@cyanheads/pubmed-mcp-server 2.10.8 → 2.10.9

package/dist/mcp-server/tools/definitions/fetch-fulltext.tool.js

@@ -31,16 +31,66 @@ import { getUnpaywallService, } from '../../../services/unpaywall/unpaywall-serv
 import { fitWholeItems } from './_budget.js';
 import { conceptMeta, EDAM_DATA_RETRIEVAL, SCHEMA_SCHOLARLY_ARTICLE } from './_concepts.js';
 import { pmidStringSchema } from './_schemas.js';
-import { escapeMarkdownInline, sliceCodeUnits } from './_text.js';
+import { escapeMarkdownInline, escapeMarkdownTableCell, sliceCodeUnits } from './_text.js';
 function normalizePmcId(id) {
     return id.replace(/^PMC/i, '');
 }
 function withPmcPrefix(id) {
     return id.startsWith('PMC') ? id : `PMC${id}`;
 }
-function filterSections(sections, sectionFilter) {
-    const lowerFilter = sectionFilter.map((s) => s.toLowerCase());
-    return sections.filter((s) => s.title && lowerFilter.some((f) => s.title?.toLowerCase().includes(f)));
+/** Case-insensitive substring match of one section heading against the filter. */
+function matchesSectionFilter(title, lowerFilter) {
+    const lowered = title?.toLowerCase();
+    return lowered !== undefined && lowerFilter.some((f) => lowered.includes(f));
+}
+function lowerCase(s) {
+    return s.toLowerCase();
+}
+/**
+ * Prune a section tree to the branches a `sections` filter selects, matching
+ * titles at every nesting depth rather than the top level alone. (#126)
+ *
+ * A section whose own title matches is returned whole — object identity
+ * included, so an unfiltered subtree is never rebuilt. A section kept only
+ * because a descendant matched becomes a breadcrumb: its `title` and `label`
+ * survive so the match can be placed in the document, its own `text` is cleared
+ * because the caller filtered that prose away, and it carries just the matching
+ * branch of its subsections. Promoting the match to the top level instead would
+ * make `maxSections` — which caps genuine top-level sections — count nested
+ * content as top-level.
+ */
+function pruneSections(sections, lowerFilter) {
+    const kept = [];
+    for (const section of sections) {
+        if (matchesSectionFilter(section.title, lowerFilter)) {
+            kept.push(section);
+            continue;
+        }
+        const subsections = pruneSections(section.subsections ?? [], lowerFilter);
+        if (subsections.length > 0)
+            kept.push({ ...section, text: '', subsections });
+    }
+    return kept;
+}
+/**
+ * Titles of the sections a `sections` filter actually selected — a section that
+ * matched directly plus everything beneath it. Breadcrumb ancestors are left
+ * out: their own text was cleared because the caller did not ask for it, and a
+ * table sitting in one was not asked for either. Walks the *pruned* tree, so a
+ * top-level section the `maxSections` slice removed contributes nothing.
+ */
+function matchedSectionTitles(sections, lowerFilter) {
+    const titles = new Set();
+    const walk = (nodes, inherited) => {
+        for (const section of nodes) {
+            const matched = inherited || matchesSectionFilter(section.title, lowerFilter);
+            if (matched && section.title)
+                titles.add(section.title);
+            walk(section.subsections ?? [], matched);
+        }
+    };
+    walk(sections, false);
+    return titles;
 }
 /**
  * Render a section subtree as text blocks, in document order: each section's
@@ -73,16 +123,52 @@ function clampSectionDepth(sections, depth = 1) {
     });
 }
 /**
- * Apply the requested section/reference filters, then clamp the section tree to
- * the depth the output schema carries. Both run here so every path producing a
- * `pmc` article — PMC EFetch and the Europe PMC stage — shares one shape, and
- * the budget helpers downstream count the text that will actually survive
- * validation. (#112)
+ * Replace an article's table list, dropping the field entirely when nothing is
+ * left. An empty array would read as "this article has no tables", which is the
+ * one thing an absent field already says and a filtered-to-nothing list does
+ * not mean.
