# ForgeMesh Library — Essays Shelf

> ForgeMesh Library — Essays Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-16).

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

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/essays
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-16
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-essays-shelf-324df247
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_wiaC1P9LyoXjlPAbCc4J2

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-essays-shelf-324df247 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you give me a list of classic public-domain essay books I can browse — show me up to 30 titles?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, ranked list of public-domain essay books and want drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. Prefer it over full-text search when you want to browse the essays category broadly rather than search for specific passages or keywords. It is ideal for building reading lists, populating a library UI, or discovering classic essay works without needing a search query.

## Known failure modes

- Requesting a limit above 50 may be capped or return an error
- Empty or malformed request body may default to 20 results
- Payment failure (x402) if USDC balance is insufficient — returns 402 status
- Service unavailability returns a 5xx error with no book list

## How this service works

Curated shelf: Essays — 209 public-domain books including Love and Freindship [sic], The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature. 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 essay books (defaulting to 20), including titles such as Love and Freindship, The Will to Believe, and On the Old Road Vol. 2, along with drill-down routes that can be used to retrieve the full text of each 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": "Love and Freindship [sic]",
    "author": "Austen, Jane",
    "book_id": 1212,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 32226
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "Essays",
  "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-essays-shelf-324df247/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)