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Mesh

Maps free-text medical terms to NLM MeSH headings and returns descriptor metadata for PubMed search workflows.

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Install Mesh

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mesh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-mesh"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Install not yet sandbox-tested— we haven't run this command through our automated sandbox yet. Not a red flag; we're working through the catalog.

Overview

NLM MeSH lookup is exposed through the Mesh MCP server as three keyless tools for searching descriptors, inspecting descriptor metadata, and resolving everyday terms to canonical headings. It can run locally over stdio or through the Pipeworx gateway over MCP and HTTP. Use it when an agent needs controlled-vocabulary terms, MeSH IDs, synonyms, qualifiers, or related headings for PubMed-oriented research.

Use cases

  • Find MeSH descriptor IDs for medical search terms
  • Resolve everyday medical wording to canonical headings
  • Inspect MeSH synonyms and allowable qualifiers
  • Prepare controlled-vocabulary terms for PubMed searches

Key features

  • Search NLM MeSH descriptors
  • Retrieve full descriptor metadata
  • Resolve free-text terms to canonical headings
  • Flag fuzzy term matches
  • Run locally over MCP stdio
  • Access tools through the Pipeworx gateway

Tools3

What Mesh lets your agent do. Expand a tool for its parameters.

Self-reported~204 tokens of context

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked 3d ago

Recent health check succeeded.

7/7 checks healthy over the last 41d

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 15d ago via OSV.dev · @pipeworx/mcp-mesh (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

npm downloads449Package downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit28d agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Tools exposed3Callable tools this server registers over MCP.

How Mesh works

What the Mesh MCP server does

The Mesh MCP server connects AI agents to the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary. It supports controlled-vocabulary lookup for medical diseases, drugs, concepts, and related research terms. The results are useful when an agent needs the official headings and descriptor IDs used to index PubMed content.

Its three pack-specific tools are:

  • search_descriptors: Finds matching MeSH descriptors from a term such as “diabetes,” “aspirin,” or “myocardial infarction,” returning descriptor IDs in the Dxxxxxxx format.
  • get_descriptor: Retrieves a descriptor’s preferred label, entry terms, allowable qualifiers, and related see-also headings from a supplied MeSH ID.
  • resolve_term: Converts free-text or everyday wording into canonical MeSH descriptor names. It checks for an exact match first and can use a fuzzy contains match when an exact result is unavailable; fuzzy results are marked accordingly.

How it works

The Mesh MCP server exposes the tools through either a remote Pipeworx endpoint or a local package. The remote pack endpoint is available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mesh/mcp, while the full gateway is available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp. A pack endpoint lists the Mesh tools together with Pipeworx shared meta-tools, including routing and discovery functions. The full gateway lists tools from the broader catalog directly.

A local installation communicates through standard MCP stdin/stdout and exposes only the Mesh pack’s tools. The remote gateway also provides direct HTTP access to individual tools, such as sending a JSON POST request to the search_descriptors endpoint.

Setup and configuration

For a remote MCP connection, add the gateway URL to an MCP client configuration. The README names Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf as compatible examples. For local use, run the package with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-mesh and configure the client to launch that command with no additional arguments.

The standalone package does not require a Pipeworx account or a gateway round trip. The gateway documentation states that the first HTTP calls do not require an account.

Tools and capabilities

The Mesh MCP server provides a focused workflow for turning natural-language medical terminology into MeSH vocabulary:

  1. Search for candidate descriptors from a disease, drug, or concept.
  2. Resolve an everyday phrase to a preferred MeSH heading.
  3. Inspect the selected descriptor’s synonyms, qualifiers, and related headings.

Agents can also use the gateway’s ask_pipeworx function to ask questions in plain English. The gateway selects a tool and supplies its arguments, but this routing capability belongs to Pipeworx rather than the standalone Mesh package.

Limitations and notes

resolve_term may return a fuzzy contains match when no exact descriptor match exists, so agents should check the fuzzy indicator before treating a result as definitive. The pack tools are keyless, but the material does not describe ranking behavior, bulk operations, PubMed article retrieval, or support for creating or editing MeSH records.

A remote pack connection includes shared Pipeworx meta-tools in addition to the three Mesh tools. A local stdio connection does not include those gateway-wide tools. The gateway’s initialization response is the authoritative source for the exact tool scope at connection time.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

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Frequently Asked Questions about Mesh

Mesh is an MCP server that connects AI agents to the NLM Medical Subject Headings vocabulary and provides search_descriptors, get_descriptor, and resolve_term tools for finding descriptor IDs, inspecting metadata, and mapping everyday terms to canonical headings used in PubMed indexing.

Run it locally with `npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-mesh` and configure an MCP client to launch that command. You can instead connect to the remote endpoint at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mesh/mcp`.

Yes, Mesh works with Claude Desktop through either the remote MCP URL or a local stdio configuration. The README also names Cursor and Windsurf as supported client examples.

No API key is required for the three Mesh tools. The standalone package runs without a Pipeworx account, and the gateway documentation says the first HTTP calls do not require an account.

Call `resolve_term` with the free-text or everyday term. It checks for an exact descriptor match first, then uses a fuzzy contains match when needed and marks that result as fuzzy.

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