About Anzctr
An MCP server for retrieving public Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry records by ACTRN. It returns detailed trial information and can run locally over stdio or through the Pipeworx gateway.
Key features
- 01Retrieve a trial record by ACTRN
- 02Return status, design, and outcomes
- 03Include eligibility, dates, and sponsors
- 04Report when an ACTRN has no public record
- 05Timestamp each registry lookup
Use cases
- 01Review the design and outcomes of a registered trial
- 02Check trial eligibility, sponsors, and key dates
- 03Look up a trial record using its ACTRN
MCP support
Exposes the `anzctr_trial` tool to MCP clients through the Pipeworx gateway or as a local stdio MCP server. Searching for trials is directed to the separate `who-ictrp` pack's `ictrp_search` tool.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-anzctr https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-anzctr":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-anzctr":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-anzctr":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-anzctr":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
42| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| q | string | No | Alias for question. |
| ask | string | No | Alias for question. |
| text | string | No | Alias for question. |
| input | string | No | Alias for question. |
| packs | array | No | OPTIONAL. Restrict routing to these pack slugs (e.g. ["sec-form-d","sec-13f"]) — the router then picks only from tools in those packs. Omit for the default full-catalog routing. Slugs come from list_packs / search_packs / https://pipeworx.io/directory; unlisted or unknown slugs are ignored and named in _meta.pack_scope.ignored, and if none of them resolves the question is routed across the whole catalog with _meta.pack_scope.full_catalog:true (never an empty answer). |
| query | string | No | Alias for question. |
| prompt | string | No | Alias for question. |
| message | string | No | Alias for question. |
| question | string | Yes | Your question or request in natural language. Accepts query, q, prompt, text, input, ask, message as aliases. |
Details
From the project README@pipeworx/anzctr
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR, anzctr.org.au): the full registered record for one trial by ACTRN. ANZCTR is the WHO primary registry for Australia and New Zealand, and many of its trials are not on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1872+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.
Tools
anzctr_trial({actrn})— the full record for one trial: titles, status, phase and design, health conditions and condition codes, intervention and comparator, primary and secondary outcomes, eligibility, target sample size, key dates, primary sponsor, funding sources, ethics committees, secondary IDs. An ACTRN with no public record returnsfound: false. Every response carriesdata_as_of(the time the registry was read).
Use alongside clinicaltrials (US registry) and isrctn (UK/international).
Searching ANZCTR: use ictrp_search
To find ANZCTR trials, call ictrp_search({query, registry: "ANZCTR"}) from
the who-ictrp pack. WHO ICTRP indexes every ANZCTR record and is not behind
ANZCTR's Cloudflare challenge. Verified through the live gateway on 2026-10-09:
{query: "psilocybin", registry: "ANZCTR"} returned ACTRN rows such as
ACTRN12626001100381, and anzctr_trial on that id returned the full record.
ICTRP refreshes from the registries weekly, so a trial registered in the last
few days may only be reachable by ACTRN here.
Why there is no anzctr_search
ANZCTR's search (TrialSearch.aspx) is an ASP.NET WebForms postback. A working
implementation exists in commit f1c44beb0 (anzctr_search: GET the form for
its __VIEWSTATE and session cookie, POST it back with
ctl00$body$searchTxtBx, interventionDescriptionTxtBx, healthConditionTxtBx,
registryRdBtnLst=ANZCTR and the btnSearch button). On 2026-10-09 it returned
45 psilocybin records from a throwaway Worker on our Cloudflare account, but
every call from the live gateway got a Cloudflare Managed Challenge (HTTP 403,
"I'm Under Attack Mode - The University of Sydney") on TrialSearch.aspx, while
the record page answered normally. A laptop is challenged on the search page too. The egress
relay (supabase/functions/egress-proxy) does not carry cookies, which the
postback needs. Fleet #2897 closed on the ictrp_search route above; a
direct anzctr_search is only worth reviving if ICTRP's weekly lag becomes the
complaint.
Auth
Keyless.
Data sources
- https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?ACTRN=12626001215314 — the public record page for one trial.
ANZCTR has no JSON API; the record page is HTML with one <span id="ctl00_body_CX…"> per field
and ctl00_body_repeater_TX…_ctlNN_CX… spans for repeated rows (conditions, outcomes, funders).
Things the next person would otherwise rediscover:
- Some ACTRNs carry a trailing letter (
ACTRN12626001117303p); the record page takes the 14 digits alone, and so does the tool. - The record page is answered from the live gateway and from a laptop; only
TrialSearch.aspxis challenged. - An unknown ACTRN 302s to
/Notification.aspx. - Records include contact persons with names, phone numbers and email addresses. The tool does not return them.
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"anzctr": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/anzctr/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 1872+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/anzctr_trial \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"actrn":"ACTRN12626001215314"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/anzctr_trial. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"anzctr": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-anzctr"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-anzctr
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
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 Anzctr data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
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