# Open Library MCP Server: book search, works + authors (`mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp`) Actor

Look up books and authors in your agent: full-text search across Open Library, work details with editions and subjects, and author profiles with their bibliography. Keyless MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and any MCP client. Pay per tool call only.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp.md
- **Developed by:** [a e](https://apify.com/mrfentmen) (community)
- **Categories:** Education, MCP servers, AI
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event + usage

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## openlibrary-mcp

Query the Open Library (openlibrary.org, keyless): full-text book search, work details, and author details with covers and publish years.

Served over the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) so any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT connectors, custom agents) can use it. Keyless: no third-party account or API key needed.

### Connect

Standby MCP endpoint (streamable HTTP):

```
https://mrfentmen--openlibrary-mcp.apify.actor/mcp
```

Authenticate with your Apify API token:

```
Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN>
```

### Tools

#### `search_books`

Search Open Library by title, author or free text. Returns authors, first publish year and cover links.

#### `search_by_author`

Find books by an author name across the whole Open Library catalog.

#### `search_by_subject`

Browse a subject or genre, e.g. 'science\_fiction', 'cooking', 'biography'.

#### `get_work`

Work details by ID (OL123W): description, subjects, first publish date and cover.

#### `get_edition`

Edition details by ID (OL123M): publisher, page count, ISBNs and cover.

#### `get_author`

Author details by ID (OL123A): birth/death dates, alternate names, bio and links.

#### `author_works`

List the works credited to an author ID, with publication years.

#### `edition_by_isbn`

Resolve an ISBN straight to its edition record - title, publisher, pages, language and cover - after checking the ISBN's own check digit, so a typo is caught before the request.

#### `work_editions`

Every printing of a work that Open Library holds: edition count, publication-year range, publishers, languages and the edition keys to drill into.

#### `subject_overview`

A subject as an entity rather than a search: how many works it holds and the works Open Library ranks first, with authors and first publication years.

### Pricing

[Pay per event](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/monetize). You only pay for what you use:

| Event | Price (USD) | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tool call | $0.01 | Each MCP tool call |
| List request | $0.001 | Listing tools/resources/prompts |
| Resource request | $0.001 | Reading an MCP resource |
| Prompt request | $0.001 | Running an MCP prompt |
| Completion request | $0.0001 | MCP completion request |

### Data source

Public read-only API. This Actor never writes to your account and never asks for third-party credentials.

### Source

Built from the [ts-mcp-proxy](https://apify.com/templates/ts-mcp-proxy) template.

# Actor input Schema

## Actor input object example

```json
{}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,mrfentmen/openlibrary-mcp"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/tScYClgbmFXjR28Ck/builds/IiDlhNtAXDC6aVD1v/openapi.json