# Open Library Book Search

> Open Library Book Search is a paid API for AI agents from twin.unykorn.org, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-03).

Searches the Open Library catalog for books by title, author, or keyword, returning titles, authors, first publication dates, and ISBNs

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://twin.unykorn.org/research/book-search?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-03
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/open-library-book-search-c3163cef
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_q54s58hPc8rMCEmpGDdvn

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-search-c3163cef -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you search Open Library for books by Ursula K. Le Guin and give me the titles, ISBNs, and first publication years for up to 15 results?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need bibliographic metadata (titles, authors, ISBNs, publication dates) from the Open Library catalog. Ideal for book discovery, reading list enrichment, ISBN lookup, and author research tasks. Prefer this over generic web search when structured book metadata is required.

## Known failure modes

- Query returns no results if the search term is too obscure or misspelled
- Limit parameter out of range (must be 1–30) returns an error
- Some older or obscure books may lack ISBNs in the Open Library catalog
- Network or upstream Open Library API unavailability causes failure
- Missing required 'q' parameter results in a validation error

## How this service works

Book search (Open Library): titles, authors, first published, ISBNs — Genesis402 / UnyKorn Operator Network

## Output

Returns a list of book records from Open Library, each containing the book title, author name(s), first published year, and one or more ISBNs. Up to 30 results per call (default 10).

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "params": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "q": {
     "type": "string",
     "description": "required"
    },
    "limit": {
     "type": "integer",
     "maximum": 30,
     "minimum": 1,
     "description": "optional: max rows (default 10, max 30)"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "ok": true,
  "type": "book-search",
  "receipt": {
   "tx_hash": "0x<64hex>",
   "amount_usd": 0.002,
   "receipt_id": "g402-<16hex>"
  },
  "sources": [
   {
    "ok": true,
    "name": "<source>"
   }
  ],
  "limitations": "<text>",
  "generated_at": "<iso time>",
  "evidence_hash": "sha256:<64hex>"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/open-library-book-search-c3163cef/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from twin.unykorn.org](https://www.zero.xyz/host/twin.unykorn.org/llms.txt)