@pipeworx/nci-evs
NCI Thesaurus (NCIt) concepts and the other controlled vocabularies served by
the NCI Enterprise Vocabulary Services REST API — the C-codes that CDISC, GDC,
CTRP, SEER and the NCI trial systems all key on.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1679+ live data sources.
evs_search_concepts(term, terminology?, type?, include?, page_size?, from_record?)
— name → code. Searches NCIt by default; also ICD-10, MedDRA, SNOMED CT,
HGNC, GO and others served by the same API.
evs_concept(code, terminology?, include?) — code → full record: preferred
name, definitions with source, every synonym with its term type and source,
semantic types, and cross-terminology maps to ICD-O-3 / ICD-10 / MedDRA.
evs_terminologies(latest_only?) — which vocabularies are queryable and at
which loaded version. A concept record is only interpretable against its
version, so this is how you pin an answer.
evs_concept_relations(code, terminology?, kinds?) — parents, children,
roles, associations, inverse associations, descendants. Use it to expand a
disease into its subtypes before querying trial or genomic data.
Auth
Keyless.
Data sources
Traps
The API version prefix is /api/v1, not bare /. The paths in NCI's own
prose omit it; without it every call 404s with a Spring "No static resource"
body that looks like the endpoint was withdrawn.
Relations are separate endpoints, not an include. There is no
/relationships path — it 404s. Parents, children, roles and associations are
each their own sub-path. maps is the exception: it is an include value on
the concept endpoint, not a sub-path. evs_concept_relations fetches the
sub-paths in parallel and reports a per-kind count, so a kind that genuinely
has no rows is distinguishable from one that failed.
include=minimal is the search default and omits definitions. A search hit
carries only code / name / status until you ask for summary or full, which
is why a "the API has no definitions" conclusion is usually an include-level
problem.
Version strings move. version on a concept (e.g. NCIt 26.08e) is the
monthly release. Two answers taken weeks apart can legitimately differ; quote
the version when the code's meaning matters.
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"nci-evs": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/nci-evs/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/nci-evs/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 1679+ 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/evs_search_concepts \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"term":"melanoma","page_size":5}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/evs_search_concepts. 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": {
"nci-evs": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-nci-evs"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-nci-evs
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 Nci Evs data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT