gutenberg-mcp-server

Get Gutenberg Book

gutenberg_get_book

Read-onlyIdempotent

Fetch complete metadata for a Project Gutenberg book by ID — title, authors (with birth/death years), translators, editors, source bibliographic notes, subjects, bookshelves, languages, copyright status, and the full formats map with download URLs (plain text, HTML, EPUB, cover image, etc.). Use is_readable before gutenberg_get_text; source_notes may identify specific editions.

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`id`	Yes	Project Gutenberg book ID. Visible in Gutenberg URLs (e.g., gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342) and returned by gutenberg_search_books and gutenberg_browse_popular. Example: 1342 for Pride and Prejudice, 2600 for War and Peace.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`id`	No	Gutenberg ID.
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`title`	No	Book title.
`authors`	No	Primary author(s).
`editors`	No	Editors, if any.
`formats`	No	Map of MIME type to download URL. Key types: "text/plain; charset=utf-8" (preferred for gutenberg_get_text), "text/html", "application/epub+zip", "image/jpeg" (cover). Not every format is present for every book.
`summary`	No	First entry of summaries, not necessarily primary, or null when the source has none.
`subjects`	No	Library of Congress subject headings.
`copyright`	No	Copyright status: false = public domain in the USA, true = under copyright, null = unknown.
`languages`	No	Catalog language codes for this edition.
`summaries`	No	Every source-provided summary: sorted on the RDF mirror, upstream order on live fallback. Empty when there are none.
`media_type`	No	Source media type, such as "Text" or "Sound" (audio). Use is_readable to check reader support.
`bookshelves`	No	Project Gutenberg bookshelf categories (e.g., "Best Books Ever Listings", "Category: Classics of Literature").
`is_readable`	No	Eligible Text record with UTF-8 plain text, or HTML without audio formats. Does not guarantee the mirror file exists.
`translators`	No	Translators, if this is a translated work.
`source_notes`	No	Source-provided RDF bibliographic notes in document order, including explicit edition references. [] means inspected with no notes; null means unavailable from this source.
`download_count`	No	Downloads in the last 30 days at the source snapshot, used for popularity ranking.
`has_plain_text`	No	True if media_type is "Text" and "text/plain; charset=utf-8" is present. HTML-only editions can still have is_readable=true.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed3 schema fields changedNov 1, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / is_readable / description

Previous value: -"True for non-Sound records with a supported UTF-8 plain-text or HTML format for gutenberg_get_text."New value: +"Eligible Text record with UTF-8 plain text, or HTML without audio formats. Does not guarantee the mirror file exists."

changedOutput schema / properties / summaries / description

Previous value: -"Every summary Gutendex holds for this work, in upstream order. Usually one; some records carry a long and a short variant. Empty when there are none."New value: +"Every source-provided summary: sorted on the RDF mirror, upstream order on live fallback. Empty when there are none."

changedOutput schema / properties / summary / description

Previous value: -"First entry of summaries — the primary auto-generated summary of the work, or null when Gutendex has none."New value: +"First entry of summaries, not necessarily primary, or null when the source has none."

Changed1 schema field changedOct 31, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / languages / description

Previous value: -"Two-character language codes for this edition."New value: +"Catalog language codes for this edition."

Changed6 schema fields changedOct 17, 2026

changedOutput schema / anyOf

Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "not": {
-      "required": [
-        "error"
-      ]
-    },
-    "required": [
-      "id",
-      "title",
-      "authors",
-      "translators",
-      "editors",
-      "subjects",
-      "bookshelves",
-      "languages",
-      "copyright",
-      "media_type",
-      "download_count",
-      "summary",
-      "summaries",
-      "formats",
-      "has_plain_text"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "required": [
-      "error"
-    ]
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "id",
+      "title",
+      "authors",
+      "translators",
+      "editors",
+      "subjects",
+      "bookshelves",
+      "languages",
+      "copyright",
+      "media_type",
+      "download_count",
+      "source_notes",
+      "is_readable",
+      "summary",
+      "summaries",
+      "formats",
+      "has_plain_text"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / download_count / description

Previous value: -"Total downloads — popularity signal."New value: +"Downloads in the last 30 days at the source snapshot, used for popularity ranking."

changedOutput schema / properties / has_plain_text / description

Previous value: -"True if media_type is \"Text\" AND a UTF-8 text/plain format (\"text/plain; charset=utf-8\") is present in formats — prerequisite for gutenberg_get_text."New value: +"True if media_type is \"Text\" and \"text/plain; charset=utf-8\" is present. HTML-only editions can still have is_readable=true."

addedOutput schema / properties / is_readable

Added value: +{
+  "description": "True for non-Sound records with a supported UTF-8 plain-text or HTML format for gutenberg_get_text.",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / media_type / description

