The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the Opentreeoflife listing page.
Open Tree of Life MCP.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
match_names | Resolve scientific (Latin binomial) names to Open Tree of Life taxon IDs (ott_id). The ott_id is the key needed by taxon_info and common_ancestor — start here. Returns the best match per name with its ott_id, accepted name, rank, and synonym/approximate flags. Keyless. |
taxon_info | Get full details for an Open Tree of Life taxon by ott_id (from match_names) — accepted name, rank, unique name, synonyms, source taxonomy, and the complete ancestry lineage from this taxon up to the root of life. Keyless. |
common_ancestor | Find the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of 2-10 taxa in the synthetic Tree of Life, by ott_id (from match_names). Returns the common-ancestor taxon (ott_id, name, rank). Keyless. |
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/opentreeoflife/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:
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:
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
MIT