Reader MCP Server

Overview

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that seamlessly integrates with your Readwise Reader library. This server enables MCP-compatible clients like Claude and VS Code to interact with your Reader library, providing capabilities for document listing, retrieval, and updates. It serves as a bridge between MCP clients and your personal knowledge repository in Readwise Reader.

Related MCP server: MCP Fetch

Components

Tools

• list_documents

  • List documents from Reader with flexible filtering and pagination.

  • Input:

    • location (string, optional): Folder to filter by. One of new, later, shortlist, archive, feed.

    • updatedAfter (string, optional): Only return documents updated after this ISO8601 timestamp.

    • withContent (boolean, optional): If true, include HTML content in results (default: false).

    • pageCursor (string, optional): Pagination cursor for fetching the next page.

  • Returns:

    • JSON object with a list of documents, each including metadata and (optionally) content, plus pagination info.

Usage with MCP Clients

Claude Desktop / VS Code / Other MCP Clients

To use this server with Claude Desktop, VS Code, or any MCP-compatible client, add the following configuration to your client settings (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json or .vscode/mcp.json):

uv (local server)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/absolute/path/to/your/reader/server",
        "run",
        "main.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "READWISE_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Replace /absolute/path/to/your/reader/server with the actual path to this project directory.

• Replace your-token-here with your actual Readwise Reader API access token.

• Alternatively, you can specify the READWISE_ACCESS_TOKEN in an .env file located in the project directory.

For more information, see the Readwise Reader API documentation and MCP documentation.

Reader Skill

This repository also includes a standalone skill for interacting with Readwise Reader API directly via HTTP requests. The skill provides knowledge and examples for using the Reader API without requiring an MCP server.

Features

• List, create, update, and delete documents

• Full API coverage (list, save, update, delete, tags, bulk operations)

• Authentication and rate limit guidance

• Code examples in Python

Installation

npx skills add xinthink/reader-mcp-server --skill reader

For more information on installing and using skills, see the Vercel Labs Skills documentation.

Usage

Once installed, the skill will be automatically triggered when you ask about Readwise Reader, saving articles, or managing your reading list.