Pharmacopedia extension specification

Version: 0.9.0 · Requires: MediaWiki >= 1.46.0 · PHP >= 8.5 Author: MDElliottMD · License: GPL-2.0-or-later Source: /var/www/mediawiki/extensions/Pharmacopedia/

The Pharmacopedia extension turns a MediaWiki install into a structured, community-edited medicine reference with rich user-profile and assessment infrastructure. It adds parser tags, special pages, API modules, a chip-picker / autosave UI framework, and a database schema that together support:

Structured medicine pages via the {{MedTemplate}} template
Per-user rating on effects, problems, titration strategies, anecdotes, and drug-drug interactions (continuous 0–100 sliders, ±100 valence; no 0–5 likert anywhere)
Two-perspective data capture (personal vs. provider) wherever clinically meaningful
User profile with dimensional personality / autism assessments (CATI, CAT-Q, MBTI, Enneagram, PID-5-BF, OCEAN/BFI-10) and rich auto-generated reports
Diagnosis autocomplete backed by ~25,500 ICD-10-CM and ~15,800 ICD-11 codes
Chip-picker / autosave / slider-precise-input UI framework shared across editor surfaces
Verified-provider role with document-based verification

Precision doctrine

A standing design rule (memorialised 2026-05-17) that shapes every storage / UI decision in the extension:

No bucketing where a number or free-text will do. Income is numeric + currency, not a 5-band dropdown. Education keeps the bucketed dropdown and adds numeric years of schooling + free-text field of study.
No single-select where multi-select reflects reality. Languages, gender identities, ethnicities, pronouns, religion, marital status, stop-reasons, all use chip-pickers (with optional severity per chip where relevant).
No forced category where a continuous score works. All assessments (Enneagram 9 type sliders, MBTI 4 dichotomy sliders, OCEAN 5 trait sliders, CATI/CAT-Q/PID-5-BF items) use continuous 0–100 sliders, never radio buttons or button rows. Valence is ±100, not ±3.
Storage in canonical form, UI converts at display. Heights stored cm regardless of user's preferred unit (cm or ft+in); ICD codes stored as ISO; date capture as range / possibility-mix JSON.
Browser auto-fill as suggestion only. Country chip pre-fills from navigator.language; languages from navigator.languages; time zone from Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone. User can always edit or remove.
Always allow custom free-text where the curated list might miss someone. Chip-pickers accept Enter-to-add custom chips for all picklists except ISO-coded ones (country, language).

High-level architecture

Backend (PHP): includes/, one class per parser tag, store, special page, or API module. Auto-loaded under MediaWiki\Extension\Pharmacopedia\. Assessment classes under includes/Assessments/.
Frontend (JS): resources/ext.pharmacopedia.js, single IIFE binding click handlers, modals, chip-pickers, autocomplete, autosave debouncer, slider-precise click-to-type. resources/ext.pharmacopedia.blocksave.js is the autosave infrastructure (debounced AJAX per block, race-safe).
Styles (CSS): resources/ext.pharmacopedia.css, shared row layout, per-tag chrome, dark-theme palette (black / dark-grey / purple / white primary; red / green / blue / teal sparingly for semantic distinction).
Datepicker: resources/ext.pharmacopedia.datepicker.js + .css, supports single dates, ranges, and possibility-mixed dates (e.g. "1995 or 1996").
Schema: sql/, ~20 core tables plus migration patches. Picked up via LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates hook.

Parser tags

Registered via Hooks::onParserFirstCallInit:

Tag	Purpose	Class
`<vote>`	Generic up/down binary vote on an arbitrary slug	`VoteTag`
`<effect>`	Therapeutic or adverse effect; patient + provider perspectives; provider freq slider 0–100; shared valence slider ±100	`EffectTag`
`<discuss>`	Threaded comment widget	`CommentTag`
`<effectsummary>`	Roll-up aggregate header	`EffectSummaryTag`
`<titration>`	Titration strategy card with up/down vote	`TitrationTag`
`<anecdote>`	Personal or provider story with up/down vote	`AnecdoteTag`
`<problem>`	A problem (formerly "indication") the medicine addresses; 0–100 efficacy likert slider + "don't know" toggle	`ProblemTag`
`<pharmaInteractions/>`	Self-closing; renders the Interactions section for the current page	`InteractionTag`
`<pharmaExperience/>`	Self-closing; renders the Experience report form (efficacy, burden, dose, route, schedule, stop-reasons)	`ExperienceTag`

All non-self-closing tags take a slug argument and (where relevant) a title, label, author, ref, or perspective.

