PubTator MCP Server

🔍 A biomedical literature annotation and relationship mining server based on PubTator3, providing convenient access through the MCP interface.

PubTator MCP Server provides AI assistants with access to the PubTator3 biomedical literature annotation system through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It allows AI models to programmatically search scientific literature, obtain annotation information, and analyze entity relationships.

🤝 Contribute • 📝 Report Issues

✨ Core Features

• 🔎 Literature Annotation Export: Support exporting PubTator annotation results in multiple formats ✅
• 🚀 Entity ID Lookup: Query standard identifiers for biological concepts through free text ✅
• 📊 Relationship Mining: Discover biomedical relationships between entities ✅
• 📄 Literature Search: Support literature retrieval by keywords and entity IDs ✅
• 🧠 Batch Processing: Support batch export of annotation information from search results ✅

🚀 Quick Start

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• FastMCP library

Installation

Via Smithery

Use Smithery to automatically install PubTator Server:

Claude

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @JackKuo666/pubtator-mcp-server --client claude --config "{}"

Cursor

Paste in Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new server:

• Mac/Linux

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest run @JackKuo666/pubtator-mcp-server --client cursor --config "{}" 

Windsurf

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @JackKuo666/pubtator-mcp-server --client windsurf --config "{}"

CLine

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @JackKuo666/pubtator-mcp-server --client cline --config "{}"

Manual Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/JackKuo666/PubTator-MCP-Server.git
   cd PubTator-MCP-Server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

📊 Usage

Running the Server Directly

Start the MCP server:

python pubtator_server.py

The server now supports both stdio and TCP transports. By default, it uses TCP transport. You can configure the following environment variables:

• MCP_TRANSPORT: Set to "tcp" for TCP transport or "stdio" for stdio transport (default is "tcp")
• MCP_HOST: The host to bind to (default is "0.0.0.0")
• MCP_PORT: The port to listen on (default is 8080)

Example of starting the server with custom settings:

MCP_TRANSPORT=tcp MCP_HOST=127.0.0.1 MCP_PORT=8888 python pubtator_server.py

The server implements lazy initialization and proper error handling. It will gracefully handle shutdown signals (SIGINT and SIGTERM) and log any errors that occur during startup or operation.

Using Docker

We provide a Dockerfile for easy deployment. To use the Docker container:

1. Build the Docker image:

   docker build -t pubtator-mcp-server .
   

2. Run the Docker container:

   docker run -p 8080:8080 pubtator-mcp-server
   

This will start the PubTator MCP server inside a Docker container, exposing it on port 8080.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues starting the server:

1. Check the console output for error messages.
2. Ensure all required dependencies are installed (see Requirements section).
3. Verify that the environment variables are set correctly.
4. If the server fails to start, try running it with increased verbosity:

python -v pubtator_server.py

This will provide more detailed logging information to help identify the source of any issues.

When using Docker, you can check the logs with:

docker logs <container_id>

Configuration

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

(Mac OS)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pubtator": 

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/JackKuo666/PubTator-MCP-Server#readme)