AI Agent for MCP Open Library
Integrate your AI assistants with the MCP Open Library API to seamlessly access and search book and author information. Enable advanced knowledge retrieval, instant book lookups by title or ID, author searches, and media asset fetching, empowering your AI with a rich Open Library data layer for smarter, more informed interactions.
Instant Book & Author Lookup
Effortlessly empower your AI assistant to search books by title, retrieve book covers, and find authors by name using the MCP Open Library API. Instantly access detailed book and author metadata for dynamic, knowledge-rich user experiences.
- Book Search by Title.
- Find books instantly using titles and return structured metadata, including authors, publish year, and cover images.
- Author Search by Name.
- Search for authors efficiently, revealing alternate names, work counts, and top works.
- Book Cover Retrieval.
- Fetch high-quality book covers directly via ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, or ID for enhanced visual experiences.
- Get Book by ID.
- Retrieve comprehensive book details using multiple identifiers, supporting robust lookups and integrations.
Detailed Author & Book Profiles
Access deep author and book insights with dedicated tools. AI agents can fetch full author bios, alternate names, birth/death dates, and even author photos, enabling rich, personalized content delivery.
- Get Author Details.
- Retrieve comprehensive information for a specific author, including biography, alternate names, and key dates.
- Get Author Photo.
- Access Open Library's author photo archives for rich media integration in your AI workflows.
- Get Book by ID.
- Obtain all available metadata for any book using ISBN, LCCN, OCLC, or OLID.
Seamless AI Integration & Developer Friendly
Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), this server is compatible with leading AI assistants and clients. Enjoy easy setup with Smithery, Docker, or npm, and benefit from robust TypeScript support, test suites, and open contribution.
- MCP Protocol Integration.
- Easily connects to any MCP-compatible AI client or assistant, including Claude Desktop.
- Flexible Installation.
- Set up via Smithery, npm, or Docker for fast, developer-friendly onboarding.
MCP INTEGRATION
Available Open Library MCP Integration Tools
The following tools are available as part of the Open Library MCP integration:
- get_book_by_title
Search for books using their title to retrieve relevant book information.
- get_authors_by_name
Search for authors using their name and get structured author data.
- get_author_info
Retrieve detailed information about a specific author by their Open Library key.
- get_book_by_id
Obtain detailed information about a book using its ISBN, LCCN, OCLC, or OLID.
- get_author_photo
Get the URL for an author's photo using their Open Library ID (OLID).
- get_book_cover
Obtain the URL for a book's cover image using identifiers such as ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, or ID.
Enhance AI Book Search with MCP Open Library
Integrate powerful book and author search features into your AI assistant with the MCP Open Library server. Easily access structured data from Open Library and streamline your AI’s literary knowledge.
What is MCP Open Library
MCP Open Library is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to interface with the Internet Archive's Open Library API. Developed by 8enSmith, it enables seamless and structured access to Open Library's vast database of books and authors for AI assistants and applications. This service allows users to search for books by title, retrieve detailed information about authors using their Open Library keys, and access book cover images and author photos through unique identifiers. By providing standardized JSON outputs and robust integration with the Open Library, MCP Open Library streamlines the process of retrieving bibliographic and authorial data, making it invaluable for projects that require rich, reliable, and up-to-date literary information.
Capabilities
What we can do with MCP Open Library
MCP Open Library enables a wide range of book and author information retrieval tasks, making it easier for developers and AI agents to build literary and bibliographic applications. Here’s what you can do with MCP Open Library:
- Book Search
- Search for books by their title and retrieve metadata including author, publication date, and cover image.
- Author Search
- Find authors using their name and access their profiles, including associated books and biographical details.
- Get Author Details
- Retrieve in-depth author information using the Open Library key, including biography and list of works.
- Book Cover Retrieval
- Obtain book cover images using identifiers like ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID, or book ID.
- Author Photo Access
- Access URLs for author photos using their Open Library ID (OLID).
How AI Agents Benefit from MCP Open Library
AI agents can leverage MCP Open Library to provide advanced bibliographic search and retrieval functions, support intelligent book recommendations, and enable rich conversational experiences about literature. By utilizing structured and consistent data from Open Library, AI models can answer detailed queries about books and authors, power educational tools, and enhance digital library services with accurate and up-to-date information.