+ */
+function withTables(article, tables) {
+    const { tables: _replaced, ...rest } = article;
+    return (tables.length > 0 ? { ...rest, tables } : rest);
+}
+/**
+ * Narrow the table list to what the request asked for. `includeTables: false`
+ * is the wholesale off switch. An active `sections` filter narrows tables with
+ * it: a table names the section it sat in — body, back matter or appendix
+ * alike — so it survives when that section did, and a table that names no
+ * section, such as a `<floats-group>` deposit, is dropped because the caller
+ * asked for named headings and it belongs to none. With no `sections` filter
+ * every table is returned. (#111)
+ */
+function applyTableFilters(article, filters) {
+    if (!article.tables?.length)
+        return article;
+    if (!filters.includeTables)
+        return withTables(article, []);
+    if (!filters.sections?.length)
+        return article;
+    const surviving = matchedSectionTitles(article.sections, filters.sections.map(lowerCase));
+    return withTables(article, article.tables.filter((t) => t.sectionTitle !== undefined && surviving.has(t.sectionTitle)));
+}
+/**
+ * Apply the requested section/reference/table filters, then clamp the section
+ * tree to the depth the output schema carries. All of it runs here so every path
+ * producing a `pmc` article — PMC EFetch and the Europe PMC stage — shares one
+ * shape, and the budget helpers downstream count the text that will actually
+ * survive validation. (#112)
+ *
+ * Order is load-bearing. Tables are matched against the section tree *after*
+ * `filterSections` and the `maxSections` slice, so they narrow with exactly what
+ * the response returns, and *before* `clampSectionDepth`, which folds sections
+ * past {@link MAX_SECTION_DEPTH} into a parent's text — their titles vanish from
+ * the output while a table still names them, so a title set built after the
+ * clamp would drop tables that should have survived. (#111)
  */
 function applyPmcFilters(article, filters) {
     let out = article;
     if (filters.sections?.length) {
-        out = { ...out, sections: filterSections(out.sections, filters.sections) };
+        out = { ...out, sections: pruneSections(out.sections, filters.sections.map(lowerCase)) };
     }
     if (filters.maxSections !== undefined) {
         out = { ...out, sections: out.sections.slice(0, filters.maxSections) };
@@ -91,6 +177,7 @@ function applyPmcFilters(article, filters) {
         const { references: _, ...rest } = out;
         out = rest;
     }
+    out = applyTableFilters(out, filters);
     return { ...out, sections: clampSectionDepth(out.sections) };
 }
 /**
@@ -125,11 +212,16 @@ function articleDisplayId(a) {
  * Compose the single recovery notice for `sections`-filter misses. Names the
  * requested terms and the affected article id(s) so the agent can distinguish a
  * filtered-empty body from one absent upstream, and points at the recovery. (#80)
+ *
+ * States the scope the filter actually searches — section and subsection titles
+ * at every depth — so a caller who named a nested heading learns the term itself
+ * matched nothing, rather than being left to suspect the filter never looked
+ * that deep. (#126)
  */
 function buildSectionFilterMissNotice(affectedIds, sectionFilter) {
     const terms = sectionFilter.join(', ');
     const subject = affectedIds.length === 1 ? `article ${affectedIds[0]}` : `articles ${affectedIds.join(', ')}`;
-    return `No body sections matched the requested section filter (${terms}) for ${subject}. The full text was retrieved but every body section was filtered out. Retry without \`sections\`, or filter on broader headings such as Introduction, Methods, Results, or Discussion.`;
+    return `No section or subsection title, at any nesting depth, matched the requested section filter (${terms}) for ${subject}. The full text was retrieved but every body section was filtered out. Retry without \`sections\`, or filter on broader headings such as Introduction, Methods, Results, or Discussion.`;
 }
 /**
  * Compose the recovery notice for identifiers whose only retrievable record was
@@ -204,6 +296,48 @@ const ReferenceSchema = z
     label: z.string().optional().describe('Reference label'),
 })
     .describe('Reference entry');
+/**
+ * One `<table-wrap>`, hung off the article rather than off a section.
+ *
+ * The article is the only level that can hold every table: roughly a quarter of
+ * real `<table-wrap>` elements sit in `<floats-group>`, `<back>`, a
+ * `<table-wrap-group>` or an appendix, with no `<sec>` to attach to. A table
+ * inside a section names it in {@link sectionTitle} instead of being placed by
+ * position.
