Open Library

live BooksReference

Internet Archive's open book metadata — 50M+ editions, author bios, work/edition split, subjects, covers. Stronger than Google Books for out-of-print titles.

4 tools
0ms auth
free tier 50 calls/day

Tools

search_books required: query

Title/author/subject search.

Parameters
Name Type Description
query req string Search string
limit opt number 1-100 (default 20)
page opt number 1-based page
▶ Try it
get_book_by_isbn required: isbn

Book by ISBN-10 or ISBN-13.

Parameters
Name Type Description
isbn req string ISBN-10 or ISBN-13
▶ Try it
get_work required: work_id

Canonical work record (book across editions).

Parameters
Name Type Description
work_id req string OL work ID (e.g., OL45804W)
▶ Try it
get_author required: author_id

Author bio + bibliography links.

Parameters
Name Type Description
author_id req string OL author ID (e.g., OL34184A)
▶ Try it

Test with curl

The gateway speaks JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP POST. You can test any pack directly from the terminal.

List available tools
bash 
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/open-library/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'
Call a tool
bash 
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/open-library/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search_books","arguments":{"query": "hello"}}}'

Use with the SDK

Install @pipeworx/sdk to call tools from any TypeScript/Node project.

TypeScript 
import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const px = new Pipeworx();
const result = await px.call("search_books", {"query":"example"});
ask_pipeworx 
// Or ask in plain English:
const answer = await px.ask("internet archive's open book metadata — 50m+ editions, author bios, work/edition split, subjects, covers");