Tag wikitext examples

<problem slug="depression" title="Major depressive disorder"
  author="MDElliottMD">First-line for moderate to severe MDD.</problem>

<effect slug="nausea" label="Nausea"/>

<effect ref="hyperkalemia"/>   <!-- ref to global effect library -->

<titration slug="slow-start-elderly" title="Slow start (elderly)"
  author="MDElliottMD">Begin at 10 mg q AM; titrate by 10 mg every 14 days.</titration>

<anecdote slug="qi8sg2" perspective="provider"
  author="MDElliottMD">One patient developed serotonin syndrome at week 3...</anecdote>

<pharmaInteractions/>
<pharmaExperience/>

Voting / rating semantics

Element	Scale	Perspectives	Storage
Vote tag	+1 / −1 binary	single	`pcp_votes`
Titration	+1 / −1 binary	single	`pcp_votes`
Anecdote	+1 / −1 binary	single (perspective is metadata)	`pcp_votes`
Problem (efficacy likert)	0–100 continuous slider, optional "Don't know" (-1)	single	`pcp_likert_reports`
Effect (patient)	experienced ∈ {yes, no, unsure} + valence ±100 slider	patient	`pcp_effect_reports` (perspective=1)
Effect (provider)	frequency 0–100 continuous slider + "Don't know" (-1) + valence ±100 slider	provider	`pcp_effect_reports` (perspective=2)
Interaction	experience 1–5 + valence ±100 slider + optional note	user + provider, separate aggregates	`pcp_interaction_reports`

Server-side aggregates: n, mean of the rating field, and (for interactions) severe = (vmean ≤ −83.0) (rescaled from the original ±3-scale −2.5).

Aggregates are recomputed and returned by every report-submit API call so the row re-renders in place without a page reload.

Effect bucketing

When a wiki <ul> contains only <effect> cards, JavaScript groups them into buckets by the provider frequency mean (data-fmean):

Bucket	fmean band	Default state
Common	> 20	expanded, always visible
Uncommon	> 5 and ≤ 20	collapsed
Rare	≤ 5, provider vmean > −83	collapsed
Rare but Severe	≤ 5 and vmean ≤ −83	expanded by default, red highlight
Not yet rated	no provider data (n=0)	collapsed, only renders if non-empty

The vmean ≤ −83 threshold is also the trip-wire for the "severe" red treatment on interaction rows.

User profile

Special:MyProfile is the user-facing editor for everything personal. Every block on it autosaves on a 800 ms debounce (see Autosave infrastructure).

Block list

Identity (display alias, default attribution, experience-report visibility)
Demographics (full chip-picker rebuild, see below)
Personality (Big Five OCEAN sliders + collapsible assessments)
Enneagram (9 type sliders + 45-item screening test)
MBTI (4 dichotomy sliders + 32-item OEJTS test)
Personality / autism assessments (PID-5-BF, CATI, CAT-Q, each as a collapsible inline test)
Diagnoses (multi-row with ICD-10-CM + ICD-11 autocomplete, severity slider 0–100, disability slider 0–100, status, origin, dates, notes)
Medicines I have tried (multi-row with med-name autocomplete, dose, route 16-option dropdown, schedule with datalist suggestions, efficacy + burden sliders 0–100, periods via date-picker)

Demographics (chip-picker / structured-widget rebuild)

All categorical demographics use the chip-picker widget (single or multi, with optional primary marker, optional custom free-text). All quantitative demographics use numeric inputs or structured composite widgets.

