UniProt MCP Server

remote-capable server

The server can be hosted and run remotely because it primarily relies on remote services or has no dependency on the local environment.

UniProt MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to UniProt protein information. This server allows AI assistants to fetch protein function and sequence information directly from UniProt.

Features

  • Get protein information by UniProt accession number
  • Batch retrieval of multiple proteins
  • Caching for improved performance (24-hour TTL)
  • Error handling and logging
  • Information includes:
    • Protein name
    • Function description
    • Full sequence
    • Sequence length
    • Organism

Quick Start

  1. Ensure you have Python 3.10 or higher installed
  2. Clone this repository:
    git clone https://github.com/TakumiY235/uniprot-mcp-server.git cd uniprot-mcp-server
  3. Install dependencies:
    # Using uv (recommended) uv pip install -r requirements.txt # Or using pip pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{ "mcpServers": { "uniprot": { "command": "uv", "args": ["--directory", "path/to/uniprot-mcp-server", "run", "uniprot-mcp-server"] } } }

Usage Examples

After configuring the server in Claude Desktop, you can ask questions like:

Can you get the protein information for UniProt accession number P98160?

For batch queries:

Can you get and compare the protein information for both P04637 and P02747?

API Reference

Tools

  1. get_protein_info
    • Get information for a single protein
    • Required parameter: accession (UniProt accession number)
    • Example response:
      { "accession": "P12345", "protein_name": "Example protein", "function": ["Description of protein function"], "sequence": "MLTVX...", "length": 123, "organism": "Homo sapiens" }
  2. get_batch_protein_info
    • Get information for multiple proteins
    • Required parameter: accessions (array of UniProt accession numbers)
    • Returns an array of protein information objects

Development

Setting up development environment

  1. Clone the repository
  2. Create a virtual environment:
    python -m venv .venv source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
  3. Install development dependencies:
    pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running tests

pytest

Code style

This project uses:

  • Black for code formatting
  • isort for import sorting
  • flake8 for linting
  • mypy for type checking
  • bandit for security checks
  • safety for dependency vulnerability checks

Run all checks:

black . isort . flake8 . mypy . bandit -r src/ safety check

Technical Details

  • Built using the MCP Python SDK
  • Uses httpx for async HTTP requests
  • Implements caching with 24-hour TTL using an OrderedDict-based cache
  • Handles rate limiting and retries
  • Provides detailed error messages

Error Handling

The server handles various error scenarios:

  • Invalid accession numbers (404 responses)
  • API connection issues (network errors)
  • Rate limiting (429 responses)
  • Malformed responses (JSON parsing errors)
  • Cache management (TTL and size limits)

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. Here's how you can contribute:

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

Please make sure to update tests as appropriate and adhere to the existing coding style.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

  • UniProt for providing the protein data API
  • Anthropic for the Model Context Protocol specification
  • Contributors who help improve this project

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security – no known vulnerabilities
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license - permissive license
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quality - confirmed to work

Enables AI assistants to access protein information directly from UniProt, allowing retrieval of protein names, functions, sequences, and organism data by accession number.

  1. Features
    1. Quick Start
      1. Configuration
        1. Usage Examples
          1. API Reference
            1. Tools
            2. Development
              1. Setting up development environment
                1. Running tests
                  1. Code style
                  2. Technical Details
                    1. Error Handling
                    2. Contributing
                      1. License
                        1. Acknowledgments