Project Gutenberg API: Search free books
Finds free public-domain Project Gutenberg books by title, author or topic, with authors, languages, subjects, recent downloads, and reading and download links. Public-domain status is based on the United States.
Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Project Gutenberg.
Inputs
Values from the run on Oct 23, 2026, shown under Output.
- Sort optional
sort Sort by popularity, newest release, or title; for example popular.
newest
One of
popular,newest,title. Defaultpopular.- Query, required
query Book title, author, or topic, for example Sherlock Holmes.
Jane Austen
- Language optional
language Language name or two-letter code, for example French or fr; default any.
French
Default
any.- Max Results optional
max_results Maximum number of books to return, for example 20; at most 100.
5
Whole number from 1 to 100. Default
20.
Input as JSON
{ "sort": "newest", "query": "Jane Austen", "language": "French", "max_results": 5}Output
{ "books": [ { "title": "Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer (Tome 4)", "authors": [ { "name": "Austen, Jane", "birth_year": 1775, "death_year": 1817 } ], "subjects": [ "England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction", "Inheritance and succession -- Fiction", "England -- Fiction" ], "languages": [ "French" ], "ebook_number": 37634, "book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634" , "cover_image_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634.cover.medium.jpg" , "read_online_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37634/pg37634-images.html" , "epub_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.epub3.images" , "downloads_last_30_days": 448, "plain_text_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37634.txt.utf-8" }, { "title": "Persuasion", "authors": [ { "name": "Austen, Jane", "birth_year": 1775, "death_year": 1817 } ], "subjects": [ "England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction", "Psychological fiction", "Young women -- Fiction" ], "languages": [ "French" ], "ebook_number": 36777, "book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777" , "cover_image_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36777/pg36777.cover.medium.jpg" , "read_online_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36777/pg36777-images.html" , "epub_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777.epub3.images" , "downloads_last_30_days": 897, "plain_text_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36777.txt.utf-8" }, { "title": "Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer (Tome 3)", "authors": [ { "name": "Austen, Jane", "birth_year": 1775, "death_year": 1817 } ], "subjects": [ "England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction", "Inheritance and succession -- Fiction", "England -- Fiction" ], "languages": [ "French" ], "ebook_number": 35163, "book_page_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35163" , "cover_image_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/35163/pg35163.cover.medium.jpg" , "read_online_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/35163/pg35163-images.html" , "epub_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35163.epub3.images" , "downloads_last_30_days": 618, "plain_text_download_link": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35163.txt.utf-8" } ]}Code
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"gutenberg.org/search_free_books","input":{"sort":"newest","query":"Jane Austen","language":"French","max_results":5}}' # Save as fous.py, then run: python3 fous.pyimport json, os, timefrom urllib.error import HTTPErrorfrom urllib.request import Request, urlopenAPI = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" KEY = os.environ["FOUS_API_KEY"]HEADERS = { "Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}", "Content-Type": "application/json" ,}def call(url, body=None): data = json.dumps(body).encode() if body else None request = Request(url, data, HEADERS) try: with urlopen(request, timeout=120) as r: return r.status, json.load(r) except HTTPError as error: message = json.load(error)["error"]["message"] raise RuntimeError(message) from errorstatus, run = call(API, { "method": "gutenberg.org/search_free_books" , "input": { "sort": "newest", "query": "Jane Austen", "language": "French", "max_results": 5 }})# 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while status == 202: time.sleep(2) status, run = call(f"{API}/{run['id']}")print(json.dumps(run["data"], indent=2))// Save as fous.mjs, then run: node fous.mjsconst api = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" ;const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FOUS_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" ,};let response = await fetch(api, { method: "POST", headers, body: JSON.stringify({ "method": "gutenberg.org/search_free_books" , "input": { "sort": "newest", "query": "Jane Austen", "language": "French", "max_results": 5 } }), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120_000),});let run = await response.json();// 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while (response.status === 202) { await new Promise((done) => setTimeