
Connects Claude to MedlinePlus, the NIH's consumer health information database. Exposes a single search tool that queries MedlinePlus topics and related National Library of Medicine databases using free text. Runs through Pipeworx's hosted gateway, so there's no local setup or API keys to manage. You can call the search tool directly or use ask_pipeworx to handle queries in plain English. Reach for this when you need reliable, government-sourced health information in conversational apps or when building medical education tools that need to pull from trusted sources without dealing with NLM API authentication.
MedlinePlus MCP — NIH/NLM consumer health information service. Connect coded clinical data (ICD-10-CM, SNOMED CT, RxCUI, LOINC, NDC, MeSH, gene symbols) to plain-language health topic pages. No auth.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.
connect(code, code_system, lang?) — Connect API: map a clinical code to MedlinePlus topicssearch(query, limit?, retstart?, db?, knowledge_response_type?) — web search across MedlinePlus topicsconnect)2.16.840.1.113883.6.103 — ICD-9-CM2.16.840.1.113883.6.90 — ICD-10-CM2.16.840.1.113883.6.96 — SNOMED CT2.16.840.1.113883.6.88 — RxNorm (RxCUI)2.16.840.1.113883.6.1 — LOINC2.16.840.1.113883.6.69 — NDC2.16.840.1.113883.6.177 — MeSH2.16.840.1.113883.6.282 — HGNC (gene)The pack accepts the short name (e.g. "ICD-10-CM", "SNOMED", "RxNorm") and resolves to the OID.
https://connect.medlineplus.gov/servicehttps://wsearch.nlm.nih.gov/ws/query (NLM Web Search)Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"medlineplus": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/medlineplus/mcp"
}
}
}
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/medlineplus/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Medlineplus data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
MIT