@pipeworx/catalogueoflife

Catalogue of Life MCP — the global taxonomic index of known species (~2.2 M accepted names). Wraps the ChecklistBank API that backs COL. Keyless.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1394+ live data sources.

The default dataset is 3LR (the latest COL release). Pass dataset to override (e.g. 3 for the editorial-state COL dataset, or any ChecklistBank dataset key).

Tools

• search(query, dataset?, limit?, offset?, rank?, status?) — name-usage search

• name_match(scientific_name, dataset?, authorship?) — exact-name match (returns 0/1 hit + suggestions)

• usage(id, dataset?) — single name-usage by id

• taxon(id, dataset?) — taxon by id

• classification(id, dataset?) — taxonomic classification chain (kingdom → species)

• vernacular(id, dataset?) — vernacular (common) names for a taxon

• synonyms(id, dataset?) — synonyms of a taxon

• children(id, dataset?, limit?) — direct child taxa

Related MCP server: MCP FishBase Server

Data source

https://api.checklistbank.org/dataset/{key}/...

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "catalogueoflife": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/catalogueoflife/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway for access to all 1394+ data sources:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Catalogueoflife data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides

• pipeworx.io

License

MIT