Neolibrarian MCP: Calibre Library (Read‑only)

Minimal MCP server exposing read‑only access to a local Calibre library. Designed for use with MCP‑compatible hosts (e.g., Claude Desktop) to search metadata, inspect formats, and extract small content samples for analysis.

What it does

Connects to your existing Calibre library (local filesystem)
Exposes read‑only tools: library stats, searches (author/title/unified), per‑book details and formats, full‑text search (global and per‑book, if your Calibre FTS DB exists), small content samples, and batch metadata
Provides two lightweight JSON resources for quick at‑a‑glance info

Requirements

Python 3.12+ (3.13 supported)
Calibre installed locally (calibre‑debug.exe available)
Access to your Calibre library directory (contains metadata.db)

Install

# From repo root (Windows PowerShell)
python -m venv .venv
./.venv/Scripts/Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

Place a JSON config file with at least these keys:

{
	"calibre_library_path": "C:/Path/To/Calibre Library",
	"calibre_installation_path": "C:/Program Files/Calibre2"
}

Resolution/precedence (first match wins):

Environment variable CALIBRE_CONFIG_PATH (absolute or ~-expanded path)
config.local.json next to the server script
config.json next to the server script

Run the MCP server

The server runs over stdio for MCP hosts.

./.venv/Scripts/python.exe calibre_mcp_server.py

For MCP hosts (e.g., Claude Desktop), point the tool to this script; optionally set CALIBRE_CONFIG_PATH to your config file.

Exposed tools (read‑only)

ping → quick health check and paths
get_total_books
search_by_author(author_name)
search_by_title(title)
unified_search(query?, author?, title?, series?, formats?, date_start?, date_end?, offset=0, limit=20, sort_by)
get_book_details(book_id)
get_book_formats(book_id)
get_book_sample(book_id, sample_type, sample_size)
analyze_book_content(book_id, analysis_type, max_length)
full_text_search(query, case_sensitive?, max_results?, context_chars?)
full_text_search_book(book_id, query, case_sensitive?, context_chars?)
get_books_batch([book_ids])
get_random_books(count?, formats?, series_only?)
get_full_text_search_stats()

Resources:

calibre://stats (application/json)
calibre://book/{book_id}/details (application/json)

Notes

This server is strictly read‑only (no writes to your library).
Full‑text search tools require Calibre’s full‑text database to exist in your library folder (full‑text-search.db*).

License: MIT (see LICENSE)

Neolibrarian MCP: Calibre Library (Read‑only)