# Open Library Book Catalog Scraper (x402)

> Open Library Book Catalog Scraper (x402) is a paid API for AI agents from x402.186-241-26-229.sslip.io, paid per call via x402, $0.025/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-02).

Searches and retrieves structured book/work records from the Open Library public catalog by keyword, ISBN, title, or direct work URL, returning deduplicated metadata fields.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://x402.186-241-26-229.sslip.io/v1/open?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.025/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-02
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/open-library-book-catalog-scraper-x402-26e879f0
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_P9PZY5aVgM5Guc0CkHTkZ

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 open-library-book-catalog-scraper-x402-26e879f0 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search Open Library for books about 'machine learning' and return up to 50 results in English, including descriptions for each work.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need structured bibliographic data from the Open Library public catalog — especially for batch lookups by ISBN, keyword search, or direct work URL. Prefer it over generic web scrapers when you specifically need deduplicated work-level records with author, edition, and publication year data in a clean JSON format. The pay-per-call model with no charge for failed or empty runs makes it safe to use speculatively.

## Known failure modes

- Empty result set if search queries return no matches — not charged
- Network timeout if Open Library is slow or unavailable
- Invalid work URL format causes that item to be skipped
- Language code not recognized results in unfiltered results
- maxItems of 0 may return very large result sets depending on query

## How this service works

Pay-per-call structured web data. Failed or empty runs are not charged.

## Output

A JSON object with a count and an array of work items. Each item includes: title, workId, workUrl, subtitle, authorKeys, authorNames, editionCount, and firstPublishYear. If includeWorkDetails is true, a description and additional filled fields are appended. Results are deduplicated by work ID across all inputs.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "language": {
   "type": "string",
   "default": "",
   "description": "Optional three-letter catalog language code, such as eng or spa, to filter searches. Direct work URLs are unaffected."
  },
  "maxItems": {
   "type": "integer",
   "default": 100,
   "minimum": 0,
   "description": "Maximum unique work records across all inputs. Set to 0 for no explicit limit."
  },
  "startUrls": {
   "type": "array",
   "description": "Optional public work URLs or IDs, such as https://openlibrary.org/works/OL66554W. Work records are processed before searches."
  },
  "searchQueries": {
   "type": "array",
   "description": "Keywords, titles, or ISBNs to search in the public catalog. Results are deduplicated by work ID."
  },
  "includeWorkDetails": {
   "type": "boolean",
   "default": false,
   "description": "Fetch each matching work record to add a description and fill some missing details. This uses an extra request per result."
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "count": 1,
  "items": [
   {
    "title": null,
    "workId": null,
    "workUrl": null,
    "subtitle": null,
    "authorKeys": null,
    "authorNames": null,
    "editionCount": null,
    "firstPublishYear": null
   }
  ],
  "product": "open"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/open-library-book-catalog-scraper-x402-26e879f0/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from x402.186-241-26-229.sslip.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/x402.186-241-26-229.sslip.io/llms.txt)