# library.forgemesh.io – Ask Sherlock Holmes

> library.forgemesh.io – Ask Sherlock Holmes is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Performs full-text retrieval over The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, returning the most relevant passages with chapter and location citations for a given question.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/ask-sherlock-holmes
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-ask-sherlock-holmes-b93440b1
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_OMIb5GgsvwGst_qDuRIzb

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 library-forgemesh-io-ask-sherlock-holmes-b93440b1 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for how Holmes describes Irene Adler and return the 5 most relevant passages with their chapter citations.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need precise, citable verbatim passages from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes specifically — not AI-generated answers or summaries. Ideal for literary research, trivia verification, quote sourcing, or any task requiring direct textual evidence from the canonical Doyle text. Prefer the sibling full-corpus search endpoint if the query spans multiple books or authors.

## Known failure modes

- Question too vague returns low-relevance passages
- Limit parameter exceeds 15 is rejected or clamped
- Missing question field returns a validation error
- Payment failure (x402) if USDC not provided blocks the request
- Obscure topics not covered in this specific book return empty or low-confidence results

## How this service works

Ask a question about The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and get back the most relevant passages from the book itself, with chapter and location citations. Retrieval only — full-text search, not a generated summary or answer. No license, no API key required.

## Output

Returns a ranked list of up to 15 verbatim passages from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that are most relevant to the input question, each accompanied by chapter identification and location metadata within the book. No AI-generated summaries or paraphrases — raw text from the source only.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max passages (default 5, max 15)"
  },
  "question": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Your question about the book, e.g. \"how does Holmes describe Irene Adler?\""
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "count": 2,
  "title": "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes",
  "author": "Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930",
  "method": "full-text retrieval — returns the most relevant passages from the book for your question; no summarization or generation",
  "book_id": 1661,
  "passages": [
   {
    "text": "To Sherlock Holmes she is always [the] woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name…",
    "chapter": 1,
    "location": "chapter 1, passage #6"
   }
  ],
  "question": "how does Holmes describe Irene Adler"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-ask-sherlock-holmes-b93440b1/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)