med-lit-mcp

An MCP server to cut down the time clinicians spend "looking things up." It lets you search PubMed, clinical trials, drug information, clinical practice guidelines, and the medical fee schedule master directly from Claude.

A U.S. survey found that physicians spend 1.5–2 hours on administrative tasks and paperwork for every hour of patient care. Part of that time goes to checking the literature, package inserts, and regulations. This server targets exactly that.

What this server does not do

This software is not a medical device software (SaMD). Under the PMD Act, regulatory applicability is determined by "the degree of contribution to medical judgment" and "risk (harm in the event of a malfunction)." This server only points to the location of primary information and makes no medical judgment, so it stays within scope of non-applicability.

By design, it does not:

• Present a diagnosis or list differential diagnoses

• Recommend treatment plans, drug choices, or dosages

• Make interpretations based on lab results or images

• Summarize/translate abstracts or package inserts, extends the original text

All it returns is the source and the original text. Medical judgment is the responsibility of the clinician.

This policy is enforced in code. src/med_lit_mcp/guard.py contains patterns of prohibited language, and tests verify that server-generated text (tool descriptions, disclaimers, error messages) does not contain expressions that suggest a medical decision.

Related MCP server: Medical MCP Server

What data it handles

It does not handle any patient personal information. What is sent externally is only the search keyword. Communication is restricted to the four hosts below; any other destination raises an exception (see ALLOWED_HOSTS in http.py).

Retrieved results are cached in local SQLite (default ~/.cache/med-lit-mcp/). Once a medical fee schedule master is imported, those searches work without a network.

Installation

uvx --from git+https://github.com/fc0web/med-lit-mcp med-lit-mcp

Alternatively, clone it:

git clone https://github.com/fc0web/med-lit-mcp
cd med-lit-mcp
uv sync
uv run med-lit-mcp

Registration with Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add it manually to either claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop) or .mcp.json (Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "med-lit": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/fc0web/med-lit-mcp", "med-lit-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NCBI_EMAIL": "you@example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Claude Code, you can also register it with:

claude mcp add med-lit -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/fc0web/med-lit-mcp med-lit-mcp

Tools

Usage examples

「オルフォルグリプロンの第3相試験を、2025年以降のRCTに絞って探して」
  → search_pubmed(term="orforglipron", year_from=2025, study_types=["rct"])

「初診料の点数を調べて」
  → import_shinryo_master(kind="shinryo")   # 初回のみ
  → search_shinryo_hoshu(term="初診料")

Settings (environment variables)

No API key is needed. When the rate limit is exceeded, the server waits and retries rather than throwing an exception.

When using a corporate proxy or a self-signed CA

MCP clients launch the server as a subprocess and only pass a minimal set of environment variables. If your corporate network relies on a private CA, TLS verification may fail. Be sure to set them explicitly in the configuration's env:

"env": {
  "SSL_CERT_FILE": "/path/to/ca-bundle.crt",
  "REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE": "/path/to/ca-bundle.crt",
  "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://proxy.example.jp:8080"
}

What it can't do (honestly)

• Full-text search of the Minds guideline library. Minds renders search results in the browser and has no public API. It is technically possible to fetch it with a headless browser, but it's fragile under specification changes and terms of use are not clear, so v0.1 only provides the Minds search URL.

• Full-text body of PMDA package inserts. There is likewise no public API, so KEGG is the primary source and the PMDA search URL is made available. For clinical use, always refer to the PMDA's official package inserts.

• Master data for dentistry and dispensing. v0.1 covers three categories only: medical procedures, drug products, and specific medical devices.

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest              # 外部APIを叩かないテスト
uv run pytest -m live      # 実APIへの疎通テスト
uv run ruff check .

Sources

• NCBI E-utilities

• ClinicalTrials.gov API v2

• KEGG REST

• Medical Service Fee Information Service

• Minds Guideline Library

• PMDA Drug Search

License

MIT

Disclaimer

This software does not provide medical device software. It is not intended for diagnosis or treatment decisions, and the user is solely responsible for final verification of the output. Because regulations, fee schedules, drug prices, and guidelines are subject to change, always confirm with primary sources in practice.