patents-mcp — Claude Code MCP server: what it does, how to install
MCP server for querying Google Patents public records on BigQuery and exploring prior art. Helpful when checking existing technical disclosures inside agent chats.
Open on GitHubWhat patents-mcp does
This server connects your assistant directly to public patent records on BigQuery. It registers three tools, including search_patents to find publications by topic or inventor, get_patent to view document metadata, and get_patent_claims to examine claims text.
The server runs on Go. It uses the official Go MCP SDK, while structured logging is handled by zap. The architecture keeps tools self-contained, routing all data requests to the cloud dataset rather than storing indexes locally.
Without a GCP service account granted BigQuery Job User and BigQuery Data Viewer permissions, all queries will fail. Running the server also requires Go 1.21 or newer and credentials set in GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS.
What it helps with
- query patent documents by inventor name or subject area
- fetch claims text directly by patent publication number
- inspect prior art before writing an invention disclosure
Example prompts for the agent
- Find patent filings by Yann LeCun related to neural architectures
- Retrieve the full claims text for publication US10123456B2
- Search for prior art covering context-dependent UI element visibility
How to install patents-mcp
Install
The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about patents-mcp
How to install patents-mcp in Claude Code?
Clone the repository using git clone https://github.com/tushariitr-19/patents-mcp, compile the binary via go build -o patents-mcp-server ./cmd/server/, and add the resulting executable path to your MCP client configuration with GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS and GCP_PROJECT_ID environment variables.
What does patents-mcp do?
It lets coding assistants search Google Patents records on BigQuery. Agents can look up disclosures, pull document details, and read claims without third-party proprietary search APIs.
Which Google Cloud permissions are required?
Your GCP project must have the BigQuery API enabled, and your service account requires both BigQuery Job User and BigQuery Data Viewer roles.
