`esearch`

Pack: ncbi-eutils · Endpoint: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ncbi-eutils/mcp

Search an Entrez database (e.g. pubmed, gene, nucleotide) by query term and return a list of matching UIDs (up to 10,000) with hit count. Supports pagination via retstart and sort (e.g. pub_date).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`db`	string	yes
`term`	string	yes
`retmax`	number	no	1-10000 (default 20)
`retstart`	number	no
`sort`	string	no	e.g. “pub_date” (PubMed), “relevance”

Example call

Arguments

{
  "db": "pubmed",
  "term": "BRCA1 mutations"
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ncbi-eutils/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"esearch","arguments":{"db":"pubmed","term":"BRCA1 mutations"}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('esearch', {
  "db": "pubmed",
  "term": "BRCA1 mutations"
});

More examples

{
  "db": "nucleotide",
  "term": "human insulin",
  "retmax": 100,
  "sort": "pub_date"
}

Response shape

Full JSON Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "description": "NCBI esearch response - search results with UIDs"
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config, or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ncbi-eutils": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ncbi-eutils/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

esearch