Automated Life Science API Discovery & Tool Creation

Discover, create, validate, and integrate life science APIs into ToolUniverse.

Four-Phase Workflow

Gap Analysis → API Discovery → Tool Creation → Validation → Integration
     ↓              ↓               ↓              ↓            ↓
  Coverage      Web Search      devtu-create   devtu-fix    Git PR

Human approval gates after: discovery, creation, validation, and before PR.

Phase 1: Discovery & Gap Analysis

1.1 Analyze Current Coverage

Load ToolUniverse, categorize tools by domain (genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, clinical, omics, imaging, literature, pathways, systems biology). Count per category.

1.2 Identify Gap Domains

• Critical Gap: <5 tools in category
• Moderate Gap: 5-15 tools, missing key subcategories
• Emerging Gap: New technologies not represented

Common gaps: single-cell genomics, metabolomics, patient registries, microbial genomics, multi-omics integration, synthetic biology, toxicology.

1.3 Web Search for APIs

For each gap domain, run multiple queries:

1. "[domain] API REST JSON" — direct API search
2. "[domain] public database" — database discovery
3. "[domain] API 2025 OR 2026" — recent releases
4. "[domain] database" site:nar.oxfordjournals.org — NAR Database Issue

Extract: base URL, endpoints, auth method, parameter schemas, rate limits.

1.4 Score and Prioritize

High priority (>=70), Medium (50-69), Low (<50).

1.5 Generate Discovery Report

Coverage analysis, prioritized candidates with scores, implementation roadmap.

Phase 2: Tool Creation

For each API, use Skill(skill="devtu-create-tool") or follow these patterns.

Architecture Decision

• Multiple endpoints → multi-operation tool (single class, multiple JSON wrappers)
• Single endpoint → single-operation acceptable

Key Steps

1. Design tool class following template — see references/tool-templates.md
2. Create JSON config with oneOf return_schema
3. Find real test examples (use List endpoint → extract IDs → verify)
4. Register in default_config.py

Critical Requirements

• return_schema MUST have oneOf (success + error schemas)
• test_examples MUST use real IDs (NO placeholders)
• Tool name <= 55 characters
• NEVER raise exceptions in run() — return error dict
• Set timeout on all HTTP requests (30s)

Phase 3: Validation

Full guide: references/validation-guide.md

Quick Validation Checklist

1. Schema: oneOf structure, data wrapper, error field
2. Placeholders: No TEST/DUMMY/PLACEHOLDER in test_examples
3. Loading: 3-step check (class registered, config registered, wrappers generated)
4. Integration tests: python scripts/test_new_tools.py [api_name] -v → 100% pass

Fix failures with Skill(skill="devtu-fix-tool").

Phase 4: Integration

Use Skill(skill="devtu-github") or:

1. Create branch: feature/add-[api-name]-tools
2. Stage tool files + default_config.py
3. Commit with descriptive message
4. Push and create PR with validation results

Processing Patterns

References

• Tool templates (Python class + JSON config): references/tool-templates.md
• Validation & integration guide: references/validation-guide.md