NCCN Guidelines

Python MCP License Version

PyPDF HTTPX NCCN

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) clinical guidelines.

🔬 How It Works

This project follows a systematic approach to provide accurate medical guidance:

1. 🧠 Problem Analysis: Understands the clinical question or scenario
2. 📋 Guidelines Retrieval: Searches the NCCN index for relevant guidelines
3. 📄 Page-by-Page Reading: Downloads and extracts specific pages from guidelines
4. 🎯 Evidence-Based Response: Provides answers based on the extracted content

💡 Note: This system does not use RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to ensure accuracy. Instead, it reads guidelines directly, which may result in longer response times during index initialization and PDF downloading/reading, but provides more reliable and precise medical guidance.

✨ Features

• 📚 Guidelines Index: Automatically fetches and maintains an up-to-date index of NCCN guidelines
• ⬇️ PDF Download: Downloads NCCN guideline PDFs with authentication support
• 📝 Content Extraction: Extracts specific pages from PDF documents with layout preservation
• 🚀 Smart Caching: Index is cached for 7 days to minimize server load

🛠️ Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/gscfwid/NCCN_guidelines_MCP
cd NCCN_guidelines_MCP

2. Install dependencies using uv:

uv sync

⚙️ Configuration

🔧 Configure Client (Note: Supports only agents, such as Cursor, Cline, Claude desktop, etc.)

⚠️ Important: Claude desktop may warn about insufficient context length when running this MCP.

Add this to your Client configuration:

Configuration with Environment Variables

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nccn-guidelines": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "<abslute_direction_of_NCCN_guidelines_MCP>", "run", "server.py"],
      "env": {
        "NCCN_USERNAME": "<your_nccn_username>",
        "NCCN_PASSWORD": "<your_nccn_password>"
      }
    }
  }
}

⚠️ Important Notes

• 👤 NCCN Account Registration: Please note that the NCCN username and password mentioned above must be registered on the official NCCN website.
• 🚀 First-time Setup: When you first start the MCP server, it needs to generate the YAML index of NCCN guidelines. This process takes 1-2 minutes, so please wait before attempting to use the server.
• ⏱️ Response Times: Due to the non-RAG approach for accuracy, expect longer response times during guideline downloading and PDF reading processes.

💬 Prompts

To have better response, please add the prompt in the file of prompt.md to the instruction of your Agent Client before your Question.

🛠️ Available Tools

1. 📊 get_index: Get the raw contents of the NCCN guidelines index YAML file.

2. 📥 download_pdf: Download NCCN guideline PDFs

   • url: PDF URL to download
   • filename (optional): Custom filename
   • username (optional): NCCN login username (defaults to NCCN_USERNAME env var)
   • password (optional): NCCN login password (defaults to NCCN_PASSWORD env var)

3. 📖 extract_content: Extract content from PDF pages

   • pdf_path: Path to PDF file
   • pages (optional): Comma-separated page numbers (e.g., "1,3,5-7")

💡 Usage Example

Here are some example questions you can ask:

1. 🔬 What are the available first-line immunotherapy options for ES-SCLC?
2. 🎯 What is the initial chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer?
3. 🧬 What are the immunotherapy options for neuroendocrine tumors?