# ForgeMesh Library – Philosophy & Ethics Shelf

> ForgeMesh Library – Philosophy & Ethics Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Returns a ranked list of up to 50 public-domain philosophy and ethics books (e.g. Walden, The Republic, The Prophet) with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/philosophy-ethics
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/forgemesh-library-philosophy-ethics-shelf-4099d95a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_rS6QyapLC0ZsX7AocCA02

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-philosophy-ethics-shelf-4099d95a -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you pull up the top 30 public-domain philosophy and ethics books from ForgeMesh Library — things like Walden, The Republic, or The Prophet — so I can pick one to read?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, ranked catalog of public-domain philosophy and ethics books with links to full text, without needing an API key or license. Prefer this over generic web search when you want structured, immediately actionable book metadata (title, author, retrieval route) rather than raw search results. Ideal for reading list generation, curriculum building, or feeding downstream full-text retrieval calls on the same library platform.

## Known failure modes

- limit parameter exceeds 50 — may be clamped or return an error
- limit of 0 or negative integer — undefined behavior or empty result
- payment not completed (x402 protocol) — request blocked before data is returned
- service unavailable — 5xx response with no book data

## How this service works

Curated shelf: Philosophy & Ethics — 2479 public-domain books including Meditations, The City of God, Volume I, The Confessions of St. Augustine. 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 philosophy and ethics books, each entry including title, author, and drill-down route(s) for full-text retrieval. The list is ordered by historical popularity. No authentication or license required.

## 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": "Meditations",
    "author": "Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome",
    "book_id": 2680,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 60197
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "Philosophy & Ethics",
  "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-philosophy-ethics-shelf-4099d95a/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)