Does PubMed have an MCP server?
PubMed does not maintain an official MCP server. Community-built servers exist.
The PubMed connector in Claude's directory (pubmed.mcp.claude.com) is built and hosted by Anthropic, not by NLM/NCBI.
- Access
- Local server
- Repository
- cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server
- Maintainer
- Casey Hand
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 152
- Last commit
- 2d ago
- Category
- Biology, Medicine and Bioinformatics
Search PubMed/Europe PMC, fetch articles and full text (PMC/EPMC/Unpaywall), citations, MeSH terms via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.
Project site: www.npmjs.com
Search PubMed/Europe PMC, fetch articles and full text (PMC/EPMC/Unpaywall), citations, MeSH terms via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.
Runs on your machine over stdio, launched by your MCP client.
Add it from the terminal, then restart your session:
claude mcp add pubmed -- npx -y <package-from-readme>Swap in the exact package and flags from the repo README — most servers need an API key passed as an environment variable.
Add --scope user to make it available in every project.
Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add the server to claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubmed": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"<package-from-readme>"
],
"env": {
"API_KEY": "…"
}
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop after saving.
Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for
every project:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubmed": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"<package-from-readme>"
],
"env": {
"API_KEY": "…"
}
}
}
}A green dot in Settings → MCP means it connected.
Add to .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"pubmed": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"<package-from-readme>"
]
}
}
}Then pick the server from the tools menu in Copilot's agent mode.
A community server is unaudited third-party code that will hold your PubMed API credentials and see whatever data they unlock. Independent research puts SSRF vulnerabilities in roughly a third of public MCP servers, and 41% ship with no authentication at all.
- Read the source before running it — especially any network calls it makes.
- Check who maintains it and whether commits are recent (this one: 2d ago).
- Issue a scoped, revocable API key rather than an account-wide token.
- Prefer read-only credentials until you trust it with writes.
Does PubMed have an official MCP server?
No. PubMed does not maintain one. Third-party developers have built community servers, the most established being cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server, but they are not endorsed or supported by PubMed.
How do I connect PubMed to Claude?
Run the server locally and register it in Claude's MCP config. In Claude Code that's a single "claude mcp add" command; in Claude Desktop you add it to claude_desktop_config.json.
Is it safe to use a community PubMed MCP server?
Treat it like any dependency that gets your API keys. Community MCP servers are unaudited third-party code: independent research has found roughly a third of public MCP servers carry SSRF vulnerabilities and 41% ship with no authentication. Read the source, check the maintainer and commit recency, and scope the credentials you hand it.
How is this verdict verified?
NLM/NCBI publish no MCP server: nothing on ncbi.nlm.nih.gov or in the ncbi GitHub org, and no NIH namespace in the MCP Registry. Top dedicated server: cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server (~150 stars, released this week, in the MCP Registry), chosen over andybrandt/mcp-simple-pubmed (~170 stars, last commit March 2026). GitHub metadata is refreshed every six hours.
NLM/NCBI publish no MCP server: nothing on ncbi.nlm.nih.gov or in the ncbi GitHub org, and no NIH namespace in the MCP Registry. Top dedicated server: cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server (~150 stars, released this week, in the MCP Registry), chosen over andybrandt/mcp-simple-pubmed (~170 stars, last commit March 2026).
- github data refreshed 2026-09-29, then every 6 hours
- vendor docs verified on 2026-09-29
Work at PubMed? The moment you ship an official server this page flips to Official — send us the link.