Agent skill · research science · google-deepmind
ncbi-sequence-fetch
Retrieve protein and nucleotide sequences from NCBI databases using E-utilities. Supports direct accession lookup, CDS translation, gene+organism search, locus lookup, PubMed-linked sequences, patent protein extraction, and organism+length fallback search. Use when you need to fetch biological sequences by accession, gene name, locus tag, PubMed ID, or patent number.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a comprehensive script for fetching biological sequences from NCBI databases, including various subcommands and structured output formats.
What it needs
Requires uv installed locally. Requires ncbi account access. About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-07. 2,648 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
NCBI Sequence Fetch Prerequisites 1. uv: Read the uv skill and follow its Setup instructions to ensure uv is installed and on PATH. 2. User Notification: If .licenses/ncbisequencefetchLICENSE.txt does not already exist in the workspace root directory then (1) prominently notify the user to check the terms at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/home/about/policies/, then (2) create the file recording the notification text and timestamp. 3. .env file: Make sure the .env file exists in your home directory. Create one if it does not exist. 4. NCBIAPIKEY (optional): Raises the NCBI rate limit from 3 to 10 requests/second. The skill works without it, but a key is recommended if the user plans many queries or encounters a 429 error. You can register for a key for free at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/settings/. You MUST use the safe credentials protocol in the credentials skill to check for and request this key if this skill looks relevant to the user's request. Core Rules Use the Wrapper: ALWAYS execute the provided helper scripts to query the database rather than accessing the database directly. The scripts automatically enforce the required rate limit gracefully. API Key Support: If the user provides an NCBIAPIKEY in their environment, the query speed limits are automatically increased significantly. Notification: If this skill is used, ensure this is mentioned in the output. Overview Wraps NCBI's Entrez E-utilities (efetch, esearch, elink, esummary) for retrieving protein and nucleotide sequences. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills google-deepmind/ncbi_sequence_fetch