# Open Library Muse connector

From musedirectory.ai, the independent directory of Meta Muse connectors. Not affiliated with Meta.

## Open Library

Search millions of books, find editions, browse by subject, and get cover images from Open Library.

- Record: https://musedirectory.ai/connector/open-library
- Category: Research & Data
- Developer: cyanheads
- Muse status: Extra setup. Not in Muse's Connectors list yet. Muse can still use it: its page gives you a request to paste into Muse.
- Health: Working, 330ms, checked 2026-09-28T09:31:15Z
- Endpoint: https://openlibrary.caseyjhand.com/mcp
- Auth: No account needed; Pricing: unknown
- Screening: Screened, no issues found (2026-09-25T06:31:19Z)
- Source: Found in the official MCP Registry (io.github.cyanheads/openlibrary-mcp-server) https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=io.github.cyanheads%2Fopenlibrary-mcp-server

Connects to Open Library to search books and authors, fetch specific editions with ISBNs and metadata, browse by subject, search inside scanned book text, and retrieve cover images. Muse can help you find books, explore an author's works, and discover reading recommendations.

Example request: "Find all editions of 1984 by George Orwell and show me the cover of the most recent one."

How to connect: Not in Muse's Connectors list yet, but Muse can still use it. Paste this into Muse: "Use Open Library to help me. It is a free service with an MCP server at https://openlibrary.caseyjhand.com/mcp. It does not need an API key. Ask me before you share anything with it." Muse asks before it shares anything with the app's site. Meta does not review apps used this way, so only use ones you trust. We tested this in the Muse app on September 24, 2026: Muse used an app's link directly this way and returned a live answer.

Tools:
- openlibrary_search_books: Full-text book search across Open Library works. Supports field filters (title, author, subject, publisher, ISBN, language) and returns work-level records with edition counts, cover IDs, and reading availability. Use query for general search or combine specific field filters. Res
- 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. Quote a phrase for an exact-phrase match; bare terms match anywhere in the text. Each result is an Internet Archive item with the 
- openlibrary_get_work: Fetch a work by Open Library Work ID (OL…W). Returns title, description, subjects, cover IDs, and linked author IDs for follow-up lookups. Works represent the abstract book concept independent of any specific edition. A merged work ID resolves to the work it was merged into. To r
- openlibrary_get_editions: List editions of a work — different publishers, languages, formats, and print runs. Returns ISBNs, publisher, language, page count, and edition OLIDs. Use after openlibrary_get_work or openlibrary_search_books to find a specific printing. A merged work ID resolves to the work it 
- openlibrary_get_edition: Resolve one or more editions by identifier: ISBN-10, ISBN-13, OCLC, LCCN, or Open Library Edition ID (OL…M). Every identifier in a call shares one id_type — pass id_type "isbn" for both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13. Up to 50 identifiers resolve in a single upstream request, so a bibliogra
- openlibrary_search_authors: Search Open Library authors by name. Returns Open Library Author IDs, names, birth/death dates, top works, and subject associations. Use author IDs for openlibrary_get_author (bio, remote IDs) or openlibrary_get_author_works (list of works).
- openlibrary_get_author: Fetch author detail by Open Library Author ID (OL…A). Returns bio, birth/death dates, photo IDs, and linked identifiers from Wikidata, VIAF, ISNI, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Use openlibrary_search_authors to find an author ID first.
- openlibrary_get_author_works: List works by an author. Returns titles, cover IDs, and work OLIDs for drilling into editions or details. Use openlibrary_get_author for author bio and details, or openlibrary_get_editions to explore specific printings.
- openlibrary_get_subject: Browse works by subject. Returns matching works with edition counts and cover IDs, plus the total work count for the subject. Case and spacing are normalized before lookup, so "Science Fiction" and "science_fiction" are the same request. Subject tags are user-contributed and the 
- openlibrary_get_cover_url: Resolve a cover image URL for a book or author photo. Returns a direct HTTPS URL in the requested size (S/M/L). The Covers API always returns HTTP 200 — missing covers return a 1×1 placeholder GIF, not a 404 — so the identifier format is validated locally first: "id" must be nume

Screening checks:
- MCP handshake: pass (Answered in 357ms)
- Domain against threat feeds (Cloudflare security DNS): pass (openlibrary.caseyjhand.com not flagged)
- Published packages against the OSV malicious-package database: pass (No malicious-package advisories)
- Hidden instructions or invisible characters in tool text: pass (10 tools read, nothing found)
- Inputs asking for passwords, card numbers or seed phrases: pass (None found)
- Domain and redirects: pass (Domain registered 2659 days ago)
- AI review of purpose and tool behavior: pass (No concerns)