Birthday DatePicker (single / range / possibility-mix)
Sex assigned at birth single-select (clinical category)
Gender identity multi-select chip-picker, 27 common terms + custom
Pronouns multi-select chip-picker, 17 common sets + custom
Ethnicity / race multi-select chip-picker, 23 broad categories + custom
Country of residence chip-picker single-value, ISO 3166 list (~100 entries), auto-suggested from navigator.language
Languages chip-picker multi-select with ★ primary marker, ISO 639-1 list (~70 entries with endonyms), auto-suggested from navigator.languages
Height / weight unit toggle (Metric cm/kg or US ft+in/lb); stored canonically as cm/kg regardless
Handedness single-select (3 options)
Smoking structured widget: status + cigs/day + years smoked + quit date; auto-computes pack-years
Alcohol structured widget: drinks/week + typical drink type + max one occasion
Education bucketed highest-level + numeric years + free-text field of study
Employment bucketed status + free-text occupation + numeric hours/week
Income numeric amount + currency selector (20 options) + individual/household scope
Marital / relationship status chip-picker single + custom
Religion / spirituality chip-picker single + custom, 36 traditions + secular stances
Housing chip-picker single + custom
Number of children numeric
Time zone free text, auto-detects IANA TZ on first load if empty
Chronotype / sleep schedule two time inputs (typical bedtime, typical wake)
Political orientation two-axis compass sliders (economic ±100, social ±100)

Diagnosis subsystem

Diagnoses are stored in pcp_profile_diagnoses with autocomplete backed by pcp_diagnosis_abbreviations (~41,500 rows):

System	Rows	Notes
ICD-10-CM	25,542	CMS FY2026 valid-codes file, chapters A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R U + 553 friendly-alias rows (mdd, adhd, stroke, htn, etc.)
ICD-11	15,823	WHO MMS Apr 2026 linearization, chapters 01–24 except billing (22) / external causes (23) / extension modifiers (X) / functioning assessment (V) + 361 friendly-alias rows
DSM-5	32	Legacy hand-seed for codes without ICD equivalents
Other	34	somatic, unofficial, ICD-10 (WHO), instrument

Skipped intentionally: ICD-10-CM S/T (injury body) ~41k codes, V/W/X/Y (external causes) ~7.5k codes; ICD-11 chapter 22 (injury), 23 (external causes), 25 (special purposes), V (functioning scales), X (17.7k extension modifiers). These are billing scaffolding, not diagnoses.

Autocomplete via action=pharmacopediadxsearch, multi-token AND search (e.g. "ADHD inattentive" matches the F90.0 row that contains both substrings); ORDER BY FIELD(da_system, 'ICD-10-CM', 'ICD-11', 'DSM-5', ...) so ICD-10-CM leads, then ICD-11, then everything else.

Personality / autism assessments

Six assessments, all with continuous-slider items, "Not sure" toggle per item, auto-computed subscale + total scores, and a rich auto-generated report at Special:MyAssessment/{key}:

Assessment	Items	Score range	Cutoffs / threshold	Report
CATI	42 (6 subscales)	1–5 per item, sum per subscale	148 / 139 / 141 / 156 (English 2025 gender-specific)	gender-specific scoring against English 2025 normative tables (12,253-row CatiNorms.php from OSF supplementary)
CAT-Q	25 (3 subscales)	1–7 per item, sum per subscale	Total ≥ 110 + per-subscale cutoffs (NeurodivUrgent recalibration)	subscale narratives, top-item analysis
PID-5-BF	25 (5 domains)	0–3 per item, mean per domain	mean ≥ 2.0 per domain	domain narratives, cross-system mapping (DSM-5 AMPD ↔ ICD-11 PD ↔ Big Five)
MBTI	32 OEJTS items + 4 direct dichotomy sliders	±2 per axis	none (dimensional treatment, no forced categorisation)	4-axis Position column with letter + strength + bar, cognitive function stack, Big Five mapping, top-item analysis
Enneagram	45 (5 per type × 9 types)	0–100 per type	none (no clinical cutoffs for typology)	hero banner (primary + wing + tritype), 9-bar profile, primary deep-dive, wing analysis, centers, Hornevian + Harmonic groups, stress / growth lines, cross-system map (Big Five, MBTI)
OCEAN (Big Five)	5 direct sliders + optional BFI-10 (10 items)	0–100 per trait	none (personality, not pathology)	trait deep-dives (high / mid / low at your score), BFI-10 item table, cross-system mapping (MBTI ↔ Enneagram ↔ PID-5-BF) pulling live data from the profile