Previous value: -"\"Text\" for readable books, \"Sound\" for audio books. Only \"Text\" books have plain-text content available for gutenberg_get_text."New value: +"Source media type, such as \"Text\" or \"Sound\" (audio). Use is_readable to check reader support."

addedOutput schema / properties / source_notes

Added value: +{
+  "anyOf": [
+    {
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    {
+      "type": "null"
+    }
+  ],
+  "description": "Source-provided RDF bibliographic notes in document order, including explicit edition references. [] means inspected with no notes; null means unavailable from this source."
+}

Changed16 schema fields changedSep 20, 2026
- removedOutput schema / properties / authors / items / properties / birth_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / authors / items / properties / birth_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / authors / items / properties / death_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / authors / items / properties / death_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / copyright / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "boolean"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / copyright / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "boolean",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / editors / items / properties / birth_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / editors / items / properties / birth_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / editors / items / properties / death_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / editors / items / properties / death_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / summary / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / summary / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / translators / items / properties / birth_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / translators / items / properties / birth_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```
- removedOutput schema / properties / translators / items / properties / death_year / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "number"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
- addedOutput schema / properties / translators / items / properties / death_year / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "number",
+  "null"
+]
```

Changed5 schema fields changedAug 23, 2026

changedOutput schema / anyOf

Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "not": {
-      "required": [
-        "error"
-      ]
-    },
-    "required": [
-      "id",
-      "title",
-      "authors",
-      "translators",
-      "editors",
-      "subjects",
-      "bookshelves",
-      "languages",
-      "copyright",
-      "media_type",
-      "download_count",
-      "summary",
-      "formats",
-      "has_plain_text"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "required": [
-      "error"
-    ]
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "id",
+      "title",
+      "authors",
+      "translators",
+      "editors",
+      "subjects",
+      "bookshelves",
+      "languages",
+      "copyright",
+      "media_type",
+      "download_count",
+      "summary",
+      "summaries",
+      "formats",
+      "has_plain_text"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: No book exists with the given ID. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: No book exists with the given ID. `catalog_unavailable`: The Project Gutenberg catalog did not answer within the time this server allows for one lookup. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "not_found"
-]New value: +[
+  "not_found",
+  "catalog_unavailable"
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / summaries

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Every summary Gutendex holds for this work, in upstream order. Usually one; some records carry a long and a short variant. Empty when there are none.",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / summary / description

Previous value: -"Auto-generated summary of the work, when available. Absent on many older records."New value: +"First entry of summaries — the primary auto-generated summary of the work, or null when Gutendex has none."

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 22, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "id",
+      "title",
+      "authors",
+      "translators",
+      "editors",
+      "subjects",
+      "bookshelves",
+      "languages",
+      "copyright",
+      "media_type",
+      "download_count",
+      "summary",
+      "formats",
+      "has_plain_text"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: No book exists with the given ID. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "not_found"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "id",
-  "title",
-  "authors",
-  "translators",
-  "editors",
-  "subjects",
-  "bookshelves",
-  "languages",
-  "copyright",
-  "media_type",
-  "download_count",
-  "summary",
-  "formats",
-  "has_plain_text"
-]

Changed1 schema field changedJul 11, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / has_plain_text / description

Previous value: -"True if media_type is \"Text\" AND a text/plain format (UTF-8 or ASCII) is present in formats — prerequisite for gutenberg_get_text."New value: +"True if media_type is \"Text\" AND a UTF-8 text/plain format (\"text/plain; charset=utf-8\") is present in formats — prerequisite for gutenberg_get_text."

First observedJun 16, 2026

TDQS

A3.9/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly, idempotent, and openWorld, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds real value on top: it lists the exact breadth of data returned, including birth/death years, copyright status, and the full formats map with download URLs, which tells the agent this is a heavy single-record lookup rather than a stub.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Two sentences, front-loaded with the core purpose and a dense but useful field inventory. The trailing clause about 'is_readable' is the one piece that does not earn its place, since it names a tool the agent cannot invoke.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

With an output schema present, the description needn't explain return values, and annotations plus the schema carry safety and parameter meaning. It is complete enough to call correctly; only the dangling non-sibling tool reference slightly muddies it.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100% and the single `id` parameter is documented with URL patterns and two concrete examples (1342, 2600). The description only says 'by ID' and adds nothing the schema does not already say, so the baseline 3 applies.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb+resource ('Fetch complete metadata for a Project Gutenberg book by ID') and enumerates the payload (title, authors, translators, subjects, formats map), which makes it trivially distinguishable from gutenberg_get_text, which returns the book body.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines3/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The second sentence gestures at a workflow ('source_notes may identify specific editions') and at a readable-check before fetching text, implying this is the metadata step. But it references 'is_readable', a tool that is not among the siblings (gutenberg_browse_popular, gutenberg_get_text, gutenberg_search_books), so the routing advice points at something the agent cannot call. Usage is implied rather than stated cleanly.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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