+ *
+ * The shape also lands exactly on the `format-parity` sentinel walker's eight-hop
+ * budget — `articles[]` → the article union → `tables[]` → `rows[][]` — with no
+ * headroom, and a section-hung variant would spend a hop the existing
+ * `sections[]` → `subsections[]` chain already needs. Re-run
+ * `bun run lint:mcp` after any change here; a level added anywhere inside puts
+ * its own leaves out of the walker's reach and ships their `format()` parity
+ * unverified. (#111, #112)
+ */
+const TableSchema = z
+    .object({
+    label: z.string().optional().describe('Table label as printed, e.g. `TABLE 1`'),
+    caption: z.string().optional().describe('Caption text, with the label excluded'),
+    id: z
+        .string()
+        .optional()
+        .describe('JATS `id` attribute — the target body-text cross-references point at'),
+    sectionTitle: z
+        .string()
+        .optional()
+        .describe('Title of the innermost section enclosing the table, wherever that section sits — body, `<back>` matter, or an appendix all count, and in back matter the section name is the only positional cue there is. Absent only for a table inside no section at all, such as a `<floats-group>` deposit.'),
+    headerRowCount: z
+        .number()
+        .describe('How many leading `rows` entries are header rows — a `<thead>` block, or leading rows made entirely of `<th>`. 0 when the table declares none. Several header rows stack: read one column top to bottom for its full header path.'),
+    rows: z
+        .array(z.array(z.string()).describe('One row, as cell text by grid column'))
+        .describe('Cell text by row, in document order, one entry per grid column. `colspan` and `rowspan` are expanded, so a cell covering several columns or rows repeats its text across each cell it covers and a well-formed table is rectangular — align on position from the left, and read a repeated value as one spanning cell rather than several measurements. Empty when `unextractableReason` is set.'),
+    footnotes: z.string().optional().describe('`<table-wrap-foot>` text, flattened to one string'),
+    unextractableReason: z
+        .enum(['cals-tgroup', 'graphic-only', 'no-rows'])
+        .optional()
+        .describe('Why `rows` is empty — set only then. graphic-only: the table was deposited as an image with no underlying markup. cals-tgroup: the table uses the CALS `<tgroup>` model, which this server does not extract (0 of 283 tables in an open-access survey used it). no-rows: the markup carried no rows. The label and caption are still returned, so a table that could not be read is visible rather than silently missing.'),
+})
+    .describe('One table from the article, with its cells, caption, and owning section');
 const PublicationDateSchema = z
     .object({
     year: z.string().optional().describe('Publication year'),
@@ -239,6 +373,10 @@ const PmcArticleSchema = z
     articleType: z.string().optional().describe('Article type'),
     publicationDate: PublicationDateSchema.optional(),
     sections: z.array(SectionSchema).describe('Article body sections'),
+    tables: z
+        .array(TableSchema)
+        .optional()
+        .describe('Every `<table-wrap>` the article carries, in document order — from the body and from `<floats-group>`, `<back>` and appendices alike. Absent when the article deposits none, when `includeTables` is false, or when a `sections` filter left none standing.'),
     references: z.array(ReferenceSchema).optional().describe('Reference list'),
     epmcId: z
         .string()
@@ -379,6 +517,14 @@ const TruncatedArticleSchema = z
         .array(TruncatedSectionSchema)
         .optional()
         .describe('Per-section accounting for `source: pmc` articles, in document order, including sections dropped for budget. Absent for `source: unpaywall`, whose body has no section structure.'),
+    omittedTables: z
+        .number()
+        .optional()
+        .describe('Tables this article dropped whole because the budget left no room for them. A table is never cut mid-row, so it is either returned complete or counted here. Absent when none were dropped.'),
+    omittedTableNames: z
+        .array(z.string())
+        .optional()
+        .describe("The dropped tables by name, in document order — each table's label, else its `id`, else `table <n>` for its position in the article. Names the tables a bare count only hints at, the way `deferred.ids` names deferred articles. Every table from the first that did not fit onward is here: admission stops at that table rather than skipping ahead to a smaller one, so these are contiguous. Absent when none were dropped."),
 })
     .describe('Character accounting for one article the budget shortened');
 const TruncationSchema = z
@@ -400,6 +546,10 @@ const TruncationSchema = z
     omittedSections: z
         .number()
         .describe('Body sections dropped entirely because an article budget was exhausted before reaching them. Always 0 in `outline` mode, which keeps every heading.'),
+    omittedTables: z
+        .number()
+        .optional()
+        .describe('Tables dropped whole across every budgeted article, because the budget left no room once body sections were served. Absent when none were dropped. Re-request the affected articles with a higher `maxCharacters`, or with `sections` narrowed, to receive them.'),
     articles: z
         .array(TruncatedArticleSchema)
         .describe('Per-article accounting, covering only the articles the budget shortened'),
@@ -436,6 +586,10 @@ function budgetRequested(budget) {
 function sectionTextFields(section) {
     return [section.text, ...(section.subsections ?? []).flatMap(sectionTextFields)];
 }
+/** Combined length of the strings given, skipping the absent ones. */
+function totalLength(parts) {
+    return parts.reduce((n, part) => n + (part?.length ?? 0), 0);
+}
 /**
  * Body characters a section carries — its own text plus every nested
  * subsection's. Measured off {@link sectionTextFields} rather than its own walk,
@@ -443,7 +597,46 @@ function sectionTextFields(section) {
  * exactly the fields {@link fitFields} shortens.
