Search PubMed, read abstracts and summaries, and find similar articles in NCBI PubMed. Hosted by usefulapi: connect it to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client.
Turn on the NCBI PubMed connector, then ask in plain words. The AI picks the tools.
For researchers, clinicians and librarians who search biomedical literature in PubMed.
Run a PubMed search with the same syntax as the search box, then read the titles, authors, journal and dates of the hits.
Fetch the citation and abstract of up to 20 PMIDs. Keep the PMID and journal of each article for citing.
List the similar articles of one PMID, then read their titles and dates.
Search with a date range and read the total hit count, for example the records on one drug in one year.
Read PubMed's record count, last update time and the field codes, such as TIAB or AU, that the search accepts.
The login page asks for your NCBI API key.
Create the key in your NCBI account: Settings → API Key Management. It is used only to call NCBI on your behalf; it is never shown to anyone, and it sets your own request limit (10 requests per second).
Team and Enterprise: an Owner adds the connector for the organization first.
No Add custom MCP server option? It depends on your account or workspace settings: see OpenAI's guide.
Run this command, then run /mcp in Claude Code to log in:
Add to Cursor or add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pubmed-ncbi-e-utilities": {
"url": "https://pubmed-ncbi-e-utilities.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
} Add to VS Code or add this to .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"pubmed-ncbi-e-utilities": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://pubmed-ncbi-e-utilities.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
} Run these commands. The second one opens the login page:
Windsurf, Cline, Zed and other MCP clients: add this URL as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP). The client then opens the login page in your browser.
Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your NCBI API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
| Plan | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 tool calls / month |
| Proper user | $9/mo · $90/yr | Unlimited* |
*Pro fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month on this server. For more, write to [email protected].
Pro covers this NCBI PubMed server only. Subscribe with pubmed_upgrade (it returns a Stripe Checkout link). Cancel any time with pubmed_cancel_subscription: Pro continues to the end of the paid period, with no refund for the current period, and running pubmed_upgrade before then undoes the cancel. Or write to [email protected].
pubmed_searchpubmed_summarypubmed_fetch_abstractspubmed_relatedpubmed_database_infopubmed_usage_statuspubmed_request_featurepubmed_upgradepubmed_cancel_subscriptionSearch recent articles on a topic. Build a reference list with abstracts. Find articles similar to a paper. Count publications on a topic. Find the right search field codes. See what you can do for the details.
No. usefulapi is an independent service. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by NCBI PubMed. The server calls the NCBI PubMed API with your own NCBI PubMed access, so it sees only the data that your account can see.
Yes. In Claude, add this server's URL as a custom connector. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP server in Plugins. Then log in once. Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code and Codex work too. See the setup steps.
The login page asks for your NCBI API key. See Before you connect for where to find it.
No. Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your NCBI API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
The login stores them encrypted in the authorization grant of your connection. The server uses them to call the NCBI PubMed API for you and to derive a private account id for usage metering. usefulapi does not show them on any page or in any reply. To stop all access, remove the connector and change or delete these credentials in NCBI PubMed.
All 5 NCBI PubMed tools are marked read-only.
The Free plan gives 50 tool calls / month. Pro costs $9/mo or $90/yr, with unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month), for this NCBI PubMed server only. Cancel any time: Pro then runs to the end of the paid period. Run pubmed_usage_status to see how many calls you used.
Ask the AI to run pubmed_upgrade: it returns a Stripe Checkout link. To cancel, run pubmed_cancel_subscription. Pro continues to the end of the paid period.
Tell the AI what you wanted to do. It can send the request with pubmed_request_feature. We store the text with the server name, the type of AI client and the tool you tried, not with your account, and read every request when we plan new tools. You can send up to 5 requests per day.
Any client that supports remote MCP servers (Streamable HTTP) with OAuth login: Claude (web and desktop), Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and others.
This is a Model Context Protocol endpoint — meant to be connected from an AI client, not opened in a browser. An invalid_token response at the URL is the auth gate working as designed; clients authenticate automatically.
Need a tool this server does not have, or a connection to another system? We build custom integrations and MCP servers.