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Project Charter: OpenEvidence API / Hermes Integration

Summary

Determine whether OpenEvidence has an API and whether Hermes can or should use it for VIM workflows.

Why this matters

OpenEvidence may be valuable as a clinical evidence retrieval/citation layer. We need to distinguish official enterprise/API access from unofficial browser/MCP approaches and decide whether it belongs as a Hermes model provider, a tool, or a separate reviewed workflow.

Owner / stakeholders

  • Executive owner: Jeremy Landis
  • Robbie role: research, evaluate integration path, maintain project brain, surface decisions/risks.
  • Clinical owner/reviewer: TBD doctor/clinical reviewer.
  • Engineering owner: TBD.
  • Security/compliance owner: TBD.
  • Product/design owner: TBD if workflow reaches user-facing product.

Scope

In scope

  • Verify whether official OpenEvidence API/enterprise access exists.
  • Identify authentication, data/privacy, citation, and integration model.
  • Assess whether Hermes can integrate via model provider, custom provider, tool, MCP, or browser automation.
  • Recommend safe VIM path for non-PHI exploration vs production/clinical use.

Out of scope

  • Sending PHI to OpenEvidence.
  • Production clinical workflow integration without legal/security/clinical approval.
  • Unofficial scraping/bypassing terms of service.

Success criteria

  • Clear answer on official API availability and route to access.
  • Recommendation: model provider vs retrieval tool vs no integration.
  • Explicit risk list and required approvals.
  • Next action list for Jeremy/engineering/security/clinical.

Constraints

  • No PHI by default.
  • Must respect OpenEvidence terms and licensing.
  • Must support citations/audit trail if used clinically.
  • TBD during research.

Review gates

  • Clinical review: required before clinical workflow use.
  • Security/legal review: required before vendor/API use with VIM data.
  • Data/analytics review: required if logging/query analytics are retained.
  • Product/UX review: required before embedding in product experience.