Medical Terminologies MCP

RxNorm Concept Details

rxnorm_concept

Read-onlyIdempotent

Look up RxNorm concept details by RxCUI to get names, synonyms, status, and related ingredients, brands, and dose forms.

Instructions

Get detailed information about a specific RxNorm concept by RxCUI.

Use this tool to:

Get the full name and synonyms for a drug
Check the concept status (active, remapped, etc.)
View related concepts (ingredients, brands, forms)

Provide an RxCUI (RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier) like "161" — as a string of digits or as an integer.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`rxcui`	Yes	RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier (string of digits or integer, e.g. "161" or 161)
`include_related`	No	Include related concepts (ingredients, brands, dose forms). Default false; true/false, also accepted as the strings "true"/"false"

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`tty`	Yes
`name`	Yes
`found`	Yes	false when RxNorm has no concept with this RxCUI (the lookup answered; the fields below are null)
`rxcui`	Yes
`status`	Yes
`synonym`	Yes
`umlscui`	Yes
`language`	Yes
`suppress`	Yes
`provenance`	Yes	Provenance block (contract v1.1): source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, origin diagnostics, citation, license
`attribution`	Yes	Canonical source URLs of this response (attribution list)
`remapped_to`	Yes
`related_groups`	Yes

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed17 schema fields changedv1.16.0Oct 1, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / include_related / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "type": "boolean"
+  },
+  {
+    "enum": [
+      "true",
+      "false"
+    ],
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

removedInput schema / properties / include_related / default
```
Removed value: -false
```

changedInput schema / properties / include_related / description

Previous value: -"Include related concepts (ingredients, brands, dose forms)"New value: +"Include related concepts (ingredients, brands, dose forms). Default false; true/false, also accepted as the strings \"true\"/\"false\""

removedInput schema / properties / include_related / type
```
Removed value: -"boolean"
```

addedInput schema / properties / rxcui / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "pattern": "^\\d+$",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  {
+    "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+    "minimum": 0,
+    "type": "integer"
+  }
+]

changedInput schema / properties / rxcui / description

Previous value: -"RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier"New value: +"RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier (string of digits or integer, e.g. \"161\" or 161)"

removedInput schema / properties / rxcui / pattern
```
Removed value: -"^\\d+$"
```
removedInput schema / properties / rxcui / type
```
Removed value: -"string"
```

addedOutput schema / properties / found

Added value: +{
+  "description": "false when RxNorm has no concept with this RxCUI (the lookup answered; the fields below are null)",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / language / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / name / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / status / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / suppress / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / synonym / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / tty / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / umlscui / type

Previous value: -"string"New value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "rxcui",
-  "name",
-  "synonym",
-  "tty",
-  "language",
-  "suppress",
-  "umlscui",
-  "status",
-  "remapped_to",
-  "related_groups",
-  "provenance",
-  "attribution"
-]New value: +[
+  "rxcui",
+  "found",
+  "name",
+  "synonym",
+  "tty",
+  "language",
+  "suppress",
+  "umlscui",
+  "status",
+  "remapped_to",
+  "related_groups",
+  "provenance",
+  "attribution"
+]

Changed3 schema fields changedv1.15.0Sep 27, 2026

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"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedv1.11.0Sep 15, 2026
- addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```
Changed4 schema fields changedv1.9.1Sep 1, 2026
- removedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / data_vintage / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / data_vintage / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / license / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / provenance / properties / license / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```

Changed3 schema fields changedv1.8.0Aug 10, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / attribution

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Canonical source URLs of this response (attribution list)",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / provenance

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Provenance block (contract v1.0): source, URL, data vintage, extraction instant, citation, license",
+  "properties": {
+    "citation": {
+      "description": "Ready-to-use citation/attribution string",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "data_vintage": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Version/release of the data as exposed by the source; null when not exposed"
+    },
+    "license": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "License / legal regime of the data"
+    },
+    "retrieved_at": {
+      "description": "Real instant of the upstream extraction (ISO-8601, UTC). Responses served from cache keep the ORIGINAL fetch instant.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "source": {
+      "description": "Official upstream source of this data",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "source_url": {
+      "description": "Canonical URL of the source (API base or dataset release)",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "source",
+    "source_url",
+    "data_vintage",
+    "retrieved_at",
+    "citation",
+    "license"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "rxcui",
-  "name",
-  "synonym",
-  "tty",
-  "language",
-  "suppress",
-  "umlscui",
-  "status",
-  "remapped_to",
-  "related_groups"
-]New value: +[
+  "rxcui",
+  "name",
+  "synonym",
+  "tty",
+  "language",
+  "suppress",
+  "umlscui",
+  "status",
+  "remapped_to",
+  "related_groups",
+  "provenance",
+  "attribution"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedv1.5.7Jun 21, 2026
- removedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Removed value: -false
```
First observedv1.2.1May 11, 2026

TDQS

A3.5/5.0

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 the safety profile is covered. The description adds modest value by noting what data types are returned (status values such as active/remapped, related concepts), but says nothing about the data source, caching, or field completeness.

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?

Purpose is front-loaded in the opening sentence and the bullet list is scannable without redundancy. It is slightly longer than strictly needed given the schema carries the parameter detail, but nothing is wasted.

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

Completeness4/5

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

An output schema exists, so return values need not be explained, and annotations cover the safety/idempotency profile. For a two-parameter read-only lookup the description is largely sufficient; the only gap is the absence of sibling routing.

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%, so both parameters (rxcui and include_related) are already fully documented in the schema, including the string-or-integer format and the boolean/string acceptance. The description only repeats the RxCUI example, adding no meaning beyond the structured fields, so baseline 3 applies.

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?

The description gives a specific verb (Get) plus resource (detailed information about a specific RxNorm concept) and the key (by RxCUI), with concrete examples of what you retrieve (name/synonyms, status, related concepts). It clearly reads as an ID-based lookup, implicitly distinguishing it from sibling rxnorm_search, but never names a sibling explicitly.

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 'Use this tool to' list gives positive use cases but no when-not guidance or named alternatives. It overlaps with siblings like rxnorm_ingredients (for 'ingredients') and rxnorm_search without clarifying which to pick, leaving the routing decision implied.

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