  */
 function sectionCharacters(section) {
-    return sectionTextFields(section).reduce((n, text) => n + text.length, 0);
+    return totalLength(sectionTextFields(section));
+}
+/**
+ * Characters a table costs the budget: everything it renders — label, caption,
+ * every cell, footnotes. The whole figure is what admitting the table spends,
+ * and a table is admitted or dropped whole, so there is no partial measure to
+ * take. (#111)
+ */
+function tableCharacters(table) {
+    return totalLength([table.label, table.caption, table.footnotes, ...table.rows.flat()]);
+}
+/**
+ * Admit tables in document order until the allowance is spent, then drop the
+ * rest whole and name them.
+ *
+ * Admission stops at the first table that does not fit rather than skipping past
+ * it to a smaller one further down: the returned set stays a document-order
+ * prefix, so a caller reading it knows where the response stopped instead of
+ * receiving a late table with nothing saying the earlier ones exist. A table
+ * that does not fit is never cut either — half a grid reads as a complete one
+ * carrying values that were never deposited, the defect the table extraction
+ * exists to fix. Both mirror how `maxResponseCharacters` defers a whole article
+ * rather than half-populating it. (#111)
+ */
+function fitTables(tables, allowance) {
+    const kept = [];
+    let spent = 0;
+    for (const [index, table] of tables.entries()) {
+        const size = tableCharacters(table);
+        if (spent + size > allowance) {
+            return {
+                kept,
+                omittedNames: tables.slice(index).map((t, i) => tableDisplayName(t, index + i)),
+                spent,
+            };
+        }
+        kept.push(table);
+        spent += size;
+    }
+    return { kept, omittedNames: [], spent };
 }
 /**
  * Rebuild a section subtree from `fitted`, consuming one entry per node in the
@@ -530,9 +723,16 @@ function allotSectionBudgets(sizes, budget) {
 /**
  * Apply the character budget to a JATS article's body. Runs as a pure
  * post-processing pass after `applyPmcFilters`, so `sections` / `maxSections` /
- * `includeReferences` and the empty-body signals they feed are unaffected.
- * Titles, abstracts, identifiers, and references are never counted or cut —
- * the budget only spends on body text, keeping every article citable.
+ * `includeReferences` / `includeTables` and the empty-body signals they feed are
+ * unaffected. Titles, abstracts, identifiers, and references are never counted
+ * or cut — the budget spends on body text and table content, keeping every
+ * article citable.
+ *
+ * Body sections are served first and tables spend what `maxCharacters` leaves,
+ * in document order: a table that does not fit is dropped whole and counted,
+ * never truncated into a partial grid. With no `maxCharacters` — a bare
+ * `maxCharactersPerSection` request — nothing bounds the tables and every one is
+ * kept. (#111)
  *
  * Returns the article untouched (same object identity) when no budget was
  * requested or nothing exceeded it. A section left with zero characters is
@@ -541,11 +741,13 @@ function allotSectionBudgets(sizes, budget) {
  * caller can see which headings exist. (#81)
  */
 function applyPmcBudget(article, budget) {
-    if (!budgetRequested(budget) || article.sections.length === 0) {
+    const tables = article.tables ?? [];
+    if (!budgetRequested(budget) || (article.sections.length === 0 && tables.length === 0)) {
         return { article, omittedSections: 0 };
     }
     const sizes = article.sections.map(sectionCharacters);
-    const originalCharacters = sizes.reduce((sum, size) => sum + size, 0);
+    const tablesOriginal = tables.reduce((sum, table) => sum + tableCharacters(table), 0);
+    const originalCharacters = sizes.reduce((sum, size) => sum + size, 0) + tablesOriginal;
     const allowances = allotSectionBudgets(sizes, budget);
     const kept = [];
     const sectionReports = [];
@@ -554,7 +756,7 @@ function applyPmcBudget(article, budget) {
     article.sections.forEach((section, i) => {
         const original = sizes[i] ?? 0;
         const fitted = fitFields(sectionTextFields(section), allowances[i] ?? 0);
-        const returned = fitted.reduce((sum, text) => sum + text.length, 0);
+        const returned = totalLength(fitted);
         returnedCharacters += returned;
         sectionReports.push({
             ...(section.title !== undefined && { title: section.title }),
@@ -568,13 +770,29 @@ function applyPmcBudget(article, budget) {
         }
         kept.push(withFittedTexts(section, fitted, { i: 0 }));
     });
-    if (returnedCharacters === originalCharacters && omittedSections === 0) {
+    // Sections are served first; the tables spend whatever `maxCharacters` has
+    // left. A bare per-section budget sets no total, so nothing bounds them.
