BioMCP-TS

io.github.yeyuan98Published by GitHub account yeyuan98v1.4.3Updated Oct 24, 2026

Biomedical MCP server: genes, variants, trials, literature, patents, optional SQL/R/biowasm tools.

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyDatabasesKnowledge & MemoryData & Analytics

Overview

AI-generated overview

Biomedical MCP server that lets an assistant search genes, variants, drugs, diseases, trials, literature, patents and omics archives, with optional SQL and…

What you can do
  • Search and resolve genes, variants, drugs and diseases, including enrichment, OncoKB annotations and cross-entity concept lookup
  • Find clinical trials by condition, intervention, status or phase, and pull eligibility, locations and outcomes
  • Search literature across PubMed, EuropePMC, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, PubTator and LitSense, fetch full text and citation graphs, and check journal metrics
  • Search patents worldwide and retrieve claims, citations and families
  • Query GEO, SRA, GenBank, GTEx expression and eQTLs, Ensembl lookups, homology, VEP consequences and PDB structures
  • Optionally run read-only SQL queries, Bioconductor differential expression in WebAssembly R, and…
When to use it
Useful when an assistant needs to answer biomedical or drug-discovery questions from primary sources: gene and variant annotation, target-to-drug or disease-to-trial lookups, literature and patent prior-art review, or expression and sequencing data exploration. The optional analysis and database toolboxes are worth enabling only if you need local differential expression or BAM/VCF/BED work.
Requirements
Runs locally over stdio via npx and needs Node.js 22.13 or newer. No authentication is required for the core tools. Optional keys raise rate limits or unlock features: NCBI_API_KEY, OPENFDA_API_KEY, S2_API_KEY, DISGENET_API_KEY and ONCOKB_TOKEN. Optional features are gated by ANALYSIS_R, ANALYSIS_BIOWASM and DB_TYPE, and R and MySQL need extra peer packages; first use of the analysis toolboxes downloads cached WebAssembly assets.
Before you install
Several tools send queries to third-party services (NCBI, Europe PMC, OpenTargets, EPO, OpenAlex and others), so research topics leave your machine. Optional keys and the OncoKB token are read from environment variables or a project config file written by the configure tool. The R toolbox starts a roughly 1 GB WebAssembly worker and downloads packages; the database tools are read-only but still connect to your MySQL or SQLite data. Multiple instances do not share rate limits, so arXiv and…

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open BioMCP-TS in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

BioMCP

[npm version] [downloads/mo] [downloads YTD] [commits/30d] [software DOI]

[BioMCP-TS architecture]

Highlights

Democratizing agentic access to bioinformatics and biopharmaceutical databases and analyses.

  • Section-based federated access to 50+ bioinformatics, pharmaceutical, and patent databases
  • Optional toolboxes for local database curation and dependency-free analysis with Bioconductor and SAM/BED/BCFtools — no R installation, C toolchain, or containers
  • Concrete example vignettes, developed fully in the open

Install

bash
npx -y biomcp doctor   # diagnose a machine: Node gate, config health, feature gates, peer depsnpx biomcp             # zero-config stdio MCP server (this is what MCP clients run); Node >= 22.13

Setup is guided in docs/AGENT-INSTALL.md — a one-minute start, copy-paste config entries for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode (one canonical pinned command covering every feature), biomcp doctor as the single troubleshooting entry point, and agent-friendly paths for API keys and optional features.

Multiple agents on one machine: biomcp enforces arXiv's Terms-of-Use rate limit (1 request / 3 s) per process. When running multiple biomcp MCP instances on one machine (e.g., one stdio instance per agent), rate limits are not coordinated across processes, and arXiv's TOU applies to all your machines in aggregate. For multi-agent single-machine deployments, run a single shared biomcp serve daemon (see docs/SELF-HOSTING.md) so all agents share one process and one global rate limiter.

Available Tools

Full tool schemas (params, enums, defaults) live in src/server/README.md.

