| name | test-eutils |
| description | Use when probing NCBI E-utilities reachability or endpoint health with the bundled `-alive`, `-all`, or per-endpoint diagnostic checks. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| user-invocable | true |
test-eutils
POSIX shell diagnostic for E-utilities availability. It checks one or more remote endpoints and reports progress with dots for apparent success and x markers for failures, optionally with verbose details and repeats.
Quick Start
- Command:
test-eutils [ -all | -alive | -esearch | -elink | -efetch | -esummary ]
- Local executable:
/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/test-eutils
- Useful flags:
-verbose, -repeats <n>
When To Use This Tool
- Checking whether E-utilities endpoints are reachable from the current machine
- Narrowing a connectivity problem to one endpoint such as
esearch, elink, efetch, or esummary
- Repeating health checks to catch intermittent failures
- Performing a smaller network diagnostic than
test-edirect
Common Patterns
test-eutils -alive
test-eutils -all
test-eutils -esummary -verbose -repeats 3
Recommended Workflow
- Start with
-alive for a lightweight reachability probe.
- Escalate to
-all or a specific endpoint flag if you need to localize the failure.
- Add
-verbose when you want the underlying failing command and payload details.
- Use
-repeats for intermittent problems instead of rerunning manually.
Guardrails
-h, -help, and --help print real usage text, but --version is unrecognized.- The source accepts a few additional modes such as
-preview and -einfo that are broader than the abbreviated usage banner.
- This tool is network-dependent and can take time. In a local bounded run,
test-eutils -alive printed EDirect 24.0, the mode name alive, then progress dots (....) before the external timeout ended the run.
- Progress-dot output is concise by design; use
-verbose if you need actionable failure details rather than just success/failure markers.