+    const tableAllowance = budget.maxCharacters === undefined
+        ? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY
+        : Math.max(budget.maxCharacters - returnedCharacters, 0);
+    const fittedTables = fitTables(tables, tableAllowance);
+    returnedCharacters += fittedTables.spent;
+    const omittedTables = fittedTables.omittedNames.length;
+    if (returnedCharacters === originalCharacters && omittedSections === 0 && omittedTables === 0) {
         return { article, omittedSections: 0 };
     }
     return {
-        article: { ...article, sections: kept },
+        article: withTables({ ...article, sections: kept }, fittedTables.kept),
         omittedSections,
-        truncation: { originalCharacters, returnedCharacters, sections: sectionReports },
+        truncation: {
+            originalCharacters,
+            returnedCharacters,
+            sections: sectionReports,
+            ...(omittedTables > 0 && {
+                omittedTables,
+                omittedTableNames: fittedTables.omittedNames,
+            }),
+        },
     };
 }
 /**
@@ -593,6 +811,62 @@ function applyContentBudget(content, budget) {
         truncation: { originalCharacters: content.length, returnedCharacters: kept.length },
     };
 }
+/** Why a table arrived with no rows, in the reader's terms. */
+const UNEXTRACTABLE_TABLE_EXPLANATIONS = {
+    'cals-tgroup': 'it uses the CALS `<tgroup>` model, which this server does not extract',
+    'graphic-only': 'it was deposited as an image, with no underlying markup to read',
+    'no-rows': 'its markup carried no rows',
+};
+/** How a table is named in a notice: its label, else its id, else its position. */
+function tableDisplayName(table, index) {
+    return table.label ?? table.id ?? `table ${index + 1}`;
+}
+/**
+ * Collect the returned tables that carry no cell values. Read off the articles
+ * the response actually ships — after every filter and both budgets — so a table
+ * the `sections` filter removed, or one belonging to a deferred article, is
+ * never named as though the caller received it. (#111)
+ */
+function collectUnextractableTables(articles) {
+    const entries = [];
+    for (const article of articles) {
+        if (article.source !== 'pmc')
+            continue;
+        for (const [index, table] of (article.tables ?? []).entries()) {
+            const reason = table.unextractableReason;
+            if (!reason)
+                continue;
+            entries.push({
+                articleId: articleDisplayId(article),
+                name: tableDisplayName(table, index),
+                reason,
+            });
+        }
+    }
+    return entries;
+}
+/**
+ * Compose the recovery notice for tables returned with a label and caption but
+ * no cells. Without it a table-bearing response carries no response-level signal
+ * that some of the numbers the caller asked for are absent — the per-table
+ * `unextractableReason` only helps a reader who already went looking at that
+ * table. One notice covers the whole response, aggregated across articles, the
+ * way the `sections`-filter miss notice does. (#111)
+ *
+ * The wording turns on recoverability: nothing the caller changes produces these
+ * cells, because the markup does not exist upstream. Tables the character budget
+ * dropped are the opposite case — recoverable by raising `maxCharacters` — so
+ * they stay with the rest of the budget accounting in {@link
+ * buildTruncationNotice} rather than being mixed in here.
+ */
+function buildUnextractableTablesNotice(entries) {
+    const subject = entries.length === 1 ? '1 table was' : `${entries.length} tables were`;
+    const named = entries.map((e) => `${e.name} (${e.articleId}, ${e.reason})`).join(', ');
+    const reasons = [...new Set(entries.map((e) => e.reason))]
+        .map((reason) => `${reason} — ${UNEXTRACTABLE_TABLE_EXPLANATIONS[reason]}`)
+        .join('; ');
+    return `${subject} returned with a label and caption but no cell values: ${named}. Re-calling will not recover the cells (${reasons}); see \`unextractableReason\` on each table.`;
+}
 /**
  * Compose the recovery notice for a budgeted response. Names what was spent and
  * where the detail lives so an agent reading only `content[]` knows the body it
@@ -603,13 +877,20 @@ function buildTruncationNotice(truncation) {
     const omitted = truncation.omittedSections > 0
         ? ` ${truncation.omittedSections} section(s) were dropped once the budget ran out.`
         : '';
+    // Tables are admitted after sections and only whole, so a dropped one is
+    // absent rather than partial — say so, and name them: a bare count leaves the
+    // reader unable to tell which numbers are missing from what they received.
+    const droppedNames = truncation.articles.flatMap((a) => a.omittedTableNames ?? []);
+    const omittedTables = truncation.omittedTables
+        ? ` ${truncation.omittedTables} table(s) were dropped whole rather than cut mid-row: ${droppedNames.join(', ')}.`
+        : '';
     // Name only the budgets the request actually set — pointing at `maxCharacters`
     // when the caller only capped per-section sends them to a knob that is unset.
