Lacewing Digital Library MCP

A research-oriented MCP server + Codex skill for the Lacewing Digital Library (LDL) and Neuropterida Species of the World (NSW).

It turns LDL's publicly reachable JSON endpoints into tools that match real taxonomic workflows: accepted-name resolution, historical combinations, nomenclature, type specimens and type-locality coordinates, distribution citations, bibliography, figures, phylogeny, identification keys, and batch reconciliation.

This project is an independent research client. LDL's /api/... endpoints are used by the public web frontend and are not documented as a third-party public API. The server uses conservative request rates and does not bypass contributor-only access controls.

One-line install for Codex

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Gyoungwe/lacewing-digital-library-mcp/main/install.sh | bash

The installer clones/updates the project under ~/.local/share/lacewing-digital-library-mcp, creates an isolated Python virtual environment, installs the MCP server, copies the Codex skill into ~/.codex/skills/lacewing-digital-library, and registers the stdio MCP server with codex mcp add.

Verify with:

codex mcp get lacewing-digital-library

Then ask Codex:

Use $lacewing-digital-library to resolve Mantispa styriaca and summarize its accepted name, original combination, type locality, distribution and references.

MCP tools

Tool	Typical research question
`resolve_taxon`	What is the accepted/current name and LDL ID for this name?
`search_taxa`	Which taxa match a genus, family, author, year, or epithet?
`name_history`	What original/historical combinations are associated with this taxon?
`taxon_record`	Give me the combined LDL species/epithet/monograph record.
`type_info`	What is the type, type locality, and georeferenced type-specimen coordinate?
`distribution`	Where is this species recorded and which references support that distribution?
`taxonomic_references`	Which nomenclatural/taxonomic sources support this taxon?
`figures`	Which published figures are associated with this taxon?
`phylogeny`	Which LDL phylogenetic records/citations include this taxon?
`identification_keys`	Which identification keys include this taxon?
`bibliography`	What is LDL reference `BibObjID`, and which taxa/figures are linked to it?
`batch_resolve`	Reconcile a tree tip list / CSV taxon list to current LDL taxonomy.
`classification`	Retrieve the NSW classification data.
`raw_public_endpoint`	Advanced read-only access to an allowlisted LDL endpoint.
`health_check`	Can the server reach LDL, and what dataset/version info is visible?

Examples

Resolve a taxon:

Resolve Chrysoperla carnea in LDL. Keep the input name, accepted name, author/year, CombObjID, TaxObjID and original combination.

Reconcile phylogeny tips:

Use LDL to reconcile these 80 Neuropterida tree-tip names. Do not silently replace names: return input_name, accepted_name, status, CombObjID, TaxObjID and notes for ambiguous/unmatched rows.

Type-locality work:

Find the type information and type-locality coordinates for Mantispa styriaca. State clearly whether the coordinates are type-specimen localities or occurrence data.

Bibliography-first workflow:

Look up LDL BibObjID 18355, summarize the reference, and list taxa associated with it.

Manual installation

git clone https://github.com/Gyoungwe/lacewing-digital-library-mcp.git
cd lacewing-digital-library-mcp
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e .
codex mcp add lacewing-digital-library -- "$PWD/.venv/bin/python" -m ldl_mcp
cp -R skill ~/.codex/skills/lacewing-digital-library

For another MCP client, use a stdio configuration whose command is the environment's Python and whose arguments are -m ldl_mcp.

Data interpretation rules

LDL search results can include current combinations, original combinations, historical placements, junior synonyms, invalid names and unavailable names in the same result set. Do not interpret every returned row as a distinct current species or as a synonym. Preserve CombObjID, TaxObjID and status fields so mappings remain auditable.

general/getTypeSpmnCoordinates provides georeferenced type-specimen localities. These coordinates are not a complete species occurrence dataset. The MCP joins them to species using LDL taxonomic identifiers rather than guessing coordinates from locality prose.

Development and tests

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e .
.venv/bin/python tests/live_smoke.py
.venv/bin/python tests/mcp_smoke.py

live_smoke.py verifies known LDL data for Mantispa styriaca. mcp_smoke.py starts the server over stdio, performs MCP initialization, checks the tool inventory, and calls resolve_taxon through the MCP protocol.

License

MIT. Data returned by LDL remain subject to LDL's own terms, access controls, attribution expectations and underlying source rights.