PubMed MCP server for Claude, Codex and Cursor

What your AI apps can do with PubMed

Search articles and citations
Read metadata and full text where available

PubMed MCP tools

7 tools, listed by Toolstile from the server itself on 29 October 2026. The server decides what it offers and can add or rename tools at any time; after you connect, Toolstile shows the current list.

Tool	What it does	Suggested rule
`search_articles`	Search PubMed for biomedical and life sciences research articles matching a given query.	Allow (read-only)
`get_article_metadata`	Retrieve detailed article metadata from PubMed.	Allow (read-only)
`find_related_articles`	Find related articles and resources in PubMed.	Allow (read-only)
`lookup_article_by_citation`	Lookup articles by citation details in PubMed.	Allow (read-only)
`convert_article_ids`	Convert between various ID formats, including PMID, PMCID, and DOI.	Allow (read-only)
`get_full_text_article`	Retrieve full-text articles from PubMed Central (PMC).	Allow (read-only)
`get_copyright_status`	Get copyright information for articles in PubMed.	Allow (read-only)

Suggested access for each AI app

7 tools marked read-only (search_articles, get_article_metadata, find_related_articles, lookup_article_by_citation, convert_article_ids, get_full_text_article, …). These are usually safe to allow.

These are hints the server reports about its own tools, not guarantees.

Coding agent in Claude Code or Cursor. Allow the read tools so the agent can look things up without stopping, and require approval for tools that change shared data.

Chat or research app in Claude Desktop. Allow reading and searching. Allow writes only where you want the app to act for you.

Unattended agent, such as a scheduled Codex job. No one is watching the session, so keep it narrow: allow what the job needs, require approval for changes and block the rest.

Blocked tools are removed from the tool list an app sees, so it won't try them. Because rules apply per app, the same PubMed connection can be broad in one app and read-only in another, and the credential stays in Toolstile instead of each app's config file.

How it works with Toolstile

Connect once. Add PubMed to a workspace (no sign-in). Toolstile keeps the credential, so no agent config holds it.
Choose access per app. Give Claude Code every PubMed tool, give Cursor only the read tools, or keep PubMed away from an app entirely.
Share approved accounts. Teammates use the connection without copying tokens, and you can remove access in one place.
Review activity. See which app called which tool and when, so you can tighten access with evidence.

Add the PubMed MCP server to an AI app

Through Toolstile, every AI app uses one gateway entry, whichever servers you connect. In Claude Code:

Shell

claude mcp add --transport http toolstile 'https://mcp.toolstile.com/mcp'

Then connect PubMed in your workspace and choose which of its tools that app may use. Client setup covers Codex, Cursor and Claude Desktop.

To connect directly instead, add the Anthropic endpoint to each app separately. In Claude Code:

Shell

claude mcp add --transport http pubmed 'https://pubmed.mcp.claude.com/mcp'

In Cursor's mcp.json:

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pubmed": {
      "url": "https://pubmed.mcp.claude.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Some servers accept only clients they have approved, or need a token header. Check the Anthropic MCP documentation for what your client needs.

Before you connect

No account needed. Searches public NCBI PubMed data.

Server details

Detail	Value
Publisher	Anthropic
Endpoint	`https://pubmed.mcp.claude.com/mcp`
Authentication	No sign-in
Categories	Marketing & research
Tool list	7 tools, observed 29 October 2026 (discovery)

Anthropic MCP documentation