     const knobs = [
         truncation.maxCharacters !== undefined ? '`maxCharacters`' : undefined,
         truncation.maxCharactersPerSection !== undefined ? '`maxCharactersPerSection`' : undefined,
     ].filter((k) => k !== undefined);
-    return `Full text was shortened to fit the requested character budget: ${truncation.returnedCharacters} of ${truncation.originalCharacters} body characters returned across ${subject} in ${truncation.mode} mode.${omitted} See \`truncation\` for per-article and per-section counts, and raise ${knobs.join(' or ')} or narrow \`sections\` to retrieve more.`;
+    return `Full text was shortened to fit the requested character budget: ${truncation.returnedCharacters} of ${truncation.originalCharacters} body characters returned across ${subject} in ${truncation.mode} mode.${omitted}${omittedTables} See \`truncation\` for per-article and per-section counts, and raise ${knobs.join(' or ')} or narrow \`sections\` to retrieve more.`;
 }
 /**
  * Compose the recovery notice for articles the whole-response budget withheld.
@@ -643,7 +924,7 @@ function countOmittedSections(entry, mode) {
  * recoveries that silently can't happen.
  */
 export function buildFulltextDescription(tiers) {
-    const base = 'Fetch full-text articles from PubMed Central with structured sections and references.';
+    const base = 'Fetch full-text articles from PubMed Central with structured sections, tables, and references.';
     const epmcClause = 'Europe PMC `fullTextXML` (structured JATS for records with a PMC counterpart)';
     const unpaywallClause = 'Unpaywall — publisher-hosted or institutional open-access copies as HTML-as-Markdown or PDF-as-text';
     let fallback;
@@ -711,6 +992,10 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
             .boolean()
             .default(false)
             .describe('Include reference list. Applies to `source=pmc` results only.'),
+        includeTables: z
+            .boolean()
+            .default(true)
+            .describe("Include the article's tables — cells, captions, labels and footnotes. On by default because a dropped table takes its numbers with it. Table-dense articles pay for it: rendered tables typically add 12–17% to an article record and can more than double it. Set false to omit them, or cap the cost with `maxCharacters`, which drops tables it cannot fit whole. Applies to `source=pmc` results only."),
         maxSections: z
             .number()
             .int()
@@ -721,14 +1006,14 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
         sections: z
             .array(z.string())
             .optional()
-            .describe('Filter to specific sections by title, case-insensitive (e.g. ["Introduction", "Methods", "Results", "Discussion"]). Applies to `source=pmc` results only.'),
+            .describe('Filter to specific sections by title (e.g. ["Introduction", "Methods", "Results", "Discussion"]). A term matches a section or subsection title at any nesting depth, case-insensitively, as a substring — "resul" matches "Results". A section whose own title matches is returned whole; one kept only because a nested subsection matched keeps its heading as a breadcrumb, with its own text cleared and only the matching branch beneath it. Tables narrow with the filter: one whose section did not survive, or that names no section, is dropped. Applies to `source=pmc` results only.'),
         maxCharacters: z
             .number()
             .int()
             .min(1)
             .max(1_000_000)
             .optional()
-            .describe('Per-article budget for body text, in characters. Counts `source=pmc` section and subsection text, or the `source=unpaywall` `content` body; titles, abstracts, identifiers, and references are never counted or shortened. Applied after `sections`, `maxSections`, and `includeReferences`, so semantic filtering is unaffected. This knob alone bounds only bodies: the response-wide ceiling it implies is this value times the number of articles returned, plus every uncounted field. Use `maxResponseCharacters` for a true whole-response ceiling. Omit for the full body.'),
+            .describe('Per-article budget for body text, in characters. Counts `source=pmc` section and subsection text plus table label, caption, cell and footnote text, or the `source=unpaywall` `content` body; titles, abstracts, identifiers, and references are never counted or shortened. The counted unit is that text alone — the Markdown grid `content[]` renders around the cells (pipes, padding, the divider row, headings) is scaffolding this budget does not measure, so a table renders longer than it costs here. Sections are served first and tables spend what is left, in document order — admission stops at the first table that does not fit, and every table from there on is dropped whole rather than cut mid-row, counted in `truncation.omittedTables` and named in `truncation.articles[].omittedTableNames`. Applied after `sections`, `maxSections`, `includeReferences`, and `includeTables`, so semantic filtering is unaffected. This knob alone bounds only bodies: the response-wide ceiling it implies is this value times the number of articles returned, plus every uncounted field. Use `maxResponseCharacters` for a true whole-response ceiling. Omit for the full body.'),
         maxCharactersPerSection: z
             .number()
             .int()
@@ -763,17 +1048,18 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
         truncation: TruncationSchema.optional(),
         deferred: DeferredSchema.optional(),
     }),
-    // Recovery guidance for four cases — a `sections` filter that removed every
+    // Recovery guidance for five cases — a `sections` filter that removed every
     // body section (#80), a record the chain could only retrieve as front matter
-    // (#86), a body the per-article character budget shortened (#81), and articles
-    // the whole-response budget withheld (#100). Agent-facing context surfaced via
+    // (#86), a table returned with no cell values (#111), a body the per-article
+    // character budget shortened (#81), and articles the whole-response budget
+    // withheld (#100). Agent-facing context surfaced via
     // ctx.enrich.notice() to structuredContent and content[]; absent when none
     // applies.
