dicomweb-mcp-server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes a DICOMweb-compliant DICOM archive to AI assistants. It lets any MCP-capable client search studies, series and instances, inspect metadata, read Structured and Encapsulated PDF Reports, and render image frames — all through natural language.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or later
• A running DICOMweb server supporting QIDO-RS and WADO-RS (e.g. orthanc)

The following endpoints must be supported by the DICOMweb server:

| Endpoint | Service | Used by | |---|---|---| | GET /studies | QIDO-RS | Search studies | | GET /studies/{study}/series | QIDO-RS | Search series | | GET /studies/{study}/series/{series}/instances | QIDO-RS | Search instances, search structured reports, search encapsulated PDF reports | | GET /studies/{study}/series/{series}/instances/{instance}/metadata | WADO-RS | Get instance metadata, get structured report text, get encapsulated PDF report text | | GET /studies/{study}/series/{series}/instances/{instance}/frames/{frame}/rendered | WADO-RS | Render instance frame |

Installation

Using npx (recommended — no local install needed)

npx dicomweb-mcp-server

The server reads its configuration from a .env file located in the same directory as the script (see Configuration below).

Global install

npm install -g dicomweb-mcp-server
dicomweb-mcp-server

Configuration

Create a .env file with the connection details for your DICOMweb server. Place the file next to wherever the server is executed from (or in the working directory you configure in your MCP client).

# Required
DICOMWEB_HOST=https://your-dicomweb-server/dicomweb

# Optional — authentication
DICOMWEB_AUTH=basic        # basic | bearer
DICOMWEB_USER=username     # required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=basic
DICOMWEB_PASS=password     # required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=basic
DICOMWEB_TOKEN=your-token  # required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=bearer

# Optional — request timeout (milliseconds)
DICOMWEB_TIMEOUT=30000

| Variable | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | DICOMWEB_HOST | Yes | Base URL of the DICOMweb server (used for both QIDO-RS and WADO-RS requests) | | DICOMWEB_AUTH | No | Authentication type: basic or bearer | | DICOMWEB_USER | Conditional | Username — required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=basic | | DICOMWEB_PASS | Conditional | Password — required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=basic | | DICOMWEB_TOKEN | Conditional | Bearer token — required when DICOMWEB_AUTH=bearer | | DICOMWEB_TIMEOUT | No | Fetch timeout in milliseconds. Omit to disable. |

MCP Client Setup

Claude Desktop

Add the server to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dicomweb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dicomweb-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DICOMWEB_HOST": "https://your-dicomweb-server/dicomweb"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can supply all environment variables directly in the env block instead of using a .env file.

VS Code (GitHub Copilot Agent Mode)

Add to your VS Code settings.json or workspace .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "dicomweb": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dicomweb-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DICOMWEB_HOST": "https://your-dicomweb-server/dicomweb"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project root, or to the global ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dicomweb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dicomweb-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DICOMWEB_HOST": "https://your-dicomweb-server/dicomweb"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

find-studies

Searches DICOM studies on the configured DICOMweb server. Results are sorted by study date, newest first.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | query | string | Space-separated key=value filter string (see Query Syntax). Pass "" to return all studies. |

Example prompts

• "Find all CT studies for patient John Doe"
• "Search for studies from January 2024"

find-series

Searches DICOM series within a single study. Results are sorted by series date, newest first.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID — obtain from find-studies | | query | string | Space-separated key=value filter string. Pass "" to return all series. |

find-instances

Searches DICOM instances within a single series. Results are sorted by Instance Number ascending.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID — obtain from find-studies | | seriesInstanceUid | string | Series Instance UID — obtain from find-series | | query | string | Space-separated key=value filter string. Pass "" to return all instances. |

find-encapsulated-pdf-reports

Finds all Encapsulated PDF instances in a study by looking for DOC-modality series and filtering by the Encapsulated PDF SOP Class UID (1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.104.1).

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID — obtain from find-studies |

Example prompts

• "Find all PDF reports in study 1.2.3.4"
• "Are there any encapsulated PDF documents in this study?"

get-encapsulated-pdf-report-text

Retrieves an Encapsulated PDF DICOM instance and extracts its text content.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID | | seriesInstanceUid | string | Series Instance UID | | sopInstanceUid | string | SOP Instance UID — obtain from find-encapsulated-pdf-reports |

Note: Text extraction only works for searchable (text-based) PDFs. PDFs that consist entirely of scanned page images without an embedded text layer will yield little or no text. In those cases, no OCR is performed.

Example prompts

• "Read the PDF report for SOP instance 1.2.3.4.5"
• "What does the encapsulated PDF document say?"

find-structured-reports

Finds all Structured Report (SR) instances in a study by looking for SR-modality series and filtering by known SR SOP Class UIDs.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID — obtain from find-studies |

get-structured-report-text

Retrieves a Structured Report instance and converts it to human-readable text.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID | | seriesInstanceUid | string | Series Instance UID | | sopInstanceUid | string | SOP Instance UID — obtain from find-structured-reports |

get-instance-metadata

Retrieves and formats all DICOM attributes of a single instance as human-readable text. Does not retrieve pixel data.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID | | seriesInstanceUid | string | Series Instance UID | | sopInstanceUid | string | SOP Instance UID — obtain from find-instances |

render-instance-frame

Renders a specific frame from a DICOM instance and returns it as an inline image (JPEG or PNG).

| Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | studyInstanceUid | string | Study Instance UID | | seriesInstanceUid | string | Series Instance UID | | sopInstanceUid | string | SOP Instance UID — obtain from find-instances | | frame | integer | 1-based frame index (use 1 for single-frame instances) | | outputFormat | enum | image/jpeg or image/png |

Example prompt

• "Show me the first frame of SOP instance 1.2.3.4.5 as a JPEG"

Query Syntax

The query parameter accepted by the search tools is a space-separated list of key=value pairs.

Key formats

| Format | Example | |---|---| | DICOM keyword name | PatientName=DOE* | | 8-digit hex tag | 00100020=12345 |

Special keys

| Key | Description | |---|---| | limit=N | Maximum number of results to return | | offset=N | Skip the first N results (for pagination) | | fuzzymatching=true | Enable fuzzy (phonetic) name matching | | includefield=all | Request all available DICOM attributes |

Examples

PatientName=DOE*
StudyDate=20240101-20241231 ModalitiesInStudy=CT
00100020=ABC123 limit=10
fuzzymatching=true PatientName=Smith

Wildcard * is supported in string values where the DICOMweb server allows it.

Typical Workflow

A natural conversational sequence with the MCP server looks like this:

1. Search studies — find-studies with a patient name or date range.
2. Browse series — find-series with the Study Instance UID returned in step 1.
3. List instances — find-instances with Study and Series UIDs from steps 1–2.
4. Inspect or render — get-instance-metadata for DICOM attributes, or render-instance-frame to view pixel data.
5. Read SR reports — find-structured-reports then get-structured-report-text for SR documents.
6. Read PDF reports — find-encapsulated-pdf-reports then get-encapsulated-pdf-report-text for Encapsulated PDF documents.

License

dicomweb-mcp-server is released under the MIT License.