# ForgeMesh Library – Biographies Shelf

> ForgeMesh Library – Biographies Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns a ranked list of up to 50 curated public-domain biography books with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/biographies
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-biographies-shelf-c97201b1
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_yY-n4p_3-9FXc0dTaswnR

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability forgemesh-library-biographies-shelf-c97201b1 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you pull up the top 30 public-domain biographies from the ForgeMesh library shelf so I can browse what's available and get links to read them?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, pre-ranked list of public-domain biography titles with access routes for full-text retrieval, without needing an API key or license. Prefer this over generic web search when you want structured, reliable bibliography data from a consistent corpus. It is especially well-suited for agents building reading apps, research tools, or educational content around historical memoirs and life narratives.

## Known failure modes

- Requesting limit greater than 50 may be capped or return an error
- Network or payment failure (x402 micropayment of $0.003 USDC required per call)
- Empty or partial results if the shelf index is temporarily unavailable
- Invalid limit type (non-integer) may cause a validation error

## How this service works

Curated shelf: Biographies — 5163 public-domain books including The Love Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert Imlay, Modern English biography, volume 2 (of 4), I-Q, My Life — Volume 1. Returns a ranked list with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of up to 50 public-domain biography books (defaulting to 20), each entry including the book title, author, ranking position, and a drill-down route URL that can be used to retrieve the full text of that specific book.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max books to return (default 20, max 50)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "books": [
   {
    "year": null,
    "title": "The Love Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert Imlay",
    "author": "Wollstonecraft, Mary",
    "book_id": 34413,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 77483
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "Biographies",
  "coverage": {
   "target": 61015,
   "indexed": 61015
  },
  "drill_down": [
   "/book-metadata",
   "/book-chapter",
   "/book-quotes",
   "/literature-search"
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-biographies-shelf-c97201b1/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from library.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/library.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)