CLI and Python SDK for biomedical literature search with MeSH, PICO, and intelligent query expansion
Connect Pubmed to Claude, Cursor or any other MCP client and it stops being a tab you switch to. CLI and Python SDK for biomedical literature search with MeSH, PICO, and intelligent query expansion. The pubmed mcp server is what makes that connection.
CLI and Python SDK for biomedical literature search, query analysis, citation export, full-text lookup, and multi-source academic enrichment.
The toolset is worth reading before you wire it up, because it tells you what the integration is really for:
search — Search biomedical literature across PubMed and optional academic sourcesstrategy — Generate MeSH expansion and search strategy materialsanalyze-query — Analyze intent, complexity, identifiers, PICO, and source recommendations without running a searchdetails — Fetch detailed metadata for one or more PMIDsexport — Export citations as BibTeX, RIS, CSV, MEDLINE, CSL JSON, or JSONfulltext — Locate full-text access through available source resolverstext-mined — Retrieve text-mined biomedical terms when source data is availablerelated — Find related articles for a PMIDmetrics — Fetch citation metrics where supportedtimeline — Build research timeline summaries from a query or PMID setcite-tree — Explore citation/reference relationships around a root PMIDpico — Parse a clinical question into PICO-style componentspubmed-search on PyPI is all you need. Most clients run it directly, so configuration is a few lines and a restart.
Configuration is passed through the environment: NCBI_EMAIL, NCBI_API_KEY. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.
Among the developer tooling options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Pubmed's toolset — search, strategy, analyze-query and 9 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow.
SyncDev reviews every entry in this directory against the project's own documentation before publishing, and revisits them as servers change.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| search | Search biomedical literature across PubMed and optional academic sources. |
| strategy | Generate MeSH expansion and search strategy materials. |
| analyze-query | Analyze intent, complexity, identifiers, PICO, and source recommendations without running a search. |
| details | Fetch detailed metadata for one or more PMIDs. |
| export | Export citations as BibTeX, RIS, CSV, MEDLINE, CSL JSON, or JSON. |
| fulltext | Locate full-text access through available source resolvers. |
| text-mined | Retrieve text-mined biomedical terms when source data is available. |
| related | Find related articles for a PMID. |
| metrics | Fetch citation metrics where supported. |
| timeline | Build research timeline summaries from a query or PMID set. |
| cite-tree | Explore citation/reference relationships around a root PMID. |
| pico | Parse a clinical question into PICO-style components. |
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubmed-search-1": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["pubmed-search"],
"env": {
"NCBI_EMAIL": "your-value",
"NCBI_API_KEY": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| NCBI_EMAIL | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
| NCBI_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
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