Gene (7)

ToolDescription
gene_searchSearch genes by symbol, name, or keyword with chromosome filter
gene_getGet detailed gene info by HGNC symbol with optional sections (core, pathways, protein, ontology, go, interactions, expression, protein_atlas, constraint, druggability, dosage_sensitivity, clinical_evidence, disease_associations, diseases, funding). Set smart=true to auto-resolve gene aliases (e.g., "HER2" → "ERBB2")
gene_diseasesGet diseases associated with a gene (DisGeNET / OpenTargets)
gene_drugsFind drugs targeting a gene (OpenTargets; envelope { results, warnings?, errors? } — OpenTargets failures and unresolved genes ride in errors[], never as inline rows)
gene_trialsFind clinical trials for a gene
gene_articlesFind articles about a gene (federated across PubMed, EuropePMC, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, PubTator, LitSense; envelope { results, warnings?, errors? } — per-backend failures ride in errors)
gene_enrichPathway enrichment analysis for a gene list (Reactome)

Variant (4)

ToolDescription
variant_searchSearch variants by rsid, HGVS, gene, ClinVar significance, frequency, CADD
variant_getGet detailed variant info with optional sections (frequency, predictions, clinical; alphagenome_scores currently returns an unavailability error pending reimplementation)
variant_oncokbGet OncoKB cancer variant annotations (requires ONCOKB_TOKEN)
variant_trialsFind clinical trials for a variant

Drug (3)

ToolDescription
drug_searchSearch drugs by name, mechanism, or keyword (envelope { results, hint? } — when nothing matches, hint points mechanism/target queries at gene_drugs)
drug_getGet detailed drug info with optional sections (us_regulatory, who_regulatory, safety, targets, indications, adverse_events — FDA FAERS reactions ranked by report count; WHO PQ listing lookup, ~650 global-health priority products)
drug_trialsFind clinical trials for a drug

Disease (4)

ToolDescription
disease_searchSearch diseases by name, phenotype, or keyword (envelope { results, warnings?, errors? })
disease_getGet detailed disease info by ID (DOID, MONDO, OMIM, etc.) with optional sections (gene_associations, phenotypes, pathways)
disease_drugsGet drugs for a disease (OpenTargets; envelope { results, warnings?, errors? } — OpenTargets failures and unresolved diseases ride in errors[], never as inline rows)
disease_trialsGet clinical trials for a disease (ClinicalTrials.gov; envelope { results, warnings?, errors? })

Article (4)

ToolDescription
article_searchFederated literature search across PubMed, EuropePMC, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, PubTator, and LitSense with optional date range filtering; source: "preprint_only" switches to bioRxiv+medRxiv preprints only (abstracts, citation counts, date filtering). Result records carry journal_issn
article_getGet detailed article info by identifier (PMID, PMCID, DOI, or bioRxiv/medRxiv preprint DOI) with optional sections: fulltext (the complete article text when freely readable in PMC/Europe PMC — open-access AND free-to-read articles; by default (fulltext_output="file") written to a server-side markdown file with the reply carrying file_path + an outline of headings with line numbers and char counts for selective Read/Grep, keeping body text out of the agent context; fulltext_output="inline" returns capped text sections via fulltext_max_chars, default 40000), oa (open-access/license metadata and links: status open_access/free_to_read/paywalled/not_in_pmc/unknown, license, pmc/pdf/doi links), annotations, graph (citation graph), citation (fast/full citation data; Europe PMC citations for preprints). all excludes fulltext. Preprint records include all versions, license, category, funders, JATS full-text URL (link only — use preprint_fulltext for the text), and published-version mapping. The record carries journal_issn
preprint_fulltextOn-demand bioRxiv/medRxiv preprint full text (JATS XML parsed to sections), by preprint DOI with optional version (default: latest). Strictly on-demand (never during search), downloads are paced (≥3 s spacing), cached per (doi, version) — JATS per version is immutable — and license-aware (cc_by → cc by + CC URL on every reply; the per-article license governs reuse). www.biorxiv.org rate-limits aggressively: on a 429/Cloudflare verdict all downloads pause ≥60 s (Retry-After honored) and calls during the cooldown get an honest rate_limited envelope with retry_after_sec; cached copies keep serving instantly. output="file" (default) writes a server-side markdown file (file_path + outline); output="inline" returns capped sections (fulltext_max_chars). Corpus-scale: use the bioRxiv/medRxiv monthly S3 buckets (https://www.biorxiv.org/tdm)
journal_metricsOpenAlex journal quality metrics (2yr mean citedness — an open-access impact-factor alternative), h-index, quality lists; by name, NLM abbreviation, or ISSN

