PMC (PubMed Central) Connector for AI agents.
8 live capabilities
Search and retrieve peer-reviewed biomedical research and open-access life sciences papers.
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Why people use PMC (PubMed Central)
PMC Open Access (PubMed Central) for Biomedical Research Literature
With this Connector, your agent handles the navigation. You can ask for a list of citations, a batch of ID conversions, or direct links to open-access papers in one go. You get a clean, organized set of data instead of a dozen open tabs.
What Vinkius changes
Your agent can now navigate the world's largest life sciences repository as quickly as you can type a prompt.
Use it from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another AI client you already have.
One account · 5,900+ Connectors
- Real-world use case 01
Literature Review
A researcher asks the agent to find all papers on a topic and export the citations for a bibliography using export_citation.
- Real-world use case 02
Data Harvesting
A data scientist wants to gather metadata for 100 different PMIDs to build a knowledge graph using oai_list_records.
- Real-world use case 03
Clinical Search
A doctor needs to quickly find the PDF for a specific clinical trial using its DOI with oa_discover.
Complete set · 8capabilities
The complete PMC (PubMed Central) capability set.
These are the exact actions your AI can choose when you ask it to work with PMC (PubMed Central).
01—04
4 capabilities in this set.
Part of 8 available through PMC (PubMed Central).
- 01 Capability
Oai identify
Locate the specific PMC OAI-PMH repository. This tells your agent exactly where to look for the data.
- 02 Capability
Oai list identifiers
List OAI identifiers for PMC articles using specific metadata prefixes. This helps you find the correct IDs for a batch of papers.
- 03 Capability
Oai list metadata formats
See which metadata formats are available in the PMC OAI-PMH repository. You can use this to ensure your agent pulls the right data type.
- 04 Capability
Oai list records
Get a list of full OAI records for PMC articles. This is great for high-level browsing of available research.
05—08
4 capabilities in this set.
Part of 8 available through PMC (PubMed Central).
- 05 Capability
Convert ids
Swap between PMCIDs, PMIDs, DOIs, and Manuscript IDs. This makes it easy to link records across different databases.
- 06 Capability
Export citation
Get formatted citations for PubMed and PMC articles. It saves you from manually formatting your bibliography.
- 07 Capability
Oa discover
Find downloadable resources from the PMC Open Access Subset. This gets you the direct links to the files you need.
- 08 Capability
Oai get record
Pull a specific OAI record from PMC using a unique identifier. This gives you the deep-dive details on a single paper.
Set up in minutes
One URL. Then ask PMC (PubMed Central) to work.
Claude and ChatGPT only need the Connector URL. Copy it once, add it in settings, and use PMC (PubMed Central) from the conversation.
Choose your client
Live previewAdvanced clients IDE · CLI
Claude · Web + desktop
Connector URL · ready to paste
Streamable HTTPhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp - Step 01
Open Connectors
In Claude Web or Claude Desktop, open Settings and choose Connectors.
- Step 02
Add the URL
Choose Add custom connector, name it PMC (PubMed Central), and paste the URL above.
- Step 03
Turn it on in chat
Select +, open Connectors, and enable PMC (PubMed Central) for the conversation.
ChatGPT · Web + desktop
Connector URL · ready to paste
Streamable HTTPhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp - Step 01
Open MCP settings
On desktop, open Settings and MCP servers. On web, open your workspace app or connector settings.
- Step 02
Add the URL
Choose Add server with Streamable HTTP, or create a custom MCP app, then paste the PMC (PubMed Central) URL.
- Step 03
Save and start
Save the connection and enable PMC (PubMed Central) in your conversation. Desktop may ask you to restart once.
Cursor · IDE configuration
Advanced setup
{
"mcpServers": {
"pmc-open-access-pubmed-central": {
"url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp"
}
}
}- Step 01
Open MCP Settings
Press Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) → search "MCP Settings"
- Step 02
Add the server config
Paste the JSON configuration above into the mcp.json file that opens
- Step 03
Save the file
Cursor will automatically detect the new Connector
- Step 04
Start using PMC (PubMed Central)
Open Agent mode in chat and ask: "Using PMC (PubMed Central), help me...". 8 tools available
VS Code Copilot · IDE configuration
Advanced setup
{
"mcpServers": {
"pmc-open-access-pubmed-central": {
"url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp"
}
}
}- Step 01
Create MCP config
Create a .vscode/mcp.json file in your project root
- Step 02
Add the server config
Paste the JSON configuration above
- Step 03
Enable Agent mode
Open GitHub Copilot Chat and switch to Agent mode using the dropdown
- Step 04
Start using PMC (PubMed Central)
Ask Copilot: "Using PMC (PubMed Central), help me...". 8 tools available
Windsurf · IDE configuration
Advanced setup
{
"mcpServers": {
"pmc-open-access-pubmed-central": {
"url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp"
}
}
}- Step 01
Open MCP Settings
Go to Settings → MCP Configuration or press Cmd+Shift+P and search "MCP"
- Step 02
Add the server
Paste the JSON configuration above into mcp_config.json
- Step 03
Save and reload
Windsurf will detect the new server automatically
- Step 04
Start using PMC (PubMed Central)
Open Cascade and ask: "Using PMC (PubMed Central), help me...". 8 tools available
Cline · IDE configuration
Advanced setup
{
"mcpServers": {
"pmc-open-access-pubmed-central": {
"url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp"
}
}
}- Step 01
Open Cline MCP Settings
Click the Connectors icon in the Cline sidebar panel
- Step 02
Add remote server
Click "Add Connector" and paste the configuration above
- Step 03
Enable the server
Toggle the server switch to ON
- Step 04
Start using PMC (PubMed Central)
Ask Cline: "Using PMC (PubMed Central), help me...". 8 tools available
Claude Code · Terminal command
Advanced setup
claude mcp add pmc-open-access-pubmed-central --transport http "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_DDt7jrWPN4OV7Yr6vNnYOOd9TIiNnr8Hz68SHCAw/mcp"- Step 01
Install Claude Code
Run npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code if not already installed
- Step 02
Add the Connector
Run the command above in your terminal
- Step 03
Verify the connection
Run claude mcp to list connected servers, or type /mcp inside a session
- Step 04
Start using PMC (PubMed Central)
Ask Claude: "Using PMC (PubMed Central), show me...". 8 tools are ready
Where the request belongs
Work PMC (PubMed Central) can move forward.