All assessment items submit raw responses to pcp_user_profile_fields under namespace {key}_raw (e.g. cati_raw); the computed scores live under namespace {key} with keys like subscale_SOC, total, plus a taken_at timestamp. Re-scoring happens automatically on every save (autosave fires `scoreResponses()` on the full raw set, skipping "unsure" rows).

Autosave infrastructure

Every block on Special:MyProfile is wrapped in <div data-pcp-save-block="block-name">. The blocksave.js library:

Listens for input and change events on every input inside any save-block
800 ms after the last event, POSTs the block's serialized form data to Special:SaveProfileBlock with block=block-name
Shows a transient chip (top-right and bottom of the block): pending… → saving… → ✓ saved (fades after 1.2 s) or ✗ error (sticks, clickable to retry)
Race-safe: if user keeps typing during an in-flight save, the in-flight save records what it sent; newer changes mark the block dirty again and schedule another save when the response returns
Diagnosis + medicines "Add a row" slots are exempted from autosave (would create duplicates); they require an explicit + Add button
Programmatic widgets (chip-pickers, units, smoking, alcohol, chronotype) fire change events on their hidden fields so the listener notices

Slider numbers are also clickable: a single delegated handler on every <output> next to a range slider swaps it for a number input on click, accepts a precise typed value (clamps to the slider's min/max), commits with Enter, cancels with Escape.

Scroll position is preserved across the rare reloads (delete operations on diagnoses / medicines / experience reports, and the auto-reload after a new diagnosis or medicine is added) via sessionStorage.

Special pages

Page	Purpose
`Special:MyProfile`	Edit your full profile (identity, demographics, personality, dx, meds). Autosave throughout.
`Special:UserProfile/<name>`	Public profile view (filtered by per-field visibility)
`Special:MyAssessment`	Index of rich assessment reports
`Special:MyAssessment/cati`, `/catq`, `/pid5bf`, `/mbti`, `/enneagram`, `/ocean`	Rich report per assessment
`Special:SaveProfileBlock`	AJAX endpoint for autosave (POST-only, JSON response)
`Special:Problems`	Browse the problems repository (165+ entries, 18 categories)
`Special:Problem/<slug>`	Individual problem page
`Special:SuggestProblem`	User-facing form to suggest a new problem
`Special:ManageProblems`	Sysop tool for problem-repository moderation
`Special:ReviewExperience`	Sysop queue for pending experience reports
`Special:ManageInteractions`	Sysop bulk-edit interaction reports
`Special:DeletePharmaElement`	Sysop delete tool for any votable element

API modules

Action	Purpose
`pharmacopediavote`	Submit / clear binary vote on votable element
`pharmacopedialikert`	Submit problem-efficacy likert (0–100 + −1 DK)
`pharmacopediaeffect`	Submit effect report (patient or provider perspective)
`pharmacopediainteractionreport`	Submit interaction report
`pharmacopediainteractionadd`	Create a new interaction edge
`pharmacopediacomment`	Threaded discussion ops (add / edit / delete / reply)
`pharmacopediaexperiencesubmit`	Submit experience report (multi-field form)
`pharmacopediaexperiencereview`	Sysop approve / reject experience report
`pharmacopediadxsearch`	Diagnosis autocomplete against the 41k-row abbreviation table
`pharmacopediaproblemsearch`	Problem-repository autocomplete
`pharmacopediaeffectslookup`, `indicationslookup`	Pickers used by the experience-submit form
`pharmacopedialiteratureadd`, `literaturedelete`	Literature attachment ops

Interactions feature

The Interactions section is rendered by placing <pharmaInteractions/> anywhere in the wikitext of a med article (NS_MAIN) or a Category page (NS_CATEGORY).