Trial (2)

ToolDescription
trial_searchSearch clinical trials by condition, intervention, status, or phase. Cursor-based pagination via page_token
trial_getGet detailed trial info by NCT ID with optional sections (eligibility, locations, outcomes)

Utility (2)

ToolDescription
discoverFree-text concept resolution across all entity types
batch_getRetrieve multiple entities in parallel

Structural Biology (1)

ToolDescription
pdbSearch PDB structures, get entry metadata with optional sections (polymer entities, ligands, assembly, experiment, citation), and download structure files (mmCIF/PDB)

Patents (2)

ToolDescription
patent_searchSearch patents worldwide (US, EP, WO, JP, 100+ authorities) with assignee/inventor/CPC/status/date filters and relevance ranking (sort_by). Quote exact multi-word concepts (e.g. "flow cytometry"). Foundational prior art is auto-discovered via co-citation mining (seminal_prior_art; disable with seminal: false). Default backends: USPTO Public Search full-text (US, keyless, relevance-ranked) + EPO OPS (worldwide, keyed); uspto_odp (US bibliographic metadata) and google_patents (best-effort) available via source
patent_getGet patent details by publication number with sections: abstract, claims (US fulltext via USPTO Public Search; EP/WO via EPO OPS when configured, otherwise Google Patents pages), citations (forward + backward), family, classifications

GEO (2)

ToolDescription
geo_searchSearch NCBI GEO for functional genomics studies (expression microarrays, RNA-seq, single-cell series) by entry type (GSE/GSM/GPL/GDS) and organism; results carry cross-links (bioproject, pubmed_ids; sra_project when NCBI links the SRA study — otherwise geo_get's sra field) for chaining
geo_getGet the full SOFT record for a GEO series/sample/platform: summary, organisms, sample preview (≤20), supplementary file URLs, and cross-references; optionally download the first supplementary file. GDS curated DataSets return structured guidance ({ accession, guidance, see_also: { series, sample } }) pointing at the underlying GSE/GSM instead of a record

SRA (2)

ToolDescription
sra_searchSearch NCBI's Sequence Read Archive for sequencing experiments and runs by free text, accession, or field syntax; returns experiment/study/sample accessions with library strategy and run counts
sra_getGet full details for an SRA accession: run (SRR/ERR/DRR — instrument, spots, bases, size), experiment (SRX/ERX/DRX — library design), study (SRP/ERP/DRP — experiment list), or sample (SRS/ERS/DRS); NCBI SRA indexes NCBI, ENA, and DDBJ accessions alike

GenBank (3)

ToolDescription
genbank_searchSearch NCBI nucleotide records (GenBank/RefSeq/INSDC) by plain terms, accession, or field syntax; results include accession.version, definition, length, organism, topology
genbank_getFetch a GenBank/RefSeq record as GenBank flat file or FASTA; whole records capped at 2 Mb — larger records require a seq_start/seq_stop region (up to 10 Mb, reverse-strand via strand=2)
genbank_genesMap a GenBank/RefSeq accession to its NCBI Gene IDs (elink nuccore→gene) for bridging into gene tools

