Sefaria Jewish Library MCP Server

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/sefaria_jewish_library/sefaria_handler.py:107-111 (handler)

  Core handler function for the 'get_text' tool that retrieves Hebrew text from the Sefaria API for the given reference.

  async def get_text(reference: str) -> str:
      """
      Retrieves the text for a given reference.
      """
      return str(get_hebrew_text(reference))

• src/sefaria_jewish_library/server.py:80-100 (handler)

  Dispatch handler within @server.call_tool() that processes 'get_text' tool calls, extracts the 'reference' argument, invokes get_text, and formats the response as TextContent.

  if name == "get_text":
      try:
          reference = arguments.get("reference")
          if not  reference:
              raise ValueError("Missing reference parameter")  
          
          logger.debug(f"handle_get_text: {reference}")
          text = await get_text(reference)
          
          
          return [types.TextContent(
              type="text",
              text= text
          )]
      except Exception as err:
          logger.error(f"retreive text error: {err}", exc_info=True)
          return [types.TextContent(
              type="text",
              text=f"Error: {str(err)}"
          )]

• src/sefaria_jewish_library/server.py:36-49 (registration)

  Tool registration in @server.list_tools(): defines name, description, and input schema requiring a 'reference' string.

  types.Tool(
      name="get_text",
      description="get a jewish text from the jewish library",
      inputSchema={
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
              "reference": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "The reference of the jewish text, e.g. 'שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן א' or 'Genesis 1:1'",                               
              },
          },
          "required": ["reference"],
      },
  ),

• src/sefaria_jewish_library/server.py:39-48 (schema)

  JSON schema for 'get_text' tool input: object with required 'reference' property of type string.

  inputSchema={
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
          "reference": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "The reference of the jewish text, e.g. 'שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן א' or 'Genesis 1:1'",                               
          },
      },
      "required": ["reference"],
  },

• src/sefaria_jewish_library/sefaria_handler.py:66-77 (helper)

  Helper function used by get_text to query the Sefaria API for Hebrew text of the reference.

  def get_hebrew_text(parasha_ref):
      """
      Retrieves the Hebrew text and version title for the given verse.
      """
      data = get_request_json_data("api/v3/texts/", parasha_ref)
  
      if data and "versions" in data and len(data['versions']) > 0:
          he_pasuk = data['versions'][0]['text']
          return  he_pasuk
      else:
          print(f"Could not retrieve Hebrew text for {parasha_ref}")
          return None