For researchers and data scientists who are tired of manual literature reviews and need to harvest large-scale biomedical datasets without the friction of manual searching.
Academic Researcher
Automates literature reviews by finding full-text sources and managing citations.
Bioinformatics Data Scientist
Harvests large-scale datasets for trend analysis and knowledge graph construction.
Medical Professional
Quickly finds peer-reviewed evidence and converts clinical identifiers into research papers.
Build the capability set
Add more capabilities.
Each Connector adds new actions and data without changing how you work.
Browse ConnectorsCORE (Open Access Research)
Access millions of open access research papers, journals, and repositories directly from your AI agent using the CORE API.
PubMed Central
Search and retrieve full-text biomedical and life sciences literature from PubMed Central (PMC).
Elsevier ScienceDirect
Access millions of scientific, technical, and medical research articles and book chapters directly from your AI agent.
DOAJ
Search and manage open access research journals and articles via the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
PubMed
Search 37M+ biomedical research articles from the world's largest medical literature database. with full abstracts, authors, MeSH terms, and citation tracking.
CrossRef
Search 140M+ scholarly works across all scientific disciplines. with DOI resolution, citation counts, author lookup, and full bibliographic metadata from the world's largest DOI registry.
Bring your own AI
Change the model, client or framework. Keep PMC (PubMed Central) connected.
-
Claude -
ChatGPT -
Gemini -
Cursor -
VS Code -
Windsurf -
ZCode -
Cline -
Zed -
Continue -
Kiro -
Roo Code -
Zencoder -
Goose -
Void -
Augment Code -
Amp -
Qodo -
Tabnine -
Pieces -
Sourcegraph Cody -
JetBrains -
Warp -
Amazon Q -
Antigravity -
BoltAI -
Raycast -
Jan -
LM Studio -
AnythingLLM -
Open WebUI -
Msty -
Cherry Studio -
LibreChat -
TypingMind -
Chorus -
5ire -
n8n -
LangChain -
LlamaIndex -
CrewAI -
Vercel AI SDK
Before you connect
Questions about PMC (PubMed Central).
The practical details behind the request, access and result.
Can PMC Open Access (PubMed Central) find paywalled papers?
No, this Connector specifically accesses the PubMed Central Open Access Subset. It is designed to find research that is freely available to the public.
How does PMC Open Access (PubMed Central) help with citations?
You can ask your agent to fetch formatted citations for any PubMed or PMC article. It saves you from having to manually format your bibliography or search for citation styles.
Can I use PMC Open Access (PubMed Central) to build a research database?
Yes, you can use it to harvest metadata and identifiers at scale. It's a great way to collect data for knowledge graphs or trend analysis without manual entry.
What kind of files can I get with PMC Open Access (PubMed Central)?
The Connector can help you discover and locate direct download links for PDF, XML, and TGZ files for open-access articles.
Is PMC Open Access (PubMed Central) good for converting IDs?
Yes, it allows your agent to quickly translate between different identifiers like PMIDs, DOIs, and PMCIDs, which helps in linking records across different platforms.
How do I get the PDF links for a list of papers using PMC Open Access (PubMed Central)?
Just provide the agent with your list of DOIs or PMIDs. It will search the open access subset and provide the direct download URLs for each paper.
How can I find the DOI or PMID for a specific PMCID?
Use the convert_ids capability. Simply provide the PMCID (e.g., PMC5334499) and it will return the corresponding PMID, DOI, and other associated identifiers.
Can I get direct download links for research papers?
Yes! The oa_discover capability allows you to find downloadable resources like PDFs or XML files for articles in the PMC Open Access Subset using their PMCID.
How do I retrieve the full metadata for a specific article?
Use the oai_get_record capability with the article's OAI identifier and a metadata prefix like 'pmc' or 'oai_dc' to fetch the complete record details.
One connection away
Give your agent a direct line to PMC (PubMed Central).
Connect PMC (PubMed Central) once. Keep it beside 5,900+ managed Connectors when the next task needs more.
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