GTEx (2)

ToolDescription
gtex_expressionGet median gene expression across GTEx tissues (Analysis v10, 54 tissue sites, TPM, highest first); accepts HGNC symbol or Ensembl gene ID, with optional single-tissue filter
gtex_eqtlGet significant cis-eQTL associations for a gene in a specific GTEx tissue (v10): variant_id, p_value, NES, slope, sorted by ascending p-value

Ensembl (4)

ToolDescription
ensembl_lookupResolve a gene in Ensembl terms for any of ~356 species: stable ID (+version), symbol, coordinates on the current assembly, canonical transcript; expand=true adds transcripts with translation/protein IDs
ensembl_homologyFind orthologues/paralogues across species via Ensembl Compara — target stable IDs, taxonomy level, percent identity, sorted by identity; filter with target_species/target_taxon
ensembl_consequenceCompute variant consequences on demand via Ensembl VEP for NOVEL variants and non-human species: most severe consequence, per-transcript effects (SIFT/PolyPhen), co-located ClinVar/COSMIC/gnomAD data. Known human variants get deeper pre-computed scores via variant_get; prefer HGVS input over rsIDs for precision
ensembl_regionQuery genes/transcripts/known variants in a genomic interval (chr:start-end) on the current assembly — locus triage

R Analysis (4, optional — ANALYSIS_R=1)

ToolDescription
analysis_r_deseq2Differential expression for RNA-seq counts with Bioconductor DESeq2 (negative binomial, independent filtering, optional LFC shrinkage) in sandboxed WebAssembly R. Inputs: integer count matrix + sample metadata + design formula; output: markdown table of top genes by adjusted p-value with summary (format="json", include_full=true for full base64(gzip(TSV)) table)
analysis_r_edgerDifferential expression with edgeR — TMM normalization, empirical-Bayes dispersion, quasi-likelihood F-test (test="qlm") or 2-group exact test; same input/output contract
analysis_r_limmaDifferential expression with limma-voom — precision-weighted linear models with empirical-Bayes moderation; same input/output contract
analysis_r_session_infoR runtime report: R/webR versions, installed package versions, memory, mirror endpoint — for diagnosing analysis issues

First use starts a ~1 GB WebAssembly R worker and downloads the wasm package bundle (~62 MB) from GitHub releases (cached). Requires webr installed next to biomcp. Guide: docs/R-ANALYSIS.md.

Biowasm Analysis (8, optional — ANALYSIS_BIOWASM=1)

ToolDescription
analysis_bam_summaryInspect an alignment (SAM/BAM/CRAM): header contigs, sample/read groups, flagstat mapping metrics, per-contig counts via idxstats when indexed — "what's in this BAM?" before region work
analysis_bam_view_regionReads, depth, pileup, or read extraction in a genomic region (samtools view/depth/mpileup); indexed sources use fast positional retrieval, indexless sources stream a BED filter (depth requires coordinate-sorted input and detects order violations), returning counts, coverage tables, SAM rows, or a BAM artifact
analysis_bcf_summaryInspect a VCF/BCF: contigs, sample count and names, INFO/FORMAT field inventory from the header
analysis_bcf_view_regionVariants in a region as a narrow field projection (bcftools query): chosen columns, sample subsets, expression filters, variant types — or a sliced VCF.gz artifact
analysis_bed_opInterval algebra on BED tracks (bedtools intersect/merge/subtract/coverage/jaccard/sort) with the streaming -sorted algorithm for sorted inputs
analysis_biowasm_convertFormat plumbing: SAM/BAM/CRAM via samtools view, VCF/BCF via bcftools view, VCF/BCF → TSV via bcftools query; results are artifact handles reusable as artifact_id
analysis_biowasm_session_infoBiowasm runtime report: pinned tool versions, asset cache state, engine status, retained artifacts, memory
analysis_biowasm_cliConstrained escape hatch: an allowlisted samtools/bedtools/bcftools subcommand with schema-validated args (no shell, paths under /shared only)

First use downloads checksum-verified wasm assets (~4.5 MB, cached); no extra npm packages. Indexed sources answer region queries with fast positional retrieval (~0.2 % of file read); indexless sources fall back to streaming BED filters. Guide: docs/BIOWASM-ANALYSIS.md.

