# ForgeMesh Library – History Shelf

> ForgeMesh Library – History 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 curated public-domain history books (ancient to modern), including title, author, year, book ID, and drill-down routes for full-text retrieval.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/history
- 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-history-shelf-407999c7
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_lM0LlcbiR8jBb6Hp8DR4w

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-history-shelf-407999c7 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you pull up the top 25 public-domain history books from the ForgeMesh library, ranked by popularity, so I can see which classic texts are available with full-text access?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, popularity-ranked browse of public-domain history titles (ancient through modern) and want structured metadata (title, author, year, book_id) plus links to full text — rather than searching by keyword or querying a specific title directly. Prefer sibling endpoints for poetry, philosophy, science, fiction, or full-text search.

## Known failure modes

- Limit exceeds maximum of 50 — API may return an error or clamp to 50
- No books returned if the index is empty or unavailable
- Payment of 0.003 USDC not processed — request blocked before reaching the endpoint
- Drill-down routes returned may be stale if underlying corpus changes

## How this service works

Curated shelf of public-domain history texts spanning ancient to modern periods, ranked by historical popularity. Returns title, author, year, book_id, and drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of up to 50 public-domain history books, each with title, author, year, book_id, and drill-down routes that can be used to retrieve the full text of each work.

## 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": "1996",
    "title": "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire",
    "author": "Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794",
    "book_id": 731,
    "subjects": [
     "Rome -- History"
    ],
    "download_count": 3000
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "History",
  "coverage": {
   "target": 1000,
   "indexed": 865
  },
  "drill_down": [
   "/book-metadata",
   "/book-chapter",
   "/book-quotes",
   "/literature-search"
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-history-shelf-407999c7/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)