patents-mcp-server

patents-mcp-server

FastMCP TypeScript patent intelligence MCP server. 45 tools across USPTO, EPO, and Google Patents for IP landscape analysis, freedom-to-operate research, and patent monitoring.

Note: PatentsView support was removed in May 2026 — its API host search.patentsview.org was decommissioned on 2026-03-20 when PatentsView migrated to USPTO ODP as bulk-download datasets only (no live API replacement). US full-text search is now available via Google BigQuery; bibliographic data via USPTO ODP. See docs/MCP_PLAN-PatentsView-Rehoming_2026-05-30.md for the options analysis.

Data Sources

Source	Tools	Key Capability
USPTO ODP	30	Applications, document PDF download, PTAB, citations, litigation, office actions
EPO OPS	8	INPADOC patent families, legal status across ~44 offices, claims/descriptions
Google BigQuery	4	Full-text search across 90M+ patents, citation networks, CPC analytics

Tools only register when their required API keys are configured — no broken tools cluttering the MCP client.

Quick Start

pnpm install
cp .env.example .env    # Add your API keys
pnpm build

Run via stdio (Claude Desktop / Claude Code)

node dist/index.js

Run via HTTP (remote deployment)

TRANSPORT=httpStream PORT=8080 node dist/index.js

MCP Configuration (.mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "patents": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "USPTO_API_KEY": "${USPTO_API_KEY}",
        "EPO_CONSUMER_KEY": "${EPO_CONSUMER_KEY}",
        "EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET": "${EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET}",
        "GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS": "${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS}",
        "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT": "${GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Test with MCP Inspector

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

Configuration

API Keys

Source	Env Var(s)	Where to Get
USPTO ODP	USPTO_API_KEY	data.uspto.gov → MyODP
EPO OPS	EPO_CONSUMER_KEY + EPO_CONSUMER_SECRET	developers.epo.org
BigQuery	GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS + GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT	GCP Console (service account with BigQuery roles)

Missing API keys disable related tools gracefully — the server still starts with whatever sources are configured. Use the check-api-status tool to verify which sources are available.

Credential Management with envpkt

This project uses envpkt for credential management. API keys are stored as sealed (age-encrypted) packets and non-secret config as [env.*] entries in envpkt.toml. The .mcp.json references env vars via ${VAR} syntax, which are loaded by eval "$(envpkt env export)" in your shell profile.

Path Expansion

GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS supports tilde (~) and environment variable ($HOME, ${HOME}) expansion via functype-os. Use paths like ~/.config/gcloud/key.json instead of absolute paths.

BigQuery Cost Notes

• Free tier: 1TB/month of queries scanned
• A broad full-text search across 90M patents scans ~200-300GB per query
• Targeted queries (patent number, family, CPC with date range) scan much less
• Every query runs a dry run first; estimated cost is included in the response

Tools

USPTO ODP (13 tools)

Official USPTO Open Data Portal — applications, prosecution history, assignments, documents.

• odp-search-applications — Search patent applications (2001+)
• odp-get-application / metadata / continuity / assignment / adjustment / attorney / foreign-priority / transactions / documents
• odp-download-document — Download a file-wrapper document as a PDF (proxies the authenticated fetch through the server's key)
• odp-search-datasets / get-dataset — Bulk data products

PTAB (7 tools)

Post-grant proceedings — IPR, PGR, CBM, ex parte appeals.

• ptab-search-proceedings / get-proceeding / get-documents
• ptab-search-decisions / get-decision
• ptab-search-appeals / get-appeal

Citations & Litigation (6 tools)

Patent citations and litigation data.

• citations-get-enriched / search / get-metrics
• litigation-search / get-case / get-patent

EPO OPS (8 tools)

European Patent Office — international coverage, INPADOC families, legal status.

• epo-search-patents — CQL search (title, abstract, applicant, inventor, CPC, date)
• epo-get-biblio / abstract / claims / description — Patent document sections
• epo-family-lookup — INPADOC family members across all jurisdictions
• epo-legal-status — Legal status across ~44 patent offices
• epo-number-convert — Convert between number formats

Google BigQuery (4 tools)

Full-text search across 90M+ patent documents. Replaces PPUBS for claims search.

• bigquery-patent-search — Full-text search across titles and abstracts
• bigquery-patent-family — Family members by INPADOC family ID
• bigquery-citation-network — Citation graph (depth 1 or 2)
• bigquery-cpc-analytics — Filing statistics by CPC classification

Office Actions (4 tools)

USPTO office action data (migrating to ODP in 2026).

• office-action-get-text / search / get-citations / get-rejections

Utility (3 tools)

• check-api-status — Health check all configured APIs
• get-cpc-info — CPC classification lookup
• get-status-code — USPTO status code meanings

Prompts

Six workflow prompt templates for common patent analysis tasks:

Prompt	Purpose
prior_art_search	Multi-source prior art search workflow
patent_validity	Structured validity analysis (102/103/112)
competitor_portfolio	Competitor patent portfolio analysis
ptab_research	PTAB proceedings research (IPR/PGR/CBM)
freedom_to_operate	FTO analysis methodology
patent_landscape	Technology area landscape mapping

Resources

URI	Description
patents://cpc/{code}	CPC classification info
patents://status-codes	USPTO status code definitions
patents://sources	Data source overview
patents://search-syntax	Query syntax guide (EPO CQL, ODP, BigQuery)

Development

pnpm validate        # Format + lint + typecheck + test + build
pnpm test            # Run tests
pnpm build           # Production build
pnpm typecheck       # Type check only
pnpm codegen         # Regenerate Zod schemas from OpenAPI specs
pnpm fetch-specs     # Re-download OpenAPI specs from upstream

OpenAPI Codegen

Response schemas are generated from upstream OpenAPI specs using Hey API with the Zod plugin:

pnpm fetch-specs     # Download USPTO ODP spec
pnpm codegen         # Generate src/generated/odp/zod.gen.ts

Generated code is committed to the repo so CI doesn't need the codegen step.

Testing

Integration tests run against live APIs when credentials are available:

# Requires USPTO_API_KEY in env
pnpm test

Tests skip gracefully when API keys are absent.

Architecture

Built with FastMCP + Zod + ts-builds + functype-os.

src/
├── index.ts                    # Entry point
├── server.ts                   # FastMCP instance
├── tools/                      # 45 tools across 7 modules (conditional registration)
├── clients/                    # API clients (base, ODP, EPO, BigQuery)
├── generated/                  # Zod schemas from OpenAPI specs (Hey API codegen)
├── specs/                      # Local copies of OpenAPI specs
├── resources/                  # 4 MCP resources
├── prompts/                    # 6 prompt templates
└── lib/                        # Config, retry, errors, patent number normalization

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

• USPTO - US Patent and Trademark Office
• EPO OPS - European Patent Office Open Patent Services
• Google Patents Public Data - BigQuery patent dataset

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