Citation Module

Citations federate 5 providers in fast (~4s) or full (~15-30s) mode. Forward citation lists come from Europe PMC, OpenCitations, and Semantic Scholar; Crossref supplies counts and backward references. Provider matrix and schema details: src/server/README.md.

Optional Features

Capabilities that ship with the package but stay inactive until enabled. Each links to its own guide:

FeatureEnableGuide
Database access — read-only SQL tools (db_query, db_list_tables, db_describe_table) for MySQL and local-file SQLiteSet DB_TYPE (+ connection env vars); MySQL needs the mysql2 peer dep — use the pinned one-shot client command (see docs/DATABASE.md)docs/DATABASE.md
R analysis — Bioconductor differential expression (analysis_r_deseq2, analysis_r_edger, analysis_r_limma, analysis_r_session_info) running DESeq2/edgeR/limma in sandboxed WebAssembly R; wasm packages download from GitHub releases at first use (~62 MB, cached; slow links: asset_timeout_ms or a self-fetched mirror_url)Set ANALYSIS_R=1; needs the webr peer dep — use the pinned one-shot client command ["npx","-y","-p","[email protected]","-p","[email protected]","biomcp"] (all-features variant adds -p mysql2@3); expect ~1 GB RSSdocs/R-ANALYSIS.md
Biowasm analysis — samtools/bedtools/bcftools (BAM/BED/VCF) in sandboxed WebAssembly; streams/indexes real human-scale datasets (~300 MB BAM scans, region queries touch ~0.2 % of the file); assets ~4.5 MB cached at first use; no extra npm packagesSet ANALYSIS_BIOWASM=1docs/BIOWASM-ANALYSIS.md

Instead of hand-editing env blocks, agents (and users) can self-serve through the always-available biomcp_configure tool: it reports every parameter's status/provenance, writes the .biomcp.json project config file for the optional features above (env vars keep precedence; env-only parameters are query-only and value-masked), validates changes, detects conflicts, checks peer-dependency prerequisites, and spells out the restart/verify steps. Details: docs/ENV-VARS.md → Project config file.

Documentation

DocContents
docs/AGENT-INSTALL.mdGuided installation & client configuration (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode)
docs/ENV-VARS.mdSingle source of truth for every environment variable
docs/DATABASE.mdDatabase access feature guide
docs/R-ANALYSIS.mdR analysis feature guide (Bioconductor in WebAssembly)
docs/BIOWASM-ANALYSIS.mdBiowasm analysis feature guide (samtools/bedtools/bcftools in WebAssembly)
docs/DEVELOPMENT.mdBuild, test, publish workflow
docs/development/CI.mdCI pipeline, Dependabot automation, auto-merge safety model
src/server/README.mdFull tool schemas (params, enums, defaults)
agent-test/README.mdUser-agent E2E tests for the analysis tools

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See NOTICE for attributions.

BioMCP-TS is adapted from the upstream BioMCP Rust project (MIT) with an agent-first development approach and enhancements — kudos to the original authors.

Source: README.md at commit 6195da8

Tools

0
SourceWeft has not started this package in its sandbox yet, so its tools are not known.

Version history

1
  1. v1.4.3LatestSep 16, 2026

Score

50% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

  • Reached in the last 30 days25 pts

    Keep the endpoint answering the MCP handshake; SourceWeft probes it every 30 days.

  • Auth declared10 pts

    Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.

  • Tools listed15 pts

    Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.

  • DescriptionRequired15 pts
  • Logo10 pts
  • Documentation15 pts
  • License10 pts