Paleobiology DB

live Data

Paleobiology Database (PBDB) MCP — the global fossil record. Keyless.

3 tools
0ms auth
free tier 50 calls/day

Tools

find_fossils

Find fossil occurrences for a taxon from the Paleobiology Database (the global fossil record). Returns occurrences with collection locations (lat/lng, country) and geologic ages. base_name matching in

No parameters required.

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get_taxon

Look up a single taxon in the Paleobiology Database: its taxonomic rank, attribution (author + year), first/last appearance intervals and ages (in millions of years, Ma), and number of subtaxa. Keyles

No parameters required.

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list_subtaxa

List the direct child taxa (subtaxa) of a taxon from the Paleobiology Database, with each child's rank and number of its own subtaxa. Keyless.

No parameters required.

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Test with curl

The gateway speaks JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP POST. You can test any pack directly from the terminal.

List available tools
bash 
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/paleobiodb/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'
Call a tool
bash 
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/paleobiodb/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"find_fossils","arguments":{}}}'

Use with the SDK

Install @pipeworx/sdk to call tools from any TypeScript/Node project.

TypeScript 
import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const px = new Pipeworx();
const result = await px.call("find_fossils", {});
ask_pipeworx 
// Or ask in plain English:
const answer = await px.ask("paleobiology database (pbdb) mcp — the global fossil record");