Gutenberg MCP Server
@cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server Search, browse, and read 75,000+ public-domain books from Project Gutenberg with full plain-text retrieval and offset/limit chunking via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. Its README documents 4 tools, including gutenberg_search_books, gutenberg_get_book, gutenberg_get_text.
People who work with books, ebooks and gutenberg and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.
VERIFIED ACTIVE
LAST COMMIT 2026-09-20 · ★ 3 · #290 OF 998 MAINTAINED OTHER · VERIFIED 2026-09-30
Apache-2.0 · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology
01 · Install Gutenberg MCP Server
before you install - you'll need
Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL before connecting.
Claude Code
claude mcp add cyanheads-gutenberg-mcp-server --transport http https://gutenberg.caseyjhand.com/mcpClaude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config
{
"mcpServers": {
"cyanheads-gutenberg-mcp-server": {
"url": "https://gutenberg.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
}Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.
Using another client? Same JSON, different key
Claude Desktop · mcpServers
Cursor · mcpServers
VS Code · servers
Windsurf · mcpServers
Zed · context_servers
Cline · mcpServers
Roo Code · mcpServers
Continue · mcpServers
LibreChat · mcpServers
Gemini CLI · mcpServers
Codex CLI · mcp_servers
Full setup guides: every client.
02 · Evidence
https://gutenberg.caseyjhand.com/mcp
transport: streamable-http
endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-09-30
Security posture
What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.
runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to gutenberg.caseyjhand.com
endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect
license Apache-2.0 - declared in the repository
npm package @cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server - published under the repo owner's npm scope (@cyanheads)
registry namespace io.github.cyanheads is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner
03 · What Gutenberg MCP Server can do
Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.
What you can build
With this server connected, an agent can search the catalog by title, author, topic, language, or author lifespan, with pagination and popularity sorting, fetch complete metadata for a book by ID - authors, translators, editors, full formats map, subjects, copyright status, retrieve a book's plain-text content stripped of license boilerplate, with offset/limit chunking, and browse the most-downloaded books, optionally filtered by language or topic.
The 4 tools it gives your agent
Extracted from the project's README - what gutenberg-mcp-server lets an agent do.
- gutenberg_search_books
- - Search the catalog by title, author, topic, language, or author lifespan, with pagination and popularity sorting
- gutenberg_get_book
- - Fetch complete metadata for a book by ID - authors, translators, editors, full formats map, subjects, copyright status
- gutenberg_get_text
- - Retrieve a book's plain-text content stripped of license boilerplate, with offset/limit chunking
- gutenberg_browse_popular
- - Browse the most-downloaded books, optionally filtered by language or topic
Latest releases
v0.1.9 · 2026-09-20
Local catalog mirror, HTML entity fix, mcp-ts-core 0.13.6 · Local SQLite+FTS5 catalog mirror - gutenberg_get_book/gutenberg_get_text read from a local RDF harvest when it holds the record, falling back to the live…
v0.1.8 · 2026-08-23
Upstream deadlines and content[] parity · gutenberg_browse_popular's complete results now pass enrichment validation instead of always claiming truncation (#8) · gutenberg_get_text's text_fetch_failed carries its…
v0.1.7 · 2026-08-22
Strict tool inputs and explicit stateless HTTP · All four root tool schemas advertise additionalProperties: false and reject undeclared keys. · HTTP deployments select stateless consistently; Gutendex 404s preserve…
04 · Who maintains Gutenberg MCP Server
gutenberg-mcp-server is maintained by cyanheads. We track 137 MCP servers from cyanheads - 131 actively maintained, 1,856 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Dec 2024. Full record: all servers from cyanheads.
- obsidian-mcp-server Read, write, search, and surgically edit Obsidian notes, tags, and frontmatter via MCP. ★ 690
- mcp-ts-core Agent-native TypeScript framework for MCP servers. ★ 152
- git-mcp-server Comprehensive Git MCP server enabling native git tools including clone, commit, worktree, & more. ★ 240
- clinicaltrialsgov-mcp-server Search ClinicalTrials.gov - find studies, retrieve results, match patients to eligible trials. ★ 96
- openalex-mcp-server Access the OpenAlex academic research catalog - 270M+ publications. ★ 14
- mcp-ts-template TypeScript template for building MCP servers with declarative tooling, observability, and auth. ★ 152
05 · Facts
- repository
- github.com/cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server
- category
- other - ranked #290 of 998 actively-maintained other servers as of 2026-09-30.
- release cadence
- 5 releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-20)
- registry
- io.github.cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server (active, first published 2026-06-01 · 9 versions)
- packages
- npm:@cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server · npm:@cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server
06 · Gutenberg MCP Server FAQ
Is Gutenberg MCP Server still maintained?
Yes - as of 2026-09-30, its last commit was 2026-09-20 and it shipped 5 releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.
What can Gutenberg MCP Server do?
With this server connected, an agent can search the catalog by title, author, topic, language, or author lifespan, with pagination and popularity sorting, fetch complete metadata for a book by ID - authors, translators, editors, full formats map, subjects, copyright status, retrieve a book's plain-text content stripped of license boilerplate, with offset/limit chunking, and browse the most-downloaded books, optionally filtered by language or topic.
How do I install Gutenberg MCP Server?
Run `npx -y @cyanheads/gutenberg-mcp-server`. The README documents 2 environment variables (MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL) to set first. Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL before connecting. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.
Does Gutenberg MCP Server require authentication?
No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-09-30; you can connect without credentials.
07 · Alternatives to Gutenberg MCP Server
Alternatives to Gutenberg MCP Server
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- Firebase MCP Gives AI development tools Firebase-specific capabilities and expertise. ★ 4,475 · 2026-09-30
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