Open Library

Open Library offers a suite of APIs to help developers get up and running with its data. This includes RESTful APIs that make Open Library data available in JSON, YAML, and RDF/XML formats, plus a Search Inside full-text search service, cover image endpoints, and read-protocol library lookup APIs. Most resources also expose machine-readable representations by appending .json, .yml, or .rdf to any Open Library URL.

Open Library publishes 14 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Search API, Works API, Editions API, and 11 more. Tagged areas include Authors, Books, Catalog, Covers, and Libraries.

Open Library’s developer surface includes documentation, engineering blog, and 7 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

32.2/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 22/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6

AccessFreemium

19 APIs

AuthorsBooksCatalogCoversLibrariesOpen DataReading ListsSearchSubjects

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6

Composite quality — 32.2/100 · thin

Contract Quality 11.2 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 2.2 / 20

Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20

Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13

Governance 0.0 / 12

Discoverability 6.5 / 10

Agent readiness — 22/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/open-library: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 19

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Open Library Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Issues

Issues

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService

TermsOfService

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Blog

Blog

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Bulk Data Dumps

Bulk Data Dumps

Source (apis.yml)

aid: open-library
name: Open Library
description: Open Library offers a suite of APIs to help developers get up and running with its data. This includes RESTful
  APIs that make Open Library data available in JSON, YAML, and RDF/XML formats, plus a Search Inside full-text search service,
  cover image endpoints, and read-protocol library lookup APIs. Most resources also expose machine-readable representations
  by appending .json, .yml, or .rdf to any Open Library URL.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/open-library.png
tags:
- Authors
- Books
- Catalog
- Covers
- Libraries
- Open Data
- Reading Lists
- Search
- Subjects
created: '2025-02-06'
modified: '2026-04-28'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/open-library/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: open-library:open-library-search-api
  name: Open Library Search API
  description: Search Open Library's catalog of books, authors, lists, and subjects. Returns JSON results for full-text and
    faceted queries, with options for pagination, field selection, and language filtering.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Books
  - Catalog
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
- aid: open-library:open-library-search-inside-api
  name: Open Library Search Inside API
  description: Full-text search across the millions of digitized books in the Internet Archive's collection, returning matching
    passages and book identifiers.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search_inside
  tags:
  - Books
  - Full Text
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search_inside
- aid: open-library:open-library-works-api
  name: Open Library Works API
  description: Retrieve work-level records (the abstract concept of a book independent of edition) by Open Library Work ID.
    Returns JSON, YAML, or RDF/XML.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/books
  tags:
  - Books
  - Catalog
  - Works
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/books
- aid: open-library:open-library-editions-api
  name: Open Library Editions API
  description: Retrieve edition-level records (specific printings, ISBNs, formats) by Open Library Edition ID, ISBN-10, ISBN-13,
    OCLC, or LCCN.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/books
  tags:
  - Books
  - Catalog
  - Editions
  - ISBN
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/books
- aid: open-library:open-library-authors-api
  name: Open Library Authors API
  description: Fetch author records and their works by Open Library Author ID. Supports JSON, YAML, and RDF/XML representations.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/authors
  tags:
  - Authors
  - Catalog
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/authors
- aid: open-library:open-library-subjects-api
  name: Open Library Subjects API
  description: Retrieve books, works, and metadata grouped by subject (genre, topic, place, time, person) with paging and
    faceting.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/subjects
  tags:
  - Catalog
  - Subjects
  - Taxonomy
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/subjects
- aid: open-library:open-library-covers-api
  name: Open Library Covers API
  description: Retrieve book and author cover images by Open Library ID, ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, or Goodreads ID, in small, medium,
    and large sizes.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/covers
  tags:
  - Covers
  - Images
  - Media
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/covers
- aid: open-library:open-library-lists-api
  name: Open Library Lists API
  description: Read and manage user-curated reading lists. Authenticated patrons can create lists and add or remove works,
    editions, and subjects.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/lists
  tags:
  - Lists
  - Reading Lists
  - User Data
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/lists
- aid: open-library:open-library-mybooks-api
  name: Open Library My Books API
  description: 'Access a patron''s public reading log: Want to Read, Currently Reading, and Already Read shelves for a given
    Open Library account.'
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/mybooks
  tags:
  - Reading Log
  - User Data
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/mybooks
- aid: open-library:open-library-recent-changes-api
  name: Open Library Recent Changes API
  description: Stream recent edits across the Open Library catalog including works, editions, authors, lists, and subjects,
    with filtering by kind and time range.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/recentchanges
  tags:
  - Activity
  - Changes
  - Feed
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/recentchanges
- aid: open-library:open-library-read-api
  name: Open Library Read API
  description: Legacy partner API that returns availability and read URLs for books matched by ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, or OLID identifiers
    across libraries and the Internet Archive.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/read
  tags:
  - Availability
  - Libraries
  - Lookup
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/read
- aid: open-library:open-library-authors-api
  name: Open Library Authors API
  description: The Authors API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for authors.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Authors
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-authors-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-editions-api
  name: Open Library Editions API
  description: The Editions API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for editions.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Editions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-editions-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-lists-api
  name: Open Library Lists API
  description: The Lists API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for lists.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Lists
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-lists-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-recentchanges-json-api
  name: Open Library Recentchanges.json API
  description: The Recentchanges.json API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for recentchanges.json.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Recentchanges.json
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-recentchanges-json-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-search-api
  name: Open Library Search API
  description: The Search API from Open Library — 2 operation(s) for search.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-search-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-search-json-api
  name: Open Library Search.json API
  description: The Search.json API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for search.json.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Search.json
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-search-json-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-subjects-api
  name: Open Library Subjects API
  description: The Subjects API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for subjects.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Subjects
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-subjects-api-openapi.yml
- aid: open-library:open-library-works-api
  name: Open Library Works API
  description: The Works API from Open Library — 1 operation(s) for works.
  humanURL: https://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api/search
  tags:
  - Works
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/open-library-works-api-openapi.yml
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/open-library-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/open-library-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://openlibrary.org/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://openlibrary.org/developers/api
- type: Bulk Data Dumps
  url: https://openlibrary.org/developers/dumps
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary
- type: Issues
  url: https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/issues
- type: Blog
  url: https://blog.openlibrary.org/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://archive.org/about/terms.php
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com