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Pombase

Pombase

Remote
pipeworx.ioScience & Education0Updated 5w ago

About Pombase

Pombase is an MCP server for researchers working with fission yeast data. It retrieves gene annotations and curated publication details from the PomBase database.

Key features

  1. 01Look up genes by systematic ID
  2. 02Retrieve protein domains and viability
  3. 03Check UniProt IDs and curation status
  4. 04Retrieve curated publication details
  5. 05Run locally over stdio or via gateway

Use cases

  1. 01Inspect a fission yeast gene’s annotations
  2. 02Review publications linked to gene curation

MCP support

Exposes PomBase gene and publication lookup tools to MCP clients. Available as a local stdio server or through the Pipeworx gateway.

Configuration

Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.

Endpointhttps://gateway.pipeworx.io/pombase/mcp
Copy install command
Claude CodeTerminal
Cursor.cursor/mcp.json
VS Code.vscode/mcp.json
Claude Desktopclaude_desktop_config.json
Windsurf~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

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

Details

From the project README

mcp-pombase

PomBase MCP — the fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) model-organism database.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.

Tools

ToolDescription
get_genePomBase (fission yeast / S. pombe model-organism DB): look up a gene by its PomBase systematic id and return its product, protein domains (InterPro), deletion viability, UniProt id, and curation status. Keyless. NOTE: requires a systematic id like "SPAC1002.01" or "SPBC2F12.13" — standard gene names like "cdc2" are NOT resolved by this API. Complements SGD (budding yeast).
get_referencePomBase: look up a curated S. pombe publication by its PubMed id (e.g. "PMID:11739790") and return its title, citation, authors, year, abstract, and how many genes it annotates. Keyless.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pombase": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/pombase/mcp"
    }
  }
}
What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/pombase/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 1683+ 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/pombase_get_gene \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"id":"SPAC1002.01"}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/pombase_get_gene. 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": {
    "pombase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-pombase"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-pombase

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 Pombase data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

License

MIT

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