nodecode-patsnap

Patsnap: search global patents and scientific literature through Patsnap's hosted MCP server, with the search workflow its skill taught. A Nodecode rewrite of NousResearch/hermes-labs-plugins by NousResearch.

Get it

Tell the agent "add the patsnap cell", or run nodecode add nc://patsnap.

Set it up

One member is the step left: a Patsnap key. Create one at open.patsnap.com (new accounts get free credits), then paste it into /settings or put it in the config:

{
  "patsnap": { "api_key": "your key" }
}

Or name the variable that holds it and leave api_key unset, as the original did:

{
  "patsnap": { "api_key_env": "PATSNAP_API_KEY" }
}

Then (restart-cells "nodecode-patsnap"). Ask /patsnap to see which server the cell is talking to, what it registered, and how many calls it has spent this start.

Member	Default	Notes
`endpoint`	Patsnap's hosted server	the Streamable-HTTP MCP endpoint; another instance answers at another path
`api_key`	unset	sent in an `apikey` request header, never in the URL
`api_key_env`	`PATSNAP_API_KEY`	the variable read when `api_key` is unset
`tool_prefix`	`patsnap`	the prefix the ten tools take, so another cell can list the same server
`language`	`en`	the language the detail tools answer in: `en`, `zh-CN`, `zh-TW` or `ja`
`limit`	`10`	what a search asks for when the call names no limit; a small one keeps credits down
`timeout`	`60`	seconds one MCP call may take

The key is read from the section or the variable it names, sent to the endpoint you named and nowhere else, and a refusal never prints it back. Without either, the cell still starts: the tools are there, and the first call refuses naming the member to write.

config.example.jsonc beside this file is the whole section, commented.

Use it

Ask for patents or papers. The ten tools are on the model from the first turn, so "patents from the last five years on solid-state battery electrolyte-interface stability" reaches them without being told to.

Tool	Patsnap's own tool	What you get
`patsnap_search_patent`	`search_patent`	ranked patents from WIPO/PCT, EPO, USPTO, CNIPA, JPO, KIPO and more, by semantic query, keywords, field filters or a Boolean query
`patsnap_search_literature`	`search_literature`	ranked papers from PubMed, Nature, arXiv and others
`patsnap_build_patent_boolean_query`	`build_patent_boolean_query`	a full intent turned into Patsnap's Boolean syntax
`patsnap_describe_search_capability`	`describe_search_capability`	the fields and operators of a specialised domain (`ls`, `material`)
`patsnap_get_standard_assignee_name`	`get_standard_assignee_name`	a company name resolved to the `company_id` / `ans_id` a search filters on
`patsnap_get_corptree_hierarchy`	`get_corptree_hierarchy`	one confirmed company's ancestors, children, descendants or root
`patsnap_fetch_patent`	`fetch_patent`	one patent's bibliography, claims and description
`patsnap_fetch_patent_lifecycle`	`fetch_patent_lifecycle`	one patent's legal events, annuities, transfers, licences and litigation
`patsnap_fetch_literature`	`fetch_literature`	one paper by the id a search returned
`patsnap_tools`	(this cell)	the server's own tool descriptions, or one tool's exact argument schema

Patents and papers are separate tools: one call returns one record type. The workflow the original shipped as a skill rides along in three places: the tool descriptions, (help :patsnap), and the fixed rules below.

Resolve a company name with patsnap_get_standard_assignee_name before filtering on it: company_id and ans_id are not interchangeable, and a parent or subsidiary from the corporate tree does not widen a search until its ids are added.
Pass only the parameter the chosen strategy uses, and search small (limit 10-20) before paging: every call spends credits on the account.
Take domain fields and operators from patsnap_describe_search_capability, and identifiers from earlier results; never invent one.
patsnap_fetch_patent already includes the full text: include takes only relations and media, and legal status is patsnap_fetch_patent_lifecycle.
An authentication error means the key is wrong, expired or out of credits: report it and stop rather than retrying in a loop.
Not for statistics, trends or Top-N counts, and never a substitute for a legal opinion or a freedom-to-operate conclusion.

Every call spends credits on the Patsnap account the key belongs to. The same answers are in the patsnap package, for a prompt you would rather type in eval:

(patsnap:search-patent :semantic-query "solid-state electrolyte interface stability" :limit 5)
(patsnap:fetch-patent :patent-id "US-11234567-B2")
(patsnap:patent-lifecycle :patent-id "US-11234567-B2")
(patsnap:tools "search_patent")     ; the server's own schema, verbatim

Each answers the text the tool answers, and a refusal is PATSNAP-ERROR carrying the HTTP status and Patsnap's own sentence. (help :patsnap) has the same in the manual.

What is in it

File	What it is
`cell.lisp`	the `patsnap` section, the ten tool registrations, `/patsnap`, `(help :patsnap)`
`mcp.lisp`	the MCP client: initialize, `notifications/initialized`, `tools/list`, `tools/call`, a JSON or event-stream answer, and the session a server issues
`tools.lisp`	the server's nine tools, the schema each registers, and the verbs behind them
`test/`	offline tests: the lifecycle, each tool through the dispatch seam against a stubbed server, the session, the key's header, and every refusal

Nothing is installed and no dependency is added: nlk:http is the one seam that reaches outside, and it reaches one endpoint.

The MCP server is Patsnap's own (patsnap/patent-literature-search-mcp, Apache-2.0). This cell only points at it.

nc://patsnap

nodecode-patsnap

Get it

Set it up

Use it

What is in it

Licence

Add nc://patsnap