bertron-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing access to the BERtron API, which aggregates genomic and environmental data from multiple Biological and Environmental Research (BER) data sources including EMSL, ESS-DIVE, JGI, MONET, and NMDC.

Quick Start

Install and run directly from GitHub

# Run directly without installing
uvx --from git+https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git bertron-mcp

# Or install first, then run
uvx --from git+https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git bertron-mcp --version

Related MCP server: BioMCP

Features

• 🔍 Geospatial Search: Find entities within a specified radius of geographic coordinates

• 💊 Health Check: Verify BERtron API connectivity and database status

• 🌍 Multi-Source Data: Access data from major BER research facilities

• 🔌 MCP Integration: Seamless integration with Claude, Goose, and other MCP-compatible AI tools

Requirements

• Python 3.12+

• UV package manager (recommended)

• Access to BERtron API (https://bertron-api.bertron.production.svc.spin.nersc.org)

Installation

From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git
cd bertron-mcp
make dev

From PyPI (Coming Soon)

pip install bertron-mcp

Available Tools

geosearch

Search for entities within a specified distance of geographic coordinates.

Parameters:

• latitude (float): Latitude coordinate (-90.0 to 90.0)

• longitude (float): Longitude coordinate (-180.0 to 180.0)

• search_radius_km (float, optional): Search radius in kilometers (default: 1.0)

Returns: QueryResponse with entities, count, and metadata

bbox_search

Search for entities within a rectangular geographic bounding box.

Parameters:

• southwest_lat (float): Southwest corner latitude (-90.0 to 90.0)

• southwest_lng (float): Southwest corner longitude (-180.0 to 180.0)

• northeast_lat (float): Northeast corner latitude (-90.0 to 90.0)

• northeast_lng (float): Northeast corner longitude (-180.0 to 180.0)

Returns: QueryResponse with entities within the bounding box

entity_lookup

Retrieve detailed information for a specific entity by its unique ID.

Parameters:

• entity_id (string): Unique identifier of the entity (e.g., "nmdc:bsm-12-abc123")

Returns: Entity object with complete metadata

advanced_query

Execute complex MongoDB queries with filtering, projection, and sorting.

Parameters:

• filter_dict (dict, optional): MongoDB filter criteria (e.g., {"entity_type": "sample"})

• projection (dict, optional): Fields to include/exclude (e.g., {"name": 1, "coordinates": 1})

• skip (int, optional): Number of documents to skip for pagination (default: 0)

• limit (int, optional): Maximum number of documents to return (default: 100)

• sort (dict, optional): Sort criteria (e.g., {"name": 1} for ascending)

Returns: QueryResponse with matching entities

search_by_source

Find entities from a specific BER data source.

Parameters:

• source (string): BER data source name (EMSL, ESS-DIVE, JGI, NMDC, MONET)

Returns: QueryResponse with entities from the specified source

search_by_type

Find entities of a specific entity type.

Parameters:

• entity_type (string): Entity type (biodata, sample, sequence, taxon, jgi_biosample)

Returns: QueryResponse with entities of the specified type

search_by_name

Search for entities by name using regex pattern matching.

Parameters:

• name_pattern (string): Name pattern to search for (supports regex)

• case_sensitive (bool, optional): Whether search should be case sensitive (default: False)

Returns: QueryResponse with entities matching the name pattern

health_check

Check the health status of the BERtron API.

Parameters: None

Returns: Dictionary with web_server and database boolean status

API Limits and Constraints

To prevent overwhelming responses and protect system resources, the following limits are enforced:

Default Limits

• Default result limit: 100 items per query

• Maximum result limit: 1,000 items per query

• Maximum pagination offset: 50,000 items

Constraint Reporting

When limits are applied, tools automatically report constraints in the response metadata:

{
  "entities": [...],
  "count": 1000,
  "metadata": {
    "constraints_applied": {
      "requested_limit": 5000,
      "actual_limit": 1000,
      "reason": "Exceeded maximum limit of 1000"
    }
  }
}

Tools with Limit Parameters

The following tools accept optional limit parameters:

• search_by_source(source, limit=100)

• search_by_type(entity_type, limit=100)

• search_by_name(name_pattern, case_sensitive=False, limit=100)

• advanced_query(filter_dict=None, limit=100, skip=0, ...)

Safety Features

• advanced_query requires filter criteria to prevent accidental full database dumps

• All limits are enforced server-side with automatic constraint reporting

• Deep pagination (skip > 50,000) is blocked to prevent performance issues

Setup

Development

Install dependencies for development:

make dev

Testing

Run the complete test suite:

make all

Test specific components:

# API integration tests
make test-integration

# MCP protocol tests  
make test-mcp
make test-mcp-extended

# Test with Claude CLI
make test-claude-mcp

# Version check
make test-version

MCP Integration

Claude Desktop Configuration

Option 1: From GitHub (Recommended) Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bertron-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git", "bertron-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Local Development Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bertron-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "src/bertron_mcp/main.py"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/bertron-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code MCP Setup

From GitHub:

claude mcp add bertron-mcp "uvx --from git+https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git bertron-mcp"

Local development:

claude mcp add -s project bertron-mcp uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py

Production (after publishing to PyPI):

claude mcp add -s project bertron-mcp uvx bertron-mcp

Goose Setup

From GitHub:

goose session --with-extension "uvx --from git+https://github.com/ber-data/bertron-mcp.git bertron-mcp"

Local development:

goose session --with-extension "uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py"

Usage Examples

Using with Claude

Search for genomic samples near Orlando, FL within 100km radius:
> Use the bertron-mcp to search for entities near latitude 28.5383, longitude -81.3792 within 100km

Search for entities in a bounding box covering Yellowstone National Park:
> Use bbox_search to find entities between southwest corner (44.0, -125.0) and northeast corner (49.0, -110.0)

Find all NMDC sample entities:
> Search for all sample entities from the NMDC data source

Look up detailed information for a specific entity:
> Use entity_lookup to get details for entity ID "nmdc:bsm-12-abc123"

Direct MCP Protocol

# Test geosearch tool
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "geosearch", "arguments": {"latitude": 28.5383, "longitude": -81.3792, "search_radius_km": 100.0}}, "id": 1}' | uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py

# Test bounding box search
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "bbox_search", "arguments": {"southwest_lat": 44.0, "southwest_lng": -125.0, "northeast_lat": 49.0, "northeast_lng": -110.0}}, "id": 2}' | uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py

# Test search by data source
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "search_by_source", "arguments": {"source": "NMDC"}}, "id": 3}' | uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py

# Test advanced query with filtering
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "advanced_query", "arguments": {"filter_dict": {"entity_type": "sample"}, "limit": 10}}, "id": 4}' | uv run python src/bertron_mcp/main.py

Development

Code Quality

# Format and lint code
make format
make lint

# Type checking
make mypy

# Dependency analysis
make deptry

Building and Publishing

# Build package
make build

# Full release workflow
make release

Data Sources

BERtron aggregates data from:

• EMSL - Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

• ESS-DIVE - ESS Data and Information for Virtual Ecosystems

• JGI - Joint Genome Institute

• MONET - Molecular Observation Network

• NMDC - National Microbiome Data Collaborative

Contributing

1. Fork the repository

2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature

3. Make changes and add tests

4. Run the test suite: make all

5. Commit your changes: git commit -m "Add your feature"

6. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature

7. Submit a pull request

License

BSD-3-Clause