Sourcelibrary V2

What Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 MCP server does

The Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 MCP server belongs to Source Library, an open digital library for early printed books and other historical primary sources. The platform concentrates on alchemy, Hermetica, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, and early modern science. Its collection combines original-language material with AI-assisted OCR and English translations, making the texts easier to search and read while retaining links to the underlying sources.

Source Library also adds bibliographic and scholarly context. Book records can include authors, languages, publication dates, USTC identifiers, edition information, and links to authority systems such as VIAF. Published books may receive DOI records through Zenodo, allowing passages and editions to be cited with persistent references.

How it works

The wider application imports material from digital heritage providers including Internet Archive, Gallica, the Bodleian, and Wellcome. Its processing flow covers image import, two-page spread detection, OCR, translation, illustration extraction, enrichment, and publication. Gemini-based processing is used for OCR, translation, summarization, and image analysis according to the README.

The application stores books, pages, images, OCR output, translations, illustrations, and curation metadata across its documented data systems. Search combines PostgreSQL full-text search with semantic search through Supabase. Public HTTP routes include search, book listing, library browsing, and book metadata endpoints. However, the supplied material does not describe the specific MCP tool names or explain which of these application capabilities are exposed through MCP.

Setup and configuration

The repository's documented development setup clones the project, installs JavaScript dependencies with npm, and starts the Next.js application with npm run dev. The README says that the development environment requires a MongoDB Atlas connection, a Google Gemini API key, and a Vercel Blob token, with values configured according to .env.example.

Those instructions describe the main Source Library application rather than a confirmed standalone launch procedure for the MCP server. The Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 MCP server does not have a documented package command, executable name, transport configuration, or client configuration in the supplied excerpt. Confirm the contents of the mcp-server directory before attempting to run it independently.

Limitations and notes

The available material is not sufficient to verify the MCP server's complete interface. It does not list supported MCP tools, input schemas, output formats, authentication behavior, or compatibility with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or Cline. It also does not establish whether the MCP layer queries the hosted Source Library service, the local Next.js application, or the underlying databases directly.

The broader platform's public read APIs are described as requiring no authentication today, but that statement should not be treated as the authentication policy for the MCP implementation. The application itself depends on external services and credentials for storage, database access, and AI processing. Treat the Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 MCP server as requiring repository-level verification before production use, especially when reproducible citations or historical text accuracy matter.