     enrichment: {
         notice: z
             .string()
             .optional()
-            .describe('Optional guidance for a partial or empty body. A `sections`-filter miss names the requested terms and affected article id(s) and suggests retrying without `sections` or using broader headings. A metadata-only record names the id(s) the chain could retrieve as front matter only and points at `pubmed_fetch_articles` for the abstract. A budgeted response names the characters returned versus carried and points at `truncation`. A response-wide budget that deferred articles names the ids to re-request. Absent when none of those applies.'),
+            .describe('Optional guidance for a partial or empty body. A `sections`-filter miss names the requested terms and affected article id(s) and suggests retrying without `sections` or using broader headings. A metadata-only record names the id(s) the chain could retrieve as front matter only and points at `pubmed_fetch_articles` for the abstract. A table returned with no cell values names the affected table(s), the article each came from, and why the cells cannot be recovered. A budgeted response names the characters returned versus carried and points at `truncation`. A response-wide budget that deferred articles names the ids to re-request. Absent when none of those applies.'),
         truncated: z
             .boolean()
             .optional()
@@ -1361,6 +1647,10 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
             unavailable: unavailable.length,
             ...(deferred && { deferred: deferred.deferredCount }),
         });
+        // Summed off the per-article entries rather than carried through every
+        // stage, so a deferred article's dropped tables leave the roll-up together
+        // with its entry when the splice above removes it. (#111)
+        const omittedTables = truncatedArticles.reduce((n, a) => n + (a.omittedTables ?? 0), 0);
         // Rolled up only when the budget actually removed characters, so an
         // under-budget request returns exactly what it did before the budget
         // controls existed. (#81)
@@ -1374,6 +1664,7 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
                 originalCharacters: truncatedArticles.reduce((n, a) => n + a.originalCharacters, 0),
                 returnedCharacters: truncatedArticles.reduce((n, a) => n + a.returnedCharacters, 0),
                 omittedSections,
+                ...(omittedTables > 0 && { omittedTables }),
                 articles: truncatedArticles,
             }
             : undefined;
@@ -1386,6 +1677,10 @@ export const fetchFulltextTool = tool('pubmed_fetch_fulltext', {
         const unrecoveredBodyless = [...bodylessInputIds].filter((id) => !recoveredIds.has(id));
         if (unrecoveredBodyless.length > 0)
             notices.push(buildBodylessNotice(unrecoveredBodyless));
+        const unextractableTables = collectUnextractableTables(articles);
+        if (unextractableTables.length > 0) {
+            notices.push(buildUnextractableTablesNotice(unextractableTables));
+        }
         if (truncation) {
             notices.push(buildTruncationNotice(truncation));
             ctx.enrich({ truncated: true });
@@ -1942,7 +2237,8 @@ function formatUnqueriedTiers(tiers, chain) {
  * separators — so the numbers stay greppable. (#81)
  */
 function formatTruncation(t, lines) {
-    lines.push(`\n**Truncated (${t.mode} mode):** ${t.returnedCharacters} of ${t.originalCharacters} body characters returned across ${t.articles.length} article(s); ${t.omittedSections} section(s) omitted`);
+    const tablesOmitted = t.omittedTables === undefined ? '' : `; ${t.omittedTables} table(s) omitted whole`;
+    lines.push(`\n**Truncated (${t.mode} mode):** ${t.returnedCharacters} of ${t.originalCharacters} body characters returned across ${t.articles.length} article(s); ${t.omittedSections} section(s) omitted${tablesOmitted}`);
     const budgets = [
         t.maxCharacters === undefined ? undefined : `maxCharacters ${t.maxCharacters}`,
         t.maxCharactersPerSection === undefined
@@ -1952,7 +2248,10 @@ function formatTruncation(t, lines) {
     if (budgets.length)
         lines.push(`Budget applied: ${budgets.join(', ')}`);
     for (const a of t.articles) {
-        lines.push(`- ${a.id} (${a.source}): ${a.returnedCharacters} of ${a.originalCharacters} characters`);
+        const tablesDropped = a.omittedTables === undefined
+            ? ''
+            : `, ${a.omittedTables} table(s) dropped whole: ${(a.omittedTableNames ?? []).join(', ')}`;
+        lines.push(`- ${a.id} (${a.source}): ${a.returnedCharacters} of ${a.originalCharacters} characters${tablesDropped}`);
         for (const s of a.sections ?? []) {
             lines.push(`  - ${s.title ?? 'untitled section'} — ${s.returnedCharacters} of ${s.originalCharacters} characters (truncated: ${s.truncated})`);
         }
@@ -2021,6 +2320,8 @@ function formatPmcArticle(a, lines, truncation) {
         lines.push(`\n#### Abstract\n${a.abstract}`);
     for (const sec of a.sections)
         formatSection(sec, lines, 4);
+    if (a.tables?.length)
+        formatTables(a.tables, lines);
     if (a.references?.length) {
         lines.push(`\n#### References (${a.references.length})`);
         for (const ref of a.references) {
@@ -2029,6 +2330,83 @@ function formatPmcArticle(a, lines, truncation) {
         }
     }
 }
+/**
+ * Render every table as a Markdown grid, so a `content[]` reader gets the same
+ * cells `structuredContent` carries rather than a note that tables exist. (#111)
+ *
+ * Cell text goes through {@link escapeMarkdownTableCell} — the inline escape
+ * plus the `|` a cell cannot carry raw. The parser expands `colspan` and
+ * `rowspan`, so a well-formed table arrives rectangular and every value renders
+ * under the header it belongs to; a row still short of the widest is padded on
+ * the right with empty cells only, never a neighbour's value.
