
Connects Claude to the European Bioinformatics Institute's QuickGO service for browsing Gene Ontology data. Part of the Pipeworx gateway system that routes MCP requests to biological databases. Rather than calling specific tools, you can use the ask_pipeworx interface to query GO terms, annotations, and gene functions in plain English. The gateway handles tool selection and parameter mapping automatically. Useful when you need to look up protein functions, cellular component classifications, or biological process hierarchies during computational biology workflows. Offered both as a standalone server and as part of the broader 823+ source Pipeworx gateway.
QuickGO (EBI) MCP — Gene Ontology browser.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
search_terms | QuickGO (EBI) — search Gene Ontology (GO) terms by keyword. Returns matching GO terms (id + name) for a free-text query like "apoptosis". Keyless. |
get_term | QuickGO (EBI) — get a single Gene Ontology (GO) term by id. Returns its name, aspect (biological_process|molecular_function|cellular_component), definition, synonyms, and obsolete flag. Keyless. |
gene_annotations | QuickGO (EBI) — list the Gene Ontology (GO) annotations for a gene/protein, identified by UniProt accession (e.g. "P04637"). Returns GO ids, names, aspect, evidence, and taxon. Keyless. |
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"quickgo": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/quickgo/mcp"
}
}
}
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/quickgo/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 Quickgo data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
MIT
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_terms \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"query":"apoptosis"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_terms. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.