunto da sub-fonte",
      +        "type": [
      +          "string",
      +          "null"
      +        ]
      +      },
      +      "fields": {
      +        "description": "Campos do payload atribuídos a esta sub-fonte",
      +        "items": {
      +          "type": "string"
      +        },
      +        "minItems": 1,
      +        "type": "array"
      +      },
      +      "retrieved_at": {
      +        "description": "ISO-8601 da extração desta sub-fonte na origem",
      +        "type": [
      +          "string",
      +          "null"
      +        ]
      +      },
      +      "served_from_cache": {
      +        "description": "true se esta sub-fonte veio do cache do servidor (retrieved_at é o da extração original); false se foi buscada nesta chamada; null se o servidor não distingue",
      +        "type": [
      +          "boolean",
      +          "null"
      +        ]
      +      },
      +      "source_url": {
      +        "description": "URL canônica da sub-fonte que originou estes campos",
      +        "type": "string"
      +      }
      +    },
      +    "required": [
      +      "fields",
      +      "source_url",
      +      "dataset_id",
      +      "data_vintage",
      +      "retrieved_at"
      +    ],
      +    "type": "object"
      +  },
      +  "minItems": 1,
      +  "type": "array"
      +}
  4. Changed3 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / description
      Previous value: -"Provenance block (contract v1.0): source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, citation, license"New value: +"Provenance block (contract v1.1): source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, origin diagnostics, citation, license"
    • addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / retrieval
      Added value: +{
      +  "anyOf": [
      +    {
      +      "additionalProperties": false,
      +      "properties": {
      +        "anomalies": {
      +          "description": "Anomalias superadas até o sucesso, somadas por classe, em ordem fixa; [] se nenhuma",
      +          "items": {
      +            "additionalProperties": false,
      +            "properties": {
      +              "count": {
      +                "description": "Ocorrências desta classe na chamada",
      +                "maximum": 9007199254740991,
      +                "minimum": 1,
      +                "type": "integer"
      +              },
      +              "kind": {
      +                "description": "Classe da anomalia (vocabulário fechado do contrato)",
      +                "enum": [
      +                  "timeout",
      +                  "network",
      +                  "http_4xx",
      +                  "http_5xx",
      +                  "rate_limited",
      +                  "malformed_body"
      +                ],
      +                "type": "string"
      +              }
      +            },
      +            "required": [
      +              "kind",
      +              "count"
      +            ],
      +            "type": "object"
      +          },
      +          "type": "array"
      +        },
      +        "attempts": {
      +          "description": "Tentativas somadas, incluindo as repetidas (>= requests)",
      +          "maximum": 9007199254740991,
      +          "minimum": 1,
      +          "type": "integer"
      +        },
      +        "requests": {
      +          "description": "Idas distintas à origem que compõem esta resposta (fatias, páginas)",
      +          "maximum": 9007199254740991,
      +          "minimum": 1,
      +          "type": "integer"
      +        },
      +        "unstable": {
      +          "description": "true se houve repetição (attempts > requests) ou alguma anomalia",
      +          "type": "boolean"
      +        }
      +      },
      +      "required": [
      +        "requests",
      +        "attempts",
      +        "anomalies",
      +        "unstable"
      +      ],
      +      "type": "object"
      +    },
      +    {
      +      "type": "null"
      +    }
      +  ],
      +  "description": "Origin diagnostics of THIS source in this call (contract v1.1): requests made to the upstream, attempts summed across retries, anomalies worked around (kind + count); unstable=true when any anomaly happened. null when nothing was measured (bundled dataset, or response served entirely from cache)"
      +}
    • changedOutput schema / properties / provenance / required
      Previous value: -[
      -  "source",
      -  "source_url",
      -  "data_vintage",
      -  "retrieved_at",
      -  "citation",
      -  "license"
      -]New value: +[
      +  "source",
      +  "source_url",
      +  "data_vintage",
      +  "retrieved_at",
      +  "retrieval",
      +  "citation",
      +  "license"
      +]
  5. Changed1 schema field changed
    • addedInput schema / additionalProperties
      Added value: +false
  6. First observed

TDQS

B3.4/5.0
Behavior3/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint and destructiveHint=false, so safety behavior is fully covered without the description. The description adds little beyond that: it notes results carry RxCUI, names and term types, but with an output schema present this is largely redundant, and no matching semantics (prefix vs. full-text, ambiguity handling) are disclosed.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with the core purpose and organized into a short bullet list, which is easy to scan. It loses a point for mild redundancy: 'Search for drug formulations' echoes the opening sentence, and the return-value sentence duplicates what the output schema already provides.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness3/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a two-parameter, read-only search tool with a full output schema and complete annotations, the description covers the essentials. What is missing is the boundary against sibling tools (rxnorm_concept in particular) and any matching behavior, which is the main thing an agent could still get wrong.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, including the 1-100 bound and default on max_results, so the schema carries parameter semantics fully. The description's mention of 'brand or generic name' mildly reinforces the query parameter but adds no format or syntax information beyond the schema. Baseline 3 applies when schema does the heavy lifting.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose4/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource (search drugs in RxNorm) and clarifies the corpus, which separates it from the ICD/LOINC/mesh search siblings. It does not distinguish itself from the closest sibling, rxnorm_concept (lookup vs. search), or from rxnorm_ingredients/rxnorm_ndc, so an agent must infer the boundary.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines3/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The three 'Use this tool to' bullets give concrete usage contexts (brand/generic lookup, prescribing, formulations), which is better than nothing. However, there is no when-not guidance and no named alternative, so the agent gets no help choosing between this and rxnorm_concept or the generic search tool.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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