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Install in OpenClaw
/install fda-guideline-search
Description
Search FDA industry guidelines by therapeutic area or topic. Trigger when user requests FDA guidance documents, regulatory guidelines, or asks about FDA requ...
README (SKILL.md)
FDA Guideline Search
Quickly search and retrieve FDA industry guidelines by therapeutic area.
Features
- Search FDA guidelines by therapeutic area (oncology, cardiology, neurology, etc.)
- Filter by document type (draft, final, ICH guidelines)
- Download and cache guideline documents
- Search within document content
Usage
Python Script
python scripts/main.py --area \x3Ctherapeutic_area> [options]
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
--area |
string | - | Yes | Therapeutic area (oncology, cardiology, rare-disease) |
--type |
string | all | No | Document type (all, draft, final, ich) |
--year |
string | - | No | Filter by year (e.g., 2023, 2020-2024) |
--download |
flag | false | No | Download PDF to local cache |
--search |
string | - | No | Search term within documents |
--limit |
int | 20 | No | Max results (1-100) |
Examples
# Search oncology guidelines
python scripts/main.py --area oncology
# Search for rare disease draft guidelines
python scripts/main.py --area "rare disease" --type draft
# Search with download
python scripts/main.py --area cardiology --download --limit 10
Technical Details
- Source: FDA CDER/CBER Guidance Documents Database
- API: FDA Open Data / Web scraping with rate limiting
- Cache: Local PDF storage in
references/cache/ - Difficulty: Medium
Output Format
Results are returned as structured JSON:
{
"query": {
"area": "oncology",
"type": "all",
"limit": 20
},
"total_found": 45,
"guidelines": [
{
"title": "Clinical Trial Endpoints for the Approval of Cancer Drugs...",
"document_number": "FDA-2020-D-0623",
"issue_date": "2023-03-15",
"type": "Final",
"therapeutic_area": "Oncology",
"pdf_url": "https://www.fda.gov/.../guidance.pdf",
"local_path": "references/cache/..."
}
]
}
References
Limitations
- Rate limited to 10 requests/minute to respect FDA servers
- Some historical documents may not have digital PDFs
- ICH guidelines require separate search scope
Risk Assessment
| Risk Indicator | Assessment | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Code Execution | Python scripts with tools | High |
| Network Access | External API calls | High |
| File System Access | Read/write data | Medium |
| Instruction Tampering | Standard prompt guidelines | Low |
| Data Exposure | Data handled securely | Medium |
Security Checklist
- No hardcoded credentials or API keys
- No unauthorized file system access (../)
- Output does not expose sensitive information
- Prompt injection protections in place
- API requests use HTTPS only
- Input validated against allowed patterns
- API timeout and retry mechanisms implemented
- Output directory restricted to workspace
- Script execution in sandboxed environment
- Error messages sanitized (no internal paths exposed)
- Dependencies audited
- No exposure of internal service architecture
Prerequisites
No additional Python packages required.
Evaluation Criteria
Success Metrics
- Successfully executes main functionality
- Output meets quality standards
- Handles edge cases gracefully
- Performance is acceptable
Test Cases
- Basic Functionality: Standard input → Expected output
- Edge Case: Invalid input → Graceful error handling
- Performance: Large dataset → Acceptable processing time
Lifecycle Status
- Current Stage: Draft
- Next Review Date: 2026-03-06
- Known Issues: None
- Planned Improvements:
- Performance optimization
- Additional feature support
Usage Guidance
This skill is coherent but it runs network requests and writes files. Before running: (1) review the full script (especially any parts after the truncated portion) to confirm downloads are only to the skill workspace and there are no hidden endpoints; (2) run it in a sandboxed environment or container if possible; (3) ensure your environment allows outbound HTTP to fda.gov and database.ich.org and that your organization permits scraping those sites; (4) be aware the scraper uses regex HTML parsing (fragile) and may break if site layout changes; and (5) confirm robots.txt and site terms are respected — the docs say they will be, but I did not see an explicit robots.txt check in the visible code.
Capability Analysis
Type: OpenClaw Skill
Name: fda-guideline-search
Version: 0.1.0
The FDA Guideline Search skill is a legitimate tool designed to retrieve regulatory documents. The core logic in `scripts/main.py` performs standard HTTP requests to official FDA and ICH domains with appropriate rate limiting and user-agent headers. The script includes a safe file-download mechanism that sanitizes filenames to prevent path traversal and restricts file writing to a local cache directory. While the current implementation uses mock data for search results (as noted in the code comments), the overall structure is transparent, lacks any malicious execution or exfiltration patterns, and aligns perfectly with its stated purpose.
Capability Assessment
Purpose & Capability
Name/description describe searching FDA guidance by therapeutic area. The code and documentation implement network search/scraping, local PDF caching, and content search — all consistent with that purpose. No unrelated credentials, binaries, or platform access are requested.
Instruction Scope
SKILL.md instructs running the included Python script which performs HTTP requests and writes cached PDFs to references/cache/. These actions are within scope. Two small caveats: (1) the code uses regex-based HTML parsing (fragile but expected for a simple tool) and (2) the docs recommend respecting robots.txt and rate limits, but I did not find explicit robots.txt checking implemented in the visible code. The script does implement a 6-second sleep per request (10 req/min rate).
Install Mechanism
No install spec — instruction-only with a bundled Python script. No external packages are required per SKILL.md and the script uses only Python standard library; therefore nothing is downloaded or installed during skill activation.
Credentials
The skill requires no environment variables, keys, or config paths. The network and filesystem access it uses (HTTP GETs to FDA/ICH and writing to a local cache directory under the skill workspace) are proportionate to a guideline-search tool.
Persistence & Privilege
always is false and the skill does not request elevated or platform-wide privileges. It writes to its own workspace cache (references/cache/) and does not appear to modify other skills or system configuration.
How to Use
- Make sure OpenClaw is installed (local or Docker)
- Run the install command in chat:
/install fda-guideline-search - After installation, invoke the skill by name or use
/fda-guideline-search - Provide required inputs per the skill's parameter spec and get structured output
Version History
v0.1.0
Initial release of FDA Guideline Search skill.
- Search FDA guidelines by therapeutic area, document type, and year.
- Download, cache, and search within guideline documents.
- Returns results as structured JSON.
- Implements rate-limited access to FDA guidance data sources.
- Includes security and risk assessment protocols.
- Command line script interface with flexible parameters for custom searches.
Metadata
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Fda Guideline Search?
Search FDA industry guidelines by therapeutic area or topic. Trigger when user requests FDA guidance documents, regulatory guidelines, or asks about FDA requ... It is an AI Agent Skill for Claude Code / OpenClaw, with 172 downloads so far.
How do I install Fda Guideline Search?
Run "/install fda-guideline-search" in the OpenClaw or Claude Code chat to install it in one step — no extra setup required.
Is Fda Guideline Search free?
Yes, Fda Guideline Search is completely free, licensed under MIT-0. You can download, install and use it at no cost.
Which platforms does Fda Guideline Search support?
Fda Guideline Search is cross-platform and runs anywhere OpenClaw / Claude Code is available (cross-platform).
Who created Fda Guideline Search?
It is built and maintained by AIpoch (@aipoch-ai); the current version is v0.1.0.
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