PubMed Advanced MCP Server
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Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
𧬠PubMed Advanced MCP Server
A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes PubMed and PubMed Central research literature APIs as intelligent tools for LLM applications.
Built with β€οΈ by Suyash Ekhande
Features β’ Quick Start β’ Tools β’ Examples β’ Architecture
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/892978f7-88d8-4b26-992e-41ba87c1b1cf
π Features
16 Intelligent Tools organized into 5 categories for comprehensive biomedical literature access
34M+ PubMed Articles - Search across the world's largest biomedical abstract database
7M+ PMC Full-Text Articles - Access complete article content from PubMed Central
Smart Rate Limiting - Automatic compliance with NCBI rate limits (3-10 req/sec)
Cross-Database Linking - Connect articles to genes, proteins, clinical variants, and more
ID Conversion - Seamlessly convert between PMID, PMCID, DOI, and Manuscript IDs
BioC Format Support - Pre-parsed text for NLP and text mining applications
Pipeline Operations - Build complex multi-step queries using Entrez History Server
Batch Processing - Efficiently handle 10K+ articles with chunked operations
π¦ Installation
Prerequisites
Python 3.10 or higher
pip or uv package manager
Install from source
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/pubmed-advanced-mcp.git
cd pubmed-advanced-mcp
# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Or install as package
pip install -e .Configure API Key (Recommended)
# Copy example environment file
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your NCBI API key
# Get one at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/Note: Without an API key, you're limited to 3 requests/second. With an API key, you get 10 requests/second.
π Quick Start
Run the MCP Server
# Using Python directly (Streamable HTTP on port 8000)
python -m src.server
# With custom host/port
MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1 MCP_PORT=9000 python -m src.serverTransport: This server uses Streamable HTTP as the only transport protocol. It runs on
http://0.0.0.0:8000/mcpby default.
Run with Docker
# Build the image
docker build -t pubmed-mcp .
# Run the container
docker run -d -p 8000:8000 --name pubmed-mcp pubmed-mcp
# Run with NCBI API key for higher rate limits
docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -e NCBI_API_KEY=your-api-key pubmed-mcpπ Available Tools
Category 1: Search & Discovery (5 tools)
Tool | Description | Example Use Case |
| Search 34M+ PubMed abstracts | Find reviews on CAR-T therapy |
| Full-text search in PMC | Search methods sections for protocols |
| MeSH controlled vocabulary search | Find all cancer therapy articles |
| Multi-field Boolean queries | Complex author + topic + date searches |
| Cross-database hit counts | Discover data across NCBI |
Category 2: Document Retrieval (4 tools)
Tool | Description | Example Use Case |
| Get article metadata | Retrieve author and abstract info |
| Get complete article content | Download full PMC articles |
| BioC format for NLP | Text mining and NER tasks |
| Bulk article retrieval | Download 1000+ articles efficiently |
Category 3: Cross-Reference & Linking (3 tools)
Tool | Description | Example Use Case |
| Citation/similarity links | Build citation networks |
| Cross-link to Gene, Protein, etc. | Find genes mentioned in articles |
| Author publication history | Track researcher output |
Category 4: ID Conversion (2 tools)
Tool | Description | Example Use Case |
| Batch ID conversion | Convert DOIs to PMIDs |
| Single ID resolution | Look up article by any ID type |
Category 5: Advanced Operations (2 tools)
Tool | Description | Example Use Case |
| Multi-step query pipelines | Complex research workflows |
| Large-scale processing | Process 10K+ articles |
π Usage Examples
Basic Search
User: Find recent reviews about CRISPR gene editing in cancer
AI uses: pubmed_search(
query="CRISPR gene editing cancer",
filters={"publication_types": ["Review"], "publication_date_start": "2023"},
max_results=10
)MeSH-Based Search
User: Find all articles about breast cancer treatment using MeSH terms
AI uses: mesh_term_search(
mesh_term="Breast Neoplasms",
qualifiers=["therapy", "drug therapy"],
explode=True,
max_results=50
)Find Related Articles
User: What articles are similar to PMID 37000000?
AI uses: find_related_articles(
pmid="37000000",
relationship_type="similar",
max_results=20
)Convert Article IDs
User: Convert these DOIs to PMIDs: 10.1038/nature12373, 10.1126/science.1225829
AI uses: convert_article_ids(
ids=["10.1038/nature12373", "10.1126/science.1225829"],
from_type="auto"
)Build a Research Pipeline
User: Find diabetes review articles that are linked to HLA genes
AI uses: build_search_pipeline(
steps=[
{"operation": "search", "database": "pubmed",
"parameters": {"query": "diabetes[mh] AND review[pt]"}},
{"operation": "link", "database": "gene",
"parameters": {"from_db": "pubmed"}}
]
)Batch Processing
User: Get metadata for these 500 PMIDs for my literature review
AI uses: batch_fetch_articles(
pmids=["12345678", "23456789", ...], # 500 IDs
include_metadata=True,
include_abstract=True,
batch_size=100
)π Architecture
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β LLM / AI Agent Client β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β
MCP Protocol (Streamable HTTP)
β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β FastMCP Server (Python) β
β β
β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β
β β 16 MCP Tools β β
β β Search β Retrieval β Linking β ID Conversion β Advanced Ops β β
β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β
β β β
β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β
β β API Clients (with Rate Limiting) β β
β β E-Utilities β BioC API β ID Converter β Session Manager β β
β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β
HTTP/REST API Calls
β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
βΌ βΌ βΌ
βββββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββββββ
β NCBI E-Utilitiesβ β BioC APIs β β ID Converter β
β (34M+ articles) β β (29M+ articles) β β (200 IDs/batch) β
βββββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββββββπ Project Structure
pubmed-advanced-mcp/
βββ src/
β βββ __init__.py
β βββ server.py # FastMCP server with all 16 tools
β βββ config.py # Configuration management
β β
β βββ clients/ # API client modules
β β βββ base.py # Base HTTP client with rate limiting
β β βββ eutilities.py # NCBI E-Utilities client
β β βββ bioc_api.py # BioC text mining API
β β βββ id_converter.py # PMC ID Converter
β β βββ session_manager.py # Entrez History management
β β
β βββ tools/ # MCP Tool implementations
β β βββ search_tools.py # 5 search tools
β β βββ retrieval_tools.py # 4 retrieval tools
β β βββ linking_tools.py # 3 linking tools
β β βββ id_conversion_tools.py # 2 ID tools
β β βββ advanced_tools.py # 2 advanced tools
β β
β βββ schemas/ # Pydantic models
β β βββ tool_schemas.py # Input/output schemas
β β
β βββ utils/ # Utilities
β βββ rate_limiter.py # Token bucket rate limiter
β βββ query_builder.py # E-utilities query builder
β βββ error_handler.py # Custom exceptions
β
βββ docs/
β βββ implementation/ # Implementation documentation
β βββ *.md # Original requirements
β
βββ requirements.txt
βββ pyproject.toml
βββ .env.example
βββ README.mdβοΈ Configuration
Environment Variables
Variable | Description | Default |
| NCBI API key for higher rate limits | None (3 req/sec) |
| Tool identifier for NCBI |
|
| Contact email (required by NCBI) |
|
Rate Limits
Scenario | Rate Limit |
Without API Key | 3 requests/second |
With API Key | 10 requests/second |
Violation | IP blocked for 24+ hours |
π¬ Sample Prompts for LLMs
Here are example prompts you can use with Claude or other LLM clients:
Literature Review
"Find all systematic reviews about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy published in 2023-2024.
Include the abstracts and MeSH terms."Gene-Disease Research
"Search for articles about TP53 mutations in breast cancer. Then link these articles
to related gene records in NCBI Gene database."Author Analysis
"Find all publications by Jennifer Doudna in the last 5 years and summarize
her research focus areas."ID Conversion
"I have these DOIs from my reference manager. Convert them to PMIDs so I can
search for related articles: 10.1038/nature12373, 10.1126/science.1225829"Text Mining Pipeline
"Get the full text of PMC7611378 in BioC format. I need it for named entity
recognition to extract drug names and disease mentions."π§ͺ Testing
Run Tests
# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"
# Run all tests
pytest
# Run with verbose output
pytest -v
# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_search_tools.pyπ API Documentation
E-Utilities Query Syntax
The server supports full E-utilities query syntax:
# Basic search
cancer
# Field-specific search
cancer[ti] # Title
CRISPR[ab] # Abstract
"Zhang F"[au] # Author
Nature[ta] # Journal
# Boolean operators (MUST be uppercase)
cancer AND therapy
cancer OR tumor
cancer NOT lung
# Date ranges
cancer AND 2023[dp] # Year
cancer AND 2020:2024[dp] # Range
# MeSH terms
"Breast Neoplasms"[mh] # MeSH heading
"Neoplasms/therapy"[mh] # With qualifier
# Publication types
review[pt]
clinical trial[pt]π€ Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)Open a Pull Request
Acknowledgments
NCBI for providing the E-utilities and related APIs
FastMCP for the excellent MCP framework
The biomedical research community for their contributions to PubMed
Made with β€οΈ for the biomedical research community
Built by Suyash Ekhande
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