Entity model

An interaction is an undirected edge between two endpoints. Each endpoint has a type (med or category) and a slug (DB-key form of the page title). Pairs are stored in canonical order: smaller (type, slug) tuple on the left.

Rendering rules

On a med page M, list:
- Direct edges: rows where M is one side.
- Transitive edges: rows where one side is a category C that M is itself a member of (via MW's categorylinks).
Direct wins: if the same counterparty is reachable both directly and transitively, drop the transitive duplicate.
On a Category page, list direct edges only (no transitive walk).
Sort: pooled valence_mean ascending (most negative on top). Nulls sink. Tiebreakers: n desc, then alphabetic.
Severe (any of pooled / user / provider vmean ≤ −83.0): red 4 px left border + red-tinted background + "severe" pill + counterparty title in red.

Add-interaction modal

Triggered by the + Add interaction button at the bottom of the section. Two-stage UX: search → click Use → confirm with Add interaction → POST to pharmacopediainteractionadd. Categories appear in the modal only if tagged with the marker category (default Category:MedCategory, configurable via $wgPharmacopediaInteractionCategoryMarker).

Experience reports

User-submitted reports of personal or clinical experience with a medicine, via <pharmaExperience/> on a med page. Stored pending in pcp_experience_reports; visible publicly only after sysop approval through Special:ReviewExperience.

Captured fields:

Perspective (personal / clinical)
Currently taking it (yes / no, stopped)
Duration (value + unit)
Dose (mg, decimal-precise)
Route (16-option dropdown: PO, IV, IM, SC, SL, buccal, inhaled, intranasal, topical, transdermal, PR, ophthalmic, otic, vaginal, insufflated, other)
Schedule (free text with datalist of QD / BID / TID / QID / q4h / q6h / q8h / q12h / qHS / qAM / qPM / PRN)
Patient count (clinical only): min + optional max for ranges
Efficacy (0–100 slider)
Side-effect burden (0–100 slider)
Stop reasons (personal + stopped only): JSON multi-select with optional severity slider per reason — codes: side_effects / ineffective / cost / no_longer_needed / clinician_advised / other
Free-text anecdote
Problems addressed (multi-pick with per-problem efficacy)
Effects experienced (multi-pick with per-effect valence + frequency)

Storage tables (selected)

Table	Purpose
`pcp_votable_elements`	Stable per-(page, slug) handle reused by votes / likert / comments
`pcp_votes`	Binary +1/−1 votes
`pcp_likert_reports`	Problem efficacy (0–100 + −1 DK), TINYINT signed
`pcp_effect_reports`	Effect ratings: experienced / frequency / valence (±100); perspective 1/2
`pcp_interaction_reports`	Interaction ratings: experience 1–5 / valence ±100 / note; perspective 1/2
`pcp_interactions`	Interaction edges (canonical-ordered pair)
`pcp_comments`	Threaded discussions
`pcp_user_profiles`	Per-user profile meta (alias, attribution, voter hash)
`pcp_user_profile_fields`	Generic key-value field store: (namespace, key, num, text, visibility)
`pcp_profile_diagnoses`	Per-user diagnoses (system, code, description, status, origin, severity 0–100, disability 0–100, dates, notes, visibility)
`pcp_user_meds`	Per-user medicines (name, page_id, efficacy 0–100, burden 0–100, dose_mg, route, schedule, duration, periods JSON, current, notes, visibility)
`pcp_diagnosis_abbreviations`	ICD-10-CM + ICD-11 + DSM-5 + aliases (~41,500 rows, VARCHAR/utf8mb4 for native case-insensitive search)
`pcp_problem`, `pcp_problem_alias`	Problems repository + alias lookup
`pcp_experience_reports`	Experience reports (pending → approved); efficacy + burden 0–100; route + schedule; stop-reasons JSON; patient-count min + max
`pcp_life_events`, `pcp_life_traits`, `pcp_life_images`	Life Story keyframes (auto-generated from assessments, manually authorable)
`pcp_literature`	Citation attachments

