openlibrary-mcp-server

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  <h1>@cyanheads/openlibrary-mcp-server</h1>
  <p><b>Search books and authors, fetch editions, browse subjects, and resolve cover images from Open Library via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.</b>
  <div>10 Tools • 2 Resources</div>
  </p>
</div>

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[![Install in Claude Desktop](https://img.shields.io/badge/Install_in-Claude_Desktop-D97757?style=for-the-badge&logo=anthropic&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/cyanheads/openlibrary-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/openlibrary-mcp-server.mcpb) [![Install in Cursor](https://cursor.com/deeplink/mcp-install-dark.svg)](https://cursor.com/en/install-mcp?name=openlibrary-mcp-server&config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoibnB4IiwiYXJncyI6WyIteSIsIkBjeWFuaGVhZHMvb3BlbmxpYnJhcnktbWNwLXNlcnZlciJdfQ==) [![Install in VS Code](https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-Install_Server-0098FF?style=for-the-badge&logo=visualstudiocode&logoColor=white)](https://vscode.dev/redirect?url=vscode:mcp/install?%7B%22name%22%3A%22openlibrary-mcp-server%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-y%22%2C%22%40cyanheads%2Fopenlibrary-mcp-server%22%5D%7D)

[![Framework](https://img.shields.io/badge/Built%20on-@cyanheads/mcp--ts--core-67E8F9?style=flat-square)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core)

**Public Hosted Server:** [https://openlibrary.caseyjhand.com/mcp](https://openlibrary.caseyjhand.com/mcp)

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## Overview

Open Library's catalog of 20M+ books, editions, authors, and subjects, plus full-text search across Internet Archive's scanned books. Search and browse from any MCP client, drill from a work into its editions or an author into their works, and resolve cover and author-photo URLs. Runs as a stdio process, a local Streamable HTTP server, or the public hosted endpoint above.

### Tools

| Tool | Description |
|:---|:---|
| `openlibrary_search_books` | Full-text book search with field filters (title, author, subject, publisher, ISBN, language), sort options, pagination, and optional live reading availability |
| `openlibrary_get_work` | Fetch a work by Open Library Work ID (OL…W) — title, description, subjects, cover IDs, and author IDs |
| `openlibrary_get_editions` | List editions of a work — publishers, languages, formats, ISBNs, and print run details |
| `openlibrary_get_edition` | Resolve up to 50 editions in one call by ISBN-10, ISBN-13, OCLC, LCCN, or Open Library Edition ID (OL…M), reporting per-identifier misses |
| `openlibrary_search_authors` | Search authors by name — returns Author IDs, birth/death dates, top works, and subject associations |
| `openlibrary_get_author` | Fetch author detail by Open Library Author ID (OL…A) — bio, dates, photo IDs, and linked identifiers from Wikidata, VIAF, ISNI, Goodreads, and LibraryThing |
| `openlibrary_get_author_works` | List works by an author — titles, cover IDs, and Work OLIDs for drilling into editions or details |
| `openlibrary_get_subject` | Browse works by subject tag — returns matching works with edition counts and cover IDs plus the total work count |
| `openlibrary_search_inside` | Full-text search inside the scanned text of Internet Archive books — returns matching items with snippets |
| `openlibrary_get_cover_url` | Resolve a cover image URL for a book or author photo in S/M/L size — returns a direct HTTPS URL embeddable in markdown |

### Resources

| Resource | Description |
|:---|:---|
| `openlibrary://works/{work_id}` | Work detail by Open Library Work ID — title, description, subjects, cover IDs, and author IDs as injectable context |
| `openlibrary://authors/{author_id}` | Author detail by Open Library Author ID — name, bio, dates, photo IDs, and linked external identifiers as injectable context |

Both resources mirror data also available via `openlibrary_get_work` and `openlibrary_get_author` — useful for clients that don't surface MCP resources.

