`get_book_work`

Pack: books · Endpoint: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/books/mcp

Fetch the canonical Open Library “work” record (the concept of a book across all its editions), by work ID (e.g. “OL45804W”). Returns title, description, first publish date, subjects, and author keys. Use search_books to find a work_id (the W-suffixed key); use get_book for a specific edition by ISBN. (Named get_book_work to avoid colliding with Crossref get_work.)

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`work_id`	string	yes	Open Library work ID, the W-suffixed identifier (e.g. “OL45804W”).

Example call

Arguments

{
  "work_id": "OL45804W"
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/books/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_book_work","arguments":{"work_id":"OL45804W"}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('get_book_work', {
  "work_id": "OL45804W"
});

Response shape

Always returns: work_id, title, description, first_publish_date, authors, subjects, subject_places, subject_people, subject_times, cover_url, open_library_url

Field	Type	Description
`work_id`	string	Open Library work ID
`title`	string \| null	Work title
`description`	string \| null	Work description
`first_publish_date`	string \| null	Date of first publication
`authors`	array	Author IDs
`subjects`	array	Subject tags
`subject_places`	array	Place subjects
`subject_people`	array	Person subjects
`subject_times`	array	Time period subjects
`cover_url`	string \| null	URL to cover image
`open_library_url`	string	Open Library work URL

Full JSON Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "work_id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Open Library work ID"
    },
    "title": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Work title"
    },
    "description": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Work description"
    },
    "first_publish_date": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Date of first publication"
    },
    "authors": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Author IDs",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    },
    "subjects": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Subject tags",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    },
    "subject_places": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Place subjects",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    },
    "subject_people": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Person subjects",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    },
    "subject_times": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Time period subjects",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    },
    "cover_url": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "URL to cover image"
    },
    "open_library_url": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Open Library work URL"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "work_id",
    "title",
    "description",
    "first_publish_date",
    "authors",
    "subjects",
    "subject_places",
    "subject_people",
    "subject_times",
    "cover_url",
    "open_library_url"
  ]
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config, or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "books": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/books/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

get_book_work