PGS Catalog MCP
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| PGS_CATALOG_BASE_URL | No | Point at a mirror or a staging instance. | https://www.pgscatalog.org/rest |
| PGS_CATALOG_RATE_LIMIT | No | Client-side requests per minute (the API allows 100). | 90 |
| PGS_CATALOG_TIMEOUT_MS | No | Per-request timeout in milliseconds. | 30000 |
Instructions
Guidance the server publishes about itself, which clients place ahead of the tool catalog so the model reads it before choosing anything.
This server publishes no instructions, or was last inspected before Glama recorded them.
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": true
} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| search_scoresA | Search the PGS Catalog for polygenic scores by publication (PGP ID or PubMed ID) or by trait ontology ID (EFO/HP/MONDO). Provide |
| get_scoreA | Retrieve one polygenic score by PGS ID (e.g. PGS000001): scoring-file URLs including harmonized GRCh37/GRCh38 files, publication citation, reported and mapped traits, variant-development and training samples, ancestry distribution at each stage, method parameters, and license terms. |
| search_publicationsA | Search publications in the PGS Catalog by author name, PubMed ID, or an associated score ID. Returns citation data plus the PGS IDs each publication developed and evaluated. |
| get_publicationA | Retrieve one PGS Catalog publication by PGP ID (e.g. PGP000001): title, journal, DOI, PubMed ID, authors, dates, and the PGS IDs associated with it split into development and evaluation. |
| search_traitsA | Search PGS Catalog traits by name, trait category, synonym, ontology ID, or external mapped term (e.g. 'breast cancer', 'Neurological disorder', 'ICD10:I25', 'OMIM:605526'). Always use this first to resolve a human-readable condition into the exact EFO/MONDO/HP ID that search_scores expects — ontology IDs change between catalog releases, so do not assume an ID from documentation or memory. Child ontology terms are included by default. |
| get_traitA | Retrieve one trait by ontology ID (e.g. MONDO_0004989): label, description, synonyms, external mapped terms, trait categories, and the PGS IDs associated with it (and optionally its child terms). |
| list_trait_categoriesA | List the higher-level trait categories used to group traits in the PGS Catalog (for example Cancer, Cardiovascular disorder, Neurological disorder) together with the ontology terms in each category. A good starting point for exploratory questions such as 'what polygenic scores exist for cancer'. |
| search_performance_metricsA | Search reported PGS performance metrics (odds ratio, beta, hazard ratio, C-index/AUC, variance explained, …) by score, publication, or PubMed ID. Each result includes the metric estimates with confidence intervals, the samples used for evaluation with their ancestry and cohorts, and the covariates that were adjusted for. |
| get_performance_metricA | Retrieve one reported performance metric by PPM ID (e.g. PPM000001): metric estimates with confidence intervals and standard errors, the trait and phenotyping method, covariates, the associated score, and the evaluation samples. |
| search_sample_setsA | Search PGS sample sets (the groups of participants used to evaluate a score) by score, publication, or PubMed ID. Each sample set lists participant counts, ancestry breakdowns, age and follow-up data, and the cohorts involved. |
| get_sample_setA | Retrieve one sample set by PSS ID (e.g. PSS000070): every sample with participant counts, ancestry, cohorts, phenotyping details, and follow-up information. |
| list_cohortsA | List study cohorts referenced by the PGS Catalog (for example UK Biobank, NHS, ABCFS, ESTHER, PROFILE) with their full names and the PGS IDs that used them for development or evaluation. Provide |
| get_cohortA | Look up a cohort by short symbol (e.g. ABCFS, NHS, UKB). Cohort symbols are not guaranteed to be unique, so this may return several matches with their full names and associated PGS IDs. |
| get_releaseA | Get release details: release date and the counts and IDs of newly added scores, publications, performance metrics, and traits. Omit |
| list_releasesA | List all PGS Catalog releases, most recent first, with counts and IDs of newly added content. |
| get_catalog_infoA | Get PGS Catalog metadata: REST API version and changelog, latest release date, counts of scores/traits/publications, the PGS Catalog citation (title, DOI, PubMed ID, authors, journal, year), the Ensembl version used for harmonized scoring files, and the terms of use. Use this to cite the catalog correctly. |
| get_ancestry_categoriesA | Map the three-letter ancestry symbols used in PGS Catalog data (EUR, AFR, EAS, SAS, AMR, GME, MAE, MAO, …) to their full display names and underlying categories. Use this before interpreting any ancestry_distribution field. |
| get_api_versionsA | List the current and previous PGS Catalog REST API versions with their dates and changelogs. |
| get_scores_from_gwas_studyA | Given an NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog study ID (GCST), return the PGS IDs that used that study as the source of variant associations. Useful for tracing a GWAS finding into the polygenic scores derived from it. |
| list_ftp_scoresA | List all PGS score directories available on the PGS Catalog FTP site (https://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/spot/pgs/scores/). Each directory is named after a PGS ID (PGS000001, PGS000002, …) and contains ScoringFiles/ and Metadata/ subdirectories. Use this to discover which scores have scoring files available for download. |
| list_ftp_score_directoryA | List the subdirectories and files inside a score's FTP directory (e.g. PGS000001/). Returns the ScoringFiles/ and Metadata/ subdirectories and any other entries. Use list_ftp_scoring_files or list_ftp_metadata_files to enumerate the actual downloadable files. |
| list_ftp_scoring_filesA | List the downloadable scoring files in a score's ScoringFiles/ directory (e.g. PGS000001/ScoringFiles/). Returns file names, sizes, and modification dates. Harmonized files live in the Harmonized/ subdirectory. Use get_ftp_file to download a file's contents. |
| list_ftp_metadata_filesA | List the downloadable metadata files in a score's Metadata/ directory (e.g. PGS000001/Metadata/). Returns file names, sizes, and modification dates. Metadata includes CSVs for cohorts, EFO traits, evaluation sample sets, performance metrics, publications, score development samples, and scores, plus a metadata archive and Excel workbook. Use get_ftp_file to download a file's contents. |
| get_ftp_fileA | Download the raw text content of a file from the PGS Catalog FTP site. Provide a path relative to the FTP root, e.g. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No prompts | |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No resources | |
TDQS
Scored across 24 tools
Most tools have clearly distinct resource-plus-action purposes, and the descriptions carefully distinguish similar tools such as the FTP directory and file-listing operations. The only mild risk of confusion is among the several FTP listing variants, but their nested scopes are explicitly explained.
The tool set follows a strong verb_noun convention throughout: list_*, search_*, and get_* are used consistently. Singular/plural distinctions are also predictable, such as search_scores/get_score and list_cohorts/get_cohort.
At 24 tools, the surface is somewhat heavy but reasonable for a catalog covering many entity types: scores, publications, traits, performance metrics, sample sets, cohorts, releases, and FTP files. Each tool appears to serve a distinct lookup or browsing need.
The tool set provides broad coverage of the PGS Catalog domain, including search and retrieval for all major entities, release and version metadata, FTP access, ancestry interpretation, and cross-linking from GWAS studies. Since the catalog is a read-only resource, the absence of create/update/delete tools is appropriate rather than a gap.