Gallica MCP Server

MCP server for Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). Search and access OCR text from millions of digitized documents:

• search_gallica: Text search with boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), exact phrase matching with quotes, and parentheses for grouping. Returns paginated results (50 docs/page) with metadata.

• get_snippets: Retrieves text excerpts showing where search terms appear within a specific document. Includes page numbers for each snippet.

• advanced_search_gallica: Search with filters for creators (authors), document types, date ranges, language, and title. All filter parameters are optional.

• download_text: Downloads complete OCR text from any document using its ARK identifier. Caches results locally for fast repeated access.

The search functions convert your inputs into CQL (Contextual Query Language) queries that are sent to Gallica's SRU API.

Installation

Install the code

uv sync

Install to MCP CLIs

Installs to Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI:

# Basic installation (search_gallica + download_text tools only)
uv run gallica-mcp-install

# With advanced search enabled (adds advanced_search_gallica tool)
uv run gallica-mcp-install --enable-advanced-search

Verify the installation:

claude mcp list   # For Claude Code
codex mcp list    # For Codex CLI
gemini mcp list   # For Gemini CLI

Related MCP server: Ukraine War MCP

Usage

Run the server directly:

uv run gallica-mcp

Test with MCP Inspector:

uv run fastmcp dev src/gallica_mcp/server.py