Notable lessons learned

Cargo string fields cap at ~300 chars. structure and mechanism on MedTemplate are short VARCHARs; long prose goes in MEDIUMBLOB sections (pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, intro). Overruns silently lose Cargo data (MySQL Error 1406).
VARBINARY + LOWER() is a no-op. MariaDB's LOWER() returns binary types unchanged. pcp_diagnosis_abbreviations was migrated VARBINARY → VARCHAR/utf8mb4 (2026-05-17) so case-insensitive LIKE works natively without CONVERT() wrappers.
FlaggedRevs locks template inclusions by default. Config fix: $wgFlaggedRevsHandleIncludes=0 + remove NS_TEMPLATE from $wgFlaggedRevsNamespaces via an extension-function callback (MW 1.46 array config concatenation behavior).
CSP must allow Cloudflare Turnstile and any other 3rd-party widget script source. Symptom: generic "There are problems with some of your input" on form submit. Audit script-src / frame-src / connect-src / style-src whenever adding any 3rd-party JS widget.
Sidebar cache must be purged after CLI maintenance/edit.php writes to MediaWiki:Sidebar or other chrome pages: curl -X POST .../api.php?action=purge&titles=MediaWiki:Sidebar.
CLI E_USER_DEPRECATED suppressed in LocalSettings.php (EmbedVideo / FlaggedRevs spam ~6 lines per maintenance/run.php call on MW 1.46). Web behavior unaffected.

Hooks

ParserFirstCallInit: register all parser tags
LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates: install / migrate schema (the sql/ directory + patches)
BeforePageDisplay: inject the ext.pharmacopedia.* ResourceLoader modules
UserGetRights + UserEffectiveGroups: verified-provider role wiring
Various special-page registrations via SpecialPage_initList

Configuration globals

$wgPharmacopediaInteractionCategoryMarker (default Category:MedCategory): only categories tagged with this marker appear in the add-interaction modal
(Various permission-grant arrays via standard MW $wgGroupPermissions)

Source layout

 extensions/Pharmacopedia/
  |-- extension.json
  |-- includes/
  |   |-- Hooks.php
  |   |-- *Tag.php                  (parser tags: VoteTag, EffectTag, ProblemTag, ...)
  |   |-- *Store.php                (data access: EffectStore, ProblemStore, ...)
  |   |-- UserProfileStore.php      (the big one; profile / dx / meds / abbreviations)
  |   |-- SpecialMyProfile.php      (the user profile editor; large)
  |   |-- SpecialMyAssessment.php   (rich reports for all 6 assessments; large)
  |   |-- SpecialSaveProfileBlock.php (autosave AJAX endpoint)
  |   |-- Special*.php              (other special pages)
  |   |-- ProfileDatasets.php       (countries, languages, genders, religions, etc.)
  |   |-- DatePicker.php            (range / possibility-mix date widget backend)
  |   |-- Assessments/
  |   |   |-- Cati.php, CatiNorms.php
  |   |   |-- Catq.php
  |   |   |-- Pid5bf.php
  |   |   |-- Mbti.php
  |   |   |-- Enneagram.php
  |   |   `-- Raadsr.php            (deprecated 2026-05-17 in favor of CATI, kept for archival reads)
  |   `-- Api/
  |       `-- (one class per API module)
  |-- resources/
  |   |-- ext.pharmacopedia.js          (single IIFE: chip-picker, dx autocomplete, BFI-10 compute, ...)
  |   |-- ext.pharmacopedia.blocksave.js (debounced autosave per block)
  |   |-- ext.pharmacopedia.css
  |   |-- ext.pharmacopedia.datepicker.js + .css
  |-- sql/
  |   |-- (one .sql per table; patches as patch-*.sql)
  `-- i18n/
      `-- en.json