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Sourcelibrary V2

by Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind

Search, read, quote, and cite 22,000+ rare historical texts with translations and stable citation links.

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Install Sourcelibrary V2

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "embassy-of-the-free-mind-sourcelibrary-v2": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@source-library/mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Automated check passed— started and listed 12 tools correctly (6d ago).

Overview

Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 connects MCP-compatible AI clients to Source Library’s collection of more than 22,000 rare pre-modern texts. Its 12 tools support full-text, translation, semantic, and book-specific search; chapter and page reading; exact translated quotations; image discovery; duplicate checks; and research feedback. Results include citation URLs, while `get_quote` provides a stable shortlink and formatted citation for a page. Reach for it when researching alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, theology, Renaissance philosophy, or early science without an API key.

Use cases

  • Search translated passages about historical concepts
  • Read chapters from rare pre-modern books
  • Retrieve exact quotations with stable citations
  • Find alchemical and Renaissance illustrations
  • Check books for duplicates before importing

Key features

  • Full-text and semantic search
  • AI-generated English translation search
  • Chapter, page, and OCR reading
  • Exact quotes with citation shortlinks
  • Historical image and artwork search
  • Duplicate detection and research sharing

Tools12

What Sourcelibrary V2 lets your agent do. Expand a tool for its parameters.

Verified live~3.8k tokens of context

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked 3d ago

Recent health check succeeded.

14/14 checks healthy over the last 81d

What it can do

From the 12 tools this server returned when we ran it; 12 declare their own safety hints.

Handles credentials · 1Makes network requests · 3Read-only tools · 12
Network at startup3 connections
Files written at startupNone
Install scriptsNone
npm provenanceNot published
Package age295 days
Maintainers1

Observed 2026-10-23 in an isolated sandbox. A description of reach, not a security audit.

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 7d ago via OSV.dev · @source-library/mcp-server (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

GitHub stars23Stargazers on the source repository.
npm downloads262Package downloads in the last 30 days.
Last commit3d agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Availability100%Our rolling endpoint + install checks that succeeded.
Install checkPassedOur sandbox started it and listed its tools.
Tools exposed12Callable tools this server registers over MCP.
Directory activity3 viewsConfig copies, upvotes, and views on AllMCPs.

How Sourcelibrary V2 works

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

Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 exposes Source Library through both an MCP server and a command-line interface. It gives agents access to over 22,000 pre-modern books covering subjects such as alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, theology, and early science. Many texts include AI-generated English translations, alongside OCR and bibliographic information.

The server is designed for research workflows that need discoverable sources and page-level evidence. Search responses can include matching books, passages, page numbers, and citation URLs. Book metadata includes summaries, edition details, chapter information, translation progress, and DOI data where available.

How it works

The search tools cover several research patterns. search_library searches books and page content, while search_translations looks within translated passages. search_concept uses Gemini embeddings to find semantically related material when the wording of a modern query does not appear literally in a historical text. search_within_book narrows a query to one identified book, and list_books browses the collection by metadata and filters.

Reading is handled through get_book and get_book_text. Text can be requested by chapter or page range, in OCR, translation, or both. Responses from get_book_text can be truncated by page limits, so agents should inspect the returned truncation status and continuation details.

For evidence intended for quotation, get_quote retrieves one page’s translated text, the original OCR, and a formatted citation. Its citation link is a stable sourcelibrary.org/q/... shortlink intended to accompany the quoted passage.

Setup and configuration

No API key is required. The MCP package can be launched directly with npx:

Terminal
npx -y @source-library/mcp-server

Claude Code can register it with:

Terminal
claude mcp add source-library -- npx -y @source-library/mcp-server

Claude Desktop users add a source-library entry with npx as the command and -y @source-library/mcp-server as its arguments in the platform-specific MCP configuration file. The package can also be installed globally with npm for CLI use, or built from the repository with npm install, npm run build, and npm start.

Tools and capabilities

The 12 tools are organized around these functions:

  • Search books, pages, translations, and related concepts.
  • Browse titles, authors, languages, categories, dates, and translation progress.
  • Read chapters or page ranges with structured or plain output.
  • Retrieve exact translated page text with OCR and citation details.
  • Search illustrations and standalone artworks using subjects, figures, symbols, types, and quality filters.
  • Check potential imports against existing books using several matching methods.
  • Send feedback or share research dossiers with ordered citations.

Image search covers illustrations extracted from books as well as standalone artworks from collections including the Met, Rijksmuseum, Wikimedia, and the National Gallery of Art. The curation tool helps prevent duplicate imports by comparing identifiers, normalized metadata, keywords, and semantic similarity.

Limitations and notes

Search limits vary by tool. For example, full-library search allows up to 100 results, translation and concept searches allow up to 50, and image search allows up to 50. get_quote is page-oriented and requires both a book identifier and page number.

Semantic discovery is distinct from literal text search: use translation search for exact wording and concept search for related ideas. Original-language filtering can be important when looking beyond Latin or German material. Feedback and shared findings are sent to the Source Library team for review rather than acting as local records.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

Reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions about Sourcelibrary V2

Embassy-of-the-Free-Mind/sourcelibrary-v2 is an MCP server that connects AI agents to Source Library’s collection of 22,000+ rare pre-modern texts. Its main tools search books, translations, and concepts; read chapters and pages; retrieve exact quotations; search images; check duplicates; and share research feedback.

Run `npx -y @source-library/mcp-server` to start it directly, or install it globally with `npm install -g @source-library/mcp-server`. You can also clone the repository, install dependencies, build it, and run `npm start`.

Add a `source-library` MCP entry that runs `npx` with `-y @source-library/mcp-server` as its arguments. Place it in Claude Desktop’s configuration file under the platform-specific application support directory.

No, it runs without an API key. The package can be launched with npx, installed as an npm package, or built from the repository.

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