Archives & heritage · MCP server

Open Library

Books, editions and authors from the Internet Archive’s Open Library, including search inside scanned texts.

GlobalCommunity server

Free plan included. No API key needed.

About this source

Search 20M+ book records, look up works and editions, find authors and their works, and search inside the full text of scanned books. Records link to Open Library and, where available, to a readable copy.

Questions you can ask Open Library

Type them into Kahubi’s chat once the source is connected.

Search the collection for records about a named person, place or event and list the reference codes.

What comes back: Matching records with identifiers and links to the originals.

What the assistant can do with it

The 10 tools this server offers to Kahubi. The assistant picks the right one for each question.

  • openlibrary_search_books

    Full-text book search across Open Library works.

  • openlibrary_search_inside

    Search the full text of books scanned by the Internet Archive - the "which book contains this passage?" lookup that the metadata tools cannot answer.

  • openlibrary_get_work

    Fetch a work by Open Library Work ID (OL…W).

  • openlibrary_get_editions

    List editions of a work - different publishers, languages, formats, and print runs.

  • openlibrary_get_edition

    Resolve one or more editions by identifier: ISBN-10, ISBN-13, OCLC, LCCN, or Open Library Edition ID (OL…M).

  • openlibrary_search_authors

    Search Open Library authors by name.

  • openlibrary_get_author

    Fetch author detail by Open Library Author ID (OL…A).

  • openlibrary_get_author_works

    List works by an author.

Show 2 more
  • openlibrary_get_subject

    Browse works by subject.

  • openlibrary_get_cover_url

    Resolve a cover image URL for a book or author photo.

Good to know

  • Community server. An open-source server maintained by the MCP community. Kahubi tests it with live queries before listing it and health-checks it regularly.
  • Cited, checkable answers. Results are treated as retrieved material and cited with the source’s own identifiers, so you can open every record the answer relied on.
  • Your files stay private. Only the search the assistant writes for your question is sent to Open Library.

More archives & heritage sources

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Ask Open Library your next research question

Connect Open Library in one click and get answers that cite their records, next to your own library and drafts. Free to start.