techniques

techniques is a skill for Claude Code from cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server. It costs 79 tokens per session (487 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of techniques, Apache-2.0.

A catalogue of reusable patterns for controlling the shape and retrieval of data returned by MCP server tools. MCP is a way for AI assistants to use external tools and data.

In plain words
What is it for?
Handling oversized document-like responses, creating outlines instead of truncating content, and defining how a client can request the remaining data.
Why use it?
It helps when a tool response is too large, awkward to use, or costly to retrieve, without inventing a different solution for each tool.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Part of the pubmed-mcp-server plugin — 32 skills, 1 MCP server shipped together

Good fit Handling oversized document-like responses, creating outlines instead of truncating content, and defining how a client can request the remaining data.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server/techniques
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server --skill techniques
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install pubmed-mcp-server, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 32 skills, 1 MCP server.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for techniques

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server/techniques.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server/techniques)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server/techniques"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server/techniques.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 79 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 487 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00079 $0.00487
Opus 5 $0.00039 $0.00244
Sonnet 5 $0.00016 $0.00097
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00049

Measured 8d ago against content hash 8f01d620e53c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

techniques scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 8d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to techniques — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/techniques/SKILL.md · 33 lines

What it actually says

Overview

A directory of cross-cutting techniques for shaping what a handler returns and how a client retrieves it — patterns that don't belong to a single API surface. Each entry is a self-contained reference under references/: the problem it solves, when to reach for it (and when not to), and how to apply it with current framework primitives.

These are patterns, not new primitives — they compose tool(), output/format() shaping, ctx.state, and the existing helpers. Where a technique has (or will have) a dedicated helper, its reference says so and links the tracking issue.

Techniques

Technique Path Use when
Outline-on-overflow references/outline-on-overflow.md A single tool call returns one document-shaped payload too big to inline (e.g. a ~130KB record), and you want an honest section outline + a re-call contract instead of truncating.

Adding a technique

One file under references/, one row above. A technique earns a place here when it's a reusable response/retrieval pattern that (a) spans more than one tool or server and (b) isn't already covered by an api-* reference. Keep the reference concise: problem → when-to-use → how-to with current primitives → helper status. Bump metadata.version on any change (skill-versioning policy).

  • design-mcp-server — choosing the tool surface and output shapes up front.
  • add-tool — the tool() builder, format()structuredContent parity, matching response density to context budget.
  • api-canvasspillover(), the row-collection sibling of outline-on-overflow.
Files

What ships with it

1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 8d ago First seen · 33 lines · 79 tokens per session scan A 8f01d620e53c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

techniques is a skill published in the GitHub repository cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server (147 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 79 tokens to every session and 487 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to techniques, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

Related

Other skills, from other repositories

@elad12390/web-research-assistant

Comprehensive MCP server for web research with 14 tools: SearXNG + Exa AI search, URL crawling, stealth scraping (Cloudflare bypass), package registry lookup (npm/PyPI/crates), GitHub stats, changelog fetching, tech comparison, error translation, API docs discovery, stock image search, and service health. Trigger…

elad12390/web-research-assistant · 144 tokens

business-model-validator

Use when a prospect, new customer, or existing operator wants to know whether Zooza fits their business, or which Zooza features map to how they operate. No Zooza account required — works as a pure knowledge interview.

zooza-dev/zooza-mcp-server · 49 tokens

spotify-mcp-doctor

Diagnose and repair NovaLux12/spotify-mcp-server failures — auth, permissions, devices, rate limits, OpenClaw wiring. Use when Spotify tool calls fail or setup stalls.

NovaLux12/spotify-mcp-server · 44 tokens

delegacion-local

Regla y catálogo para delegar pasos mecánicos (resumir, clasificar, extraer, boilerplate, mensaje de commit desde un diff, traducir texto o archivo, resumir salida de lint/tests/CI, explicar código, describir una imagen, verificar si el backend local está disponible) a modelos locales vía las tools local del MCP…

ZahiriNatZuke/local-delegate · 137 tokens

class-management

Use when the user wants to create a new class, group, or course in Zooza — e.g. "set up a Monday yoga class", "add a new group", "schedule a course". Guides through programme selection, venue, trainer, session pattern, and commits.

zooza-dev/zooza-mcp-server · 56 tokens

negotiate-terminology

Use when the user wants to set up their business vocabulary — what they call programmes, classes, sessions, trainers. Also use when the user says "you're using the wrong words" or this is their first session with Zooza MCP.

zooza-dev/zooza-mcp-server · 47 tokens