Open LibrarySAFE
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Internet Archive's Open Library API that enables AI assistants to search for book and author information.
Overview
From the repository's own README, as read at the audited commit. Badges and raw HTML are left out.
[](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=io.github.8enSmith/mcp-open-library) [](https://socket.dev/npm/package/mcp-open-library) [](https://archestra.ai/mcp-catalog/8ensmith_mcp-open-library) [](https://spark.entire.vc/assets/vb-mcp-open-library?utmsource=github&utm_medium=readme) [](https://npmjs.org/package/mcp-open-library)
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Open Library API that enables AI assistants to search for book and author information.
Overview
This project implements an MCP server that provides tools for AI assistants to interact with the Open Library. It allows searching the catalogue by title, author, subject and other fields, searching for authors by name, retrieving detailed author information using their Open Library key, and getting URLs for book covers and author photos. The server returns JSON projections of the Open Library responses rather than the raw payloads.
Features
- Book Search: Search across titles, authors, subjects, places, people, publishers and ISBNs, with sorting and paging (
search_books). - Book Search by Title: Search for books using their title (
get_book_by_title). - **A
d28a4e8ec9e1OBSERVED · 2026-10-07Connect
Built from this server's own package name, version and transport as found in its source — not copied from anyone's documentation, so it cannot drift against a page we do not control.
claude mcp add mcp-open-library -- npx -y [email protected]
Exposed tools (7)
7 read · 0 write · 0 destructive.
| Tool | Risk | Description |
|---|---|---|
get_author_info | read | Get detailed information for a specific author using their Open Library Author Key (e.g. OL23919A). |
get_author_photo | read | Get the URL for an author |
get_authors_by_name | read | Search for author information on Open Library. Returns at most |
get_book_by_id | read | Get detailed information about a book using its identifier (ISBN, LCCN, OCLC, OLID). |
get_book_by_title | read | Search for a book by its title on Open Library. Returns at most |
get_book_cover | read | Get the URL for a book |
search_books | read | Search Open Library across titles, authors, subjects, places, people, publishers and ISBNs. ${CRITERIA_MESSAGE}; combining several narrows the search. Returns at most \ |
Trust audit
SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.
| Layer | What it checks | Result |
|---|---|---|
| L0 | Provenance & inventory | PASS |
| L1 | Static analysis of the code | PASS |
| L2 | Instruction surface (what it tells the agent) | PASS |
| L3 | Class-specific surface | PASS |
| L4 | Behavioural (sandbox) | SKIPPED |
What the source does
- Filesystem
- declared (3 observation(s))
- Network
- declared (4 observation(s))
- Shell
- none-observed
- Dependencies
- not all pinned
- Secrets in source
- none-found
Findings (8)
.cz.json
.prettierrc.json
import { axiosErrorWithStatus } from "../../test-support/axios-error.js";import { InvalidArgumentsError } from "../../utils/errors.js";import { OpenLibraryClients } from "../../utils/http.js";import { isNotFound, parseArgs, toErrorResult } from "../../utils/errors.js";} from "../../utils/results.js";
@modelcontextprotocol/sdk, axios, zod, @eslint/compat, @eslint/eslintrc, @eslint/js, @types/node, @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin
Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.
d28a4e8ec9e1full audit observations/trust-audit/mcp-server/8ensmith__open-library.json · Report an issue / request a re-scanAudit history
Every audit this server has had. A grade with a past is a grade somebody is still checking.
| Date | Source | Verdict | Grade | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-07 | d28a4e8ec9e1 | SAFE | B | 89 | first audit |
Questions
What is the Open Library MCP server?
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Internet Archive's Open Library API that enables AI assistants to search for book and author information.
What tools does Open Library expose?
7 in total: 7 read-only, 0 that write, and 0 that can delete or overwrite. Every one is listed on this page with its risk.
Is Open Library safe to connect to an agent?
The audit found nothing in the source that contradicts what it says it does, and graded it B (89/100). Grade A is held back for packages that have also passed a sandboxed behavioural run, which is why a clean server reads B.
What credentials does Open Library need?
No credential environment variables were found in its source, so it appears to need none.
How does Open Library run?
It speaks stdio, so it runs as a local process your client starts. It is published on npm as mcp-open-library at 1.2.2.
How current is this page?
The grade is for one exact copy of the source (d28a4e8ec9e1), read on 2026-10-07. The repository is watched and re-audited when it changes.