Catalogueoflife
NPM · @PIPEWORX/MCP-CATALOGUEOFLIFE · 2 COMPONENTS
Catalogue of Life MCP — global taxonomic index.
Available components
Last scanned (13 hours ago)
Scores higher than 72% of npm servers
Category Health and Science
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Supply Chain Security100
- No malware found by supply-chain analysis.Pass
- No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.Pass
- No install/post-install scripts declared.Pass
- No production dependencies, so there is no dependency health to assess. View diagnostics → Pass
Provenance & Transparency97
- Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL. View diagnostics → Pass
- Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to pipeworx-io/mcp-catalogueoflife). View diagnostics → Pass
- Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).Pass
- Actively maintained (last published 5 days ago).Pass
- Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository. See how to fix → Fail
Schema Quality & AI Usability74
- AI-judged instruction clarity (good).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 994 tokens (~124/item across 8 items; 8 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management23
- Stability observed for 7 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.Partial
Tool Coverage77
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 32% of tool parameters carry a description.Partial
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 8 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 9 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.Pass
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 4 Nov 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 17 to 20. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 5 days of observed history at the previous scan, 6 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 2 Nov 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 10 to 13. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 3 days of observed history at the previous scan, 4 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 1 Nov 26 +15
- Malware scan: unverified → pass ▲ security
- 31 Oct 26 −14
- Malware scan: pass → unverified ▼ security
- Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1 functional
- 29 Oct 26 79
First indexed and scored.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 5 Nov 2026 · Analysed npm/@pipeworx/mcp-catalogueoflife@0.2.1
Provenance Verified
A signed build attestation was found and verified, binding this exact artifact to the source repository it claims to come from.
| Result | Verified |
|---|---|
| Ecosystem | npm |
| Reason | Verified |
| Discovered via | Registry attestation endpoint |
| Source repo | pipeworx-io/mcp-catalogueoflife |
| Certificate issuer | https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com |
| Certificate SAN | https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-catalogueoflife/.github/workflows/publish.yml@refs/heads/main |
| Rekor log index | 3606684297 |
| Predicate type | SLSA build provenance https://slsa.dev/provenance/v1 |
| Subject digest | sha512:01f5f7de5704328c210750bd807c4399bd387a3a085937fca7da0b6737a772868f2eb55e5991dae29e14046e9ca07d4a94325c0a633f4de9fa2bdf1b0 |
Background: How many MCP packages publish verified provenance →
Dependencies 0 packages
| Packages resolved | 0 |
|---|---|
| Tree resolution | Complete |
Background: SBOMs and build attestations, explained →
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
children ~98
"What species are in [genus]" / "all members of [family]" / "species under [order]" / "direct descendants of [taxon]" — list immediate child taxa under a Catalogue of Life parent taxon. Use to walk down the tree of life one rank at a time.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
| limit | number | – | 1-1000 (default 100). |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
classification ~121
"What kingdom / phylum / class / order / family / genus is [species] in" / "taxonomy of [organism]" / "show me the lineage of [animal/plant]" / "where does [species] sit in the tree of life" — returns the full classification chain (kingdom → phylum → class → order → family → genus → species) for a Catalogue of Life taxon ID. Use after `search` to get the lineage of a specific species.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
name_match ~120
"Is [Panthera leo] a valid scientific name" / "exact match for [Latin binomial]" / "disambiguate homonyms" — exact scientific-name match returning 0 or 1 hit plus close alternatives. Use when you have a precise Latin name and want to confirm acceptance or distinguish homonyms (same name used for different organisms — pass authorship to disambiguate).
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| authorship | string | – | Optional authorship to disambiguate homonyms. |
| dataset | string | – | – |
| scientific_name | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
search ~285
"What is the scientific name of [animal/plant]" / "what family does [species] belong to" / "look up [organism] taxonomy" / "find [genus/family] in the tree of life" / "common name → Latin binomial" / "is [name] a real species" — AUTHORITATIVE taxonomic lookup for any species, genus, family, or higher taxon. Source: Catalogue of Life — the global consensus checklist of every known living organism (~2.1M accepted species names plus synonyms). Returns matching name-usages with scientific name, authorship, rank (kingdom→species), status (accepted | synonym | misapplied), and taxon ID for follow-up calls to `taxon` or `classification`. Filter by `rank` ("species" / "genus" / etc.) when narrowing.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | ChecklistBank dataset key (default "3LR" = COL latest release). |
| limit | number | – | 1-1000 (default 25). |
| offset | number | – | – |
| query | string | yes | Free-text search (e.g. "Panthera leo"). |
| rank | string | – | e.g. "species", "genus", "family" |
| status | string | – | accepted | synonym | bare_name | missapplied | … |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
synonyms ~76
"What are the synonyms of [species]" / "old name for [organism]" / "alternative scientific names" — list synonyms (alternative or historical scientific names) currently mapped to a single Catalogue of Life accepted taxon. Use to map outdated taxonomy to current names.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
taxon ~70
Fetch a Catalogue of Life accepted taxon record by its COL taxon ID, returning the accepted concept with name, rank, and authorship. Pair with classification for lineage, children to descend the tree, or vernacular for common names.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
usage ~70
Fetch a single Catalogue of Life name-usage record by its COL ID, returning taxon name, authorship, rank, status (accepted/synonym), and source dataset. Use after search or name_match to retrieve the full structured record.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
vernacular ~98
"What's the common name for [Latin binomial]" / "what do people call [scientific name]" / "vernacular names of [species]" — list common/vernacular names (in various languages) for a Catalogue of Life taxon. Use to map "Panthera leo" → "lion" / "leon" / "lwów" etc.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| dataset | string | – | – |
| id | string | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
How do I install the Catalogueoflife MCP server?
Catalogueoflife runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-catalogueoflife. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.
npm · @pipeworx/mcp-catalogueoflife
claude mcp add pipeworx-io-catalogueoflife -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-catalogueoflife
What is the Catalogueoflife MCP server?
Catalogueoflife is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/catalogueoflife. Catalogue of Life MCP, global taxonomic index. This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-catalogueoflife).
Is the Catalogueoflife MCP server safe to use?
Catalogueoflife scores 82 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 5 November 2026. It declares no install or post-install scripts. Its build provenance is signed and verified. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.
What tools does the Catalogueoflife MCP server expose?
Catalogueoflife exposes 8 tools: search, name_match, usage, taxon, classification, and 3 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 938 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Is the Catalogueoflife MCP server still maintained?
Catalogueoflife is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 5 November 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.
What licence is the Catalogueoflife MCP server under?
Catalogueoflife declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.