
DECIMER MCP Server
- Updated April 13, 2026
- DocMinus/DecimerMCPServer
DECIMER MCP Server is an MCP server that performs DECIMER image-to-SMILES chemical structure recognition for AI agents.
About
DECIMER MCP Server connects MCP hosts to the DECIMER model so agents can convert chemical structure images into SMILES notation. developers in cheminformatics, biotech side projects, or education tech use it when OCR on diagrams is unreliable and they need a dedicated structure recognizer inside an automated pipeline. Installation is stdio through uvx on the published PyPI identifier without extra env vars in the published manifest. Expect intermediate complexity around Python tooling and validating SMILES downstream in RDKit or similar. The audience is narrow compared to general dev MCP servers. Skillselion files it under build integrations for research-oriented agents that must ingest structure images as machine-readable chemistry.
- DECIMER image-to-SMILES chemical structure recognition exposed over MCP
- Python package decimer-mcp-server 0.1.4 via uvx on PyPI
- Stdio transport for chemistry-aware agent workflows
- Useful for digitizing diagrams from papers, slides, or lab scans
DECIMER MCP Server by the numbers
- Data as of Jul 7, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
claude mcp add decimer-mcp-server -- uvx decimer-mcp-serverAdd your badge
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| Package | decimer-mcp-server |
|---|---|
| Transport | STDIO |
| Auth | None |
| Last updated | April 13, 2026 |
| Repository | DocMinus/DecimerMCPServer ↗ |
What it does
Turn chemical structure images into SMILES strings through DECIMER from your agent for cheminformatics notebooks, lab tooling, or research assistants.
Who is it for?
Best when you're automating chemistry research workflows, structure digitization, or edu tooling with MCP and Python uvx.
Skip if: General OCR needs, non-chemistry document parsing, or teams without Python/uvx tolerance on the agent machine.
What you get
With decimer-mcp-server on stdio, the agent returns SMILES strings from structure images for downstream cheminformatics scripts.
- SMILES strings extracted from chemical structure images via MCP
- Agent-ready cheminformatics recognition step in larger pipelines
By the numbers
- Published version 0.1.4 on PyPI
- Stdio transport with uvx runtimeHint per server schema
README.md
DecimerMCPServer
mcp-name: io.github.DocMinus/decimer-mcp-server
MCP server that exposes DECIMER image-to-SMILES functionality as tool calls.
This project is a thin adapter over the existing FastAPI service in DecimerServerAPI.
It does not run DECIMER models directly.
The adapter sends JSON requests by default, with automatic fallback to form payloads for compatibility.
Tools
server_health: Checks whether the DECIMER FastAPI server is reachable.analyze_chemical_image: Sends a base64-encoded image to/image2smiles/and returns structured output.
Requirements
- Python 3.10+
- Running DECIMER API server (default:
http://localhost:8099)
find it at either of these two versions:
- GitHub: https://github.com/DocMinus/DecimerServerAPI
- Dockerhub: https://hub.docker.com/r/docminus/decimer_api
Install
cd /Users/a/dev/DecimerMCPServer
uv venv
uv sync
Configuration
Copy .env.example values into your environment:
DECIMER_API_BASE_URL(defaulthttp://localhost:8099)DECIMER_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS(default60)DECIMER_MAX_IMAGE_BYTES(default10000000)DECIMER_MCP_LOG_LEVEL(defaultINFO)
Run (stdio transport)
uv run decimer-mcp-server
or
uv run python -m decimer_mcp_server
Example MCP client config
{
"mcpServers": {
"decimer": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run", "python", "-m", "decimer_mcp_server"],
"env": {
"DECIMER_API_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:8099"
}
}
}
}
Output shape
analyze_chemical_image returns:
{
"ok": true,
"smiles": "CCO",
"reason": null,
"api_status_code": 200,
"api_message": null,
"classifier_score": 0.0000012,
"classifier_threshold": 0.3,
"classifier_decision": "structure_like"
}
When no SMILES is returned by API classifier behavior:
{
"ok": true,
"smiles": null,
"reason": "not_chemical_structure",
"api_status_code": 200,
"api_message": "No SMILES returned by API",
"classifier_score": 0.99999,
"classifier_threshold": 0.3,
"classifier_decision": "not_structure_like"
}
Development tests
uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest
Make targets:
make sync
make test
Smoke test helper
Run one health check + one inference call against your DECIMER API:
cd /Users/a/dev/DecimerMCPServer
DECIMER_API_BASE_URL=http://chitchat:8099 uv run decimer-mcp-smoke-test --image /Users/a/dev/DecimerServerAPI/example_usage/structure.png
If you keep settings in .env, load it with:
uv run --env-file .env decimer-mcp-smoke-test --image /Users/a/dev/DecimerServerAPI/example_usage/structure.png
or use make:
make smoke
Override the image path if needed:
make smoke SMOKE_IMAGE=/absolute/path/to/image.png
## MCP Registry publishing
Tags matching `v*` trigger `.github/workflows/publish-mcp.yml`.
Workflow steps:
- installs `mcp-publisher`
- validates `server.json`
- calls registry publish using secret `MCP_REGISTRY_TOKEN`
- publishes slug `io.github.DocMinus/decimer-mcp-server` (case sensitive; must match registry grant)
Before tagging:
1. Update `pyproject.toml` + `server.json` versions
2. Ensure `server.json` stays valid (`uv pip install jsonschema && python validate snippet from AGENTS.md`)
3. Add GitHub repo secret `MCP_REGISTRY_TOKEN` (GitHub PAT with `repo`, `workflow` scopes)
Release flow:
```bash
git tag v0.1.1
git push origin v0.1.1
Monitor Actions tab. If publish fails, rerun using workflow dispatch after fixing issues.
## Contribution
This project was built by DocMinus with AI-assisted coding support (OpenCode/Copilot-style tooling), then reviewed and tested by the author.
## AI usage policy
- AI assistance was used for scaffolding, implementation drafts, and documentation edits.
- Final technical decisions, validation runs, and acceptance were performed by the maintainer.
- Runtime behavior should be validated with local tests (`make test`) and smoke tests (`make smoke`) before release.
Recommended MCP Servers
How it compares
Domain-specific chemistry vision MCP, not a general vision LLM or PDF text extractor.
FAQ
Who is DECIMER MCP Server for?
Developers and researchers building MCP agents that need reliable image-to-SMILES conversion for chemical structures.
When should I use DECIMER MCP Server?
Use it during build when integrating lab, education, or cheminformatics pipelines that ingest structure images.
How do I add DECIMER MCP Server to my agent?
Register stdio MCP with runtimeHint uvx and package decimer-mcp-server 0.1.4 from PyPI, then invoke recognition tools on image inputs.