## Capability reference

### `openlibrary_search_books` <sub>tool</sub>

- Free-text query with Solr field prefixes (`title:`, `author:`, `subject:`, `publisher:`, `isbn:`, `language:`) or dedicated filter parameters; 1–100 results per page (default 10), offset pagination
- `sort`: `relevance` (default), `new`, `old`, `rating`, `editions`
- `language` accepts a 3-letter MARC code or a translatable 2-letter ISO code; an untranslatable 2-letter code fails as `unknown_language_code` rather than being silently dropped
- `include_availability` adds live Internet Archive borrow/read status (~200ms latency), off by default; flags Open Library leaves out are omitted rather than reported as `false`, and `availability: null` means none was returned for the work
- Returns work-level records with edition counts, cover IDs, subjects, and Internet Archive identifiers; `content[]` text caps Internet Archive IDs and subjects at 5 each per work, `structuredContent` carries every one

---

### `openlibrary_get_work` <sub>tool</sub>

- Fetch by Open Library Work ID (OL…W), optionally `/works/`-prefixed; anything else — an ISBN, an edition or author OLID — fails input validation before any request, naming `openlibrary_get_edition` (`id_type: "isbn"`) as the route from an ISBN to its work
- Returns title, description, subjects (plus place/time/people breakdowns), cover IDs, and author IDs — no author names (use `openlibrary_get_author` or `openlibrary_search_books`)
- A merged work ID stays reachable — the redirect chain is followed to the canonical record, `work_id` reports the canonical ID, and an enrichment notice names both IDs when they differ
- `content[]` text caps subjects at 10; `structuredContent` carries the complete list
- `not_found` when the Work ID doesn't exist or its redirect chain reaches no work

---

### `openlibrary_get_editions` <sub>tool</sub>

- List editions of a work by Work ID (OL…W), optionally `/works/`-prefixed; 1–100 per page (default 10), offset pagination, with the requested `offset` echoed in the output
- Same `work_id` validation as `openlibrary_get_work` — an ISBN resolves to its work through `openlibrary_get_edition` (`id_type: "isbn"`)
- Returns ISBN-10/13, publisher, language, page count, cover IDs, and edition OLIDs (OL…M) per edition
- A merged work ID stays reachable — the editions of the canonical work come back under its ID in `work_id`, with an enrichment notice naming both IDs; a live work still costs one request
- `not_found` when the Work ID doesn't exist or its redirect chain reaches no work

---

### `openlibrary_get_edition` <sub>tool</sub>

- Resolves 1–50 identifiers per call in a single upstream request — every identifier shares one `id_type`: `isbn` (10 or 13 digits, an ISBN-10 may end in an `X` check digit), `oclc` (numeric), `lccn` (unchecked), or `olid` (OL…M)
- Partial success: identifiers that resolve return in `editions` (request order); the rest land in `unresolved` with `invalid_identifier` (malformed, never sent upstream) or `not_found` (well-formed, no record) — the call fails only when nothing resolves
- `upstream_unavailable` (retryable) when Open Library's batch lookup itself fails — an HTTP error status other than a rate limit, or an HTML page — so an upstream outage never reads as a missing edition
- Authors come inline — the edition's own credits, or ones marked `source: "work"` recovered from the parent work when the edition itself lists none; if those lookups fail, the batch still returns, and an enrichment notice names the editions whose authors are missing or shown by ID
- Returns ISBN-10/13, OCLC, LCCN, LC call numbers, publisher, language, page count, cover IDs, parent work ID, and an Internet Archive `ebook_url` when one exists

---

### `openlibrary_search_authors` <sub>tool</sub>

- Search by name — partial and alternate names match; 1–100 per page (default 10), offset pagination
- Returns Author ID (OL…A), alternate names, birth/death dates, top work, work count, top subjects, and average rating
- `content[]` text caps top subjects at 5 per author; `structuredContent` carries the complete list

---

### `openlibrary_get_author` <sub>tool</sub>

- Fetch by Author ID (OL…A); a leading `/authors/` prefix is stripped
- Returns bio, birth/death dates, photo IDs, and linked identifiers (Wikidata, VIAF, ISNI, Goodreads, LibraryThing)
- A merged author ID stays reachable — the response is the canonical record, and an enrichment notice names the canonical ID when it differs from the one requested
- `not_found` when the Author ID doesn't exist, names a record that is not an author (a work or edition OLID), or its redirect chain reaches no author

---

### `openlibrary_get_author_works` <sub>tool</sub>

- List works by Author ID (OL…A); 1–100 per page (default 20), offset pagination, with the requested `offset` echoed in the output
- Returns title, first-publish date, cover IDs, and Work ID (OL…W) per work
- A merged author ID stays reachable — an enrichment notice names the canonical ID when it differs from the one requested
- `not_found` when the Author ID doesn't exist, names a record that is not an author (a work