PubCrawl
Provides tools for searching PubMed, retrieving abstracts and full text, finding related articles, generating formatted citations, and discovering trending papers, with filters for date, article type, and journal impact.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@PubCrawlSearch PubMed for recent clinical trials on semaglutide"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
PubCrawl
An MCP server that gives LLM clients access to PubMed, FDA drug labelling, UK medicines data, and ClinicalTrials.gov. A peer-reviewed pub crawl through the literature — the label — and the trial.
Built by PharmaTools.AI.
Tools
Literature
Tool | What it does |
| Search PubMed with filters for date range, article type, and sort order. Returns PMIDs, titles, authors, journals, and DOIs. |
| Get the full structured abstract for an article — broken into labeled sections (background, methods, results, conclusions) with keywords and MeSH terms. |
| Retrieve the full text of open-access articles from PubMed Central, with parsed sections, figure/table captions, and reference counts. |
| Find similar articles using PubMed's neighbor algorithm, ranked by relevance score. |
| Generate a formatted citation in APA, Vancouver, Harvard, or BibTeX style. |
| Find recent papers on a topic, with optional filtering to high-impact journals (Nature, Science, Cell, NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, etc.). |
Drug Labelling
Tool | What it does |
| Pull US Prescribing Information sections from DailyMed — indications, dosing, warnings, contraindications, and more. Parsed from FDA structured product labels. |
| Retrieve UK Summary of Product Characteristics from the eMC — the UK equivalent of US prescribing information, with numbered SmPC sections. |
| Side-by-side comparison of US (USPI) and UK (SmPC) labelling for the same drug. Spot regulatory differences in indications, warnings, and dosing. |
| Find drugs approved for a medical condition. Searches FDA labelling via OpenFDA, then cross-references UK availability on the eMC. |
Clinical Trials
Tool | What it does |
| Search ClinicalTrials.gov for clinical trials. Filter by condition, intervention, recruitment status, and phase. Returns NCT IDs, sponsors, enrollment, and links. |
| Get full details for a clinical trial by NCT ID — eligibility criteria, study design, arms, primary/secondary outcomes, locations, and associated PubMed IDs. |
Setup
Prerequisites
Node.js 20+
An MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)
Install via npm
npm install -g @pharmatools/pubcrawlConfigure Claude Desktop
Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubcrawl": {
"command": "pubcrawl"
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop. PubCrawl will appear under + → Connectors.
Install from source
git clone https://github.com/nickjlamb/pubcrawl.git
cd pubcrawl
npm install
npm run buildThen point the config at the built file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubcrawl": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/pubcrawl/dist/index.js"]
}
}
}NCBI API key (optional)
Without an API key, requests are rate-limited to 3/second. With one, you get 10/second.
Create a free NCBI account at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/
Go to Account Settings → API Key Management
Add the key to your config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubcrawl": {
"command": "pubcrawl",
"env": {
"NCBI_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
}
}
}
}Example prompts
Once connected, just ask naturally:
"Search PubMed for recent clinical trials on semaglutide"
"Get the abstract for PMID 38127654"
"Find papers related to this one and format citations in APA"
"What are the trending papers on CRISPR gene therapy this month?"
"Get the full text of that paper from PMC"
"Get the FDA prescribing information for metformin — just the indications and warnings"
"Pull the UK SmPC for atorvastatin"
"Compare US and UK labelling for lisinopril"
"What drugs are approved for type 2 diabetes?"
"Find recruiting Phase 3 trials for pembrolizumab in breast cancer"
"Get details on clinical trial NCT03086486"
Development
npm run dev # TypeScript watch mode
npm run build # Compile to dist/
npm start # Run the serverLicense
MIT
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Maintenance
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