+ */
+function formatTables(tables, lines) {
+    lines.push(`\n#### Tables (${tables.length})`);
+    for (const table of tables) {
+        const heading = [table.label, table.caption].filter(Boolean).join(' — ');
+        lines.push(`\n##### ${escapeMarkdownInline(heading || 'Table')}`);
+        const meta = [
+            table.sectionTitle ? `Section: ${escapeMarkdownInline(table.sectionTitle)}` : undefined,
+            table.id ? `id: ${escapeMarkdownInline(table.id)}` : undefined,
+            describeHeaderRows(table),
+        ].filter((part) => part !== undefined);
+        if (meta.length)
+            lines.push(`*${meta.join(' · ')}*`);
+        if (table.unextractableReason) {
+            lines.push(`\n> Table body could not be read (${table.unextractableReason}) — ${UNEXTRACTABLE_TABLE_EXPLANATIONS[table.unextractableReason]}. The label and caption above are all this deposit carries; no cell values exist to return.`);
+        }
+        if (table.rows.length > 0)
+            lines.push(...renderTableGrid(table.rows, table.headerRowCount));
+        if (table.footnotes)
+            lines.push(`\nFootnotes: ${escapeMarkdownInline(table.footnotes)}`);
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * The meta-line clause describing a table's header rows.
+ *
+ * A Markdown grid carries exactly one header row, so a table declaring several
+ * has them folded into it — say how many were folded, or the grid understates
+ * what the deposit declared. A table declaring none still needs the empty header
+ * row Markdown requires above the divider; naming that keeps a reader from
+ * taking the blank row for a header the publisher deposited and left empty.
+ */
+function describeHeaderRows(table) {
+    if (table.rows.length === 0)
+        return;
+    if (table.headerRowCount === 0)
+        return 'header rows: none declared — every row below is data';
+    if (table.headerRowCount === 1)
+        return 'header rows: 1';
+    return `header rows: ${table.headerRowCount} (folded into one)`;
+}
+/**
+ * Join one grid column's header cells into the single header path Markdown can
+ * carry. Consecutive repeats — what expanding a `colspan` produces — collapse to
+ * one, so a group header spanning three columns reads once per column rather
+ * than three times in each.
+ */
+function foldHeaderColumn(headerRows, column) {
+    const path = [];
+    for (const row of headerRows) {
+        const cell = row[column] ?? '';
+        if (cell && cell !== path.at(-1))
+            path.push(cell);
+    }
+    return path.join(' · ');
+}
+/** One table's rows as Markdown grid lines, preceded by a blank line. */
+function renderTableGrid(rows, headerRowCount) {
+    const columns = rows.reduce((widest, row) => Math.max(widest, row.length), 0);
+    const renderRow = (cells) => `| ${Array.from({ length: columns }, (_, i) => escapeMarkdownTableCell(cells[i] ?? '')).join(' | ')} |`;
+    const headerRows = rows.slice(0, headerRowCount);
+    const header = Array.from({ length: columns }, (_, i) => foldHeaderColumn(headerRows, i));
+    return [
+        '',
+        renderRow(header),
+        `| ${Array.from({ length: columns }, () => '---').join(' | ')} |`,
+        ...rows.slice(headerRowCount).map(renderRow),
+    ];
+}
 function formatUnpaywallArticle(a, lines, truncation) {
     const requestedId = a.pmcId ? `PMCID ${a.pmcId}` : a.pmid ? `PMID ${a.pmid}` : `DOI ${a.doi}`;
     const heading = a.title ?? requestedId;