get_guideline_content

Fetch specific GO-CAM guideline content for biological knowledge representation by providing guideline names from the Noctua MCP Server.

Instructions

Fetch specific GO-CAM guideline content.

Args: guideline_name: Name of guideline file (without .md extension). Use list_guidelines() to see available options.

Returns: Dictionary with guideline content or error message

Examples: # Get a specific guideline content = get_guideline_content("E3_ubiquitin_ligases")

# Get transcription factor guidelines
content = get_guideline_content("DNA-binding_transcription_factor_activity_annotation_guidelines")

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`guideline_name`	Yes

Implementation Reference

src/noctua_mcp/mcp_server.py:1904-1958 (handler)

The handler function for the get_guideline_content MCP tool. It retrieves the content of a specific guideline Markdown file from the local guidelines directory, extracts a description from the first non-empty line, and returns structured data. Includes error handling for missing files and read errors.

@mcp.tool()
async def get_guideline_content(guideline_name: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """Fetch specific GO-CAM guideline content.

    Args:
        guideline_name: Name of guideline file (without .md extension).
                       Use list_guidelines() to see available options.

    Returns:
        Dictionary with guideline content or error message

    Examples:
        # Get a specific guideline
        content = get_guideline_content("E3_ubiquitin_ligases")

        # Get transcription factor guidelines
        content = get_guideline_content("DNA-binding_transcription_factor_activity_annotation_guidelines")
    """
    file_path = GUIDELINES_DIR / f"{guideline_name}.md"

    if not file_path.exists():
        available = _get_available_guidelines()
        return {
            "success": False,
            "error": f"Guideline '{guideline_name}' not found",
            "available_guidelines": available,
            "hint": "Use one of the available guideline names listed above"
        }

    try:
        with open(file_path) as f:
            content = f.read()

        # Extract first heading as description
        lines = content.split('\n')
        description = ""
        for line in lines:
            if line.strip():
                description = line.strip('#').strip()
                break

        return {
            "success": True,
            "guideline_name": guideline_name,
            "description": description,
            "content": content,
            "length": len(content)
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {
            "success": False,
            "error": f"Failed to read guideline: {str(e)}",
            "guideline_name": guideline_name
        }

src/noctua_mcp/mcp_server.py:28-28 (helper)
Constant defining the path to the guidelines directory, used by get_guideline_content and related functions to locate guideline files.
```
GUIDELINES_DIR = Path(__file__).parent / "guidelines"
```

src/noctua_mcp/mcp_server.py:1793-1797 (helper)

Helper function that lists the names of available guideline Markdown files in the GUIDELINES_DIR, used in error responses of get_guideline_content.

def _get_available_guidelines() -> List[str]:
    """Get list of available guideline files."""
    if not GUIDELINES_DIR.exists():
        return []
    return sorted([f.stem for f in GUIDELINES_DIR.glob("*.md")])

src/noctua_mcp/mcp_server.py:1904-1904 (registration)
The @mcp.tool() decorator that registers the get_guideline_content function as an MCP tool.
```
@mcp.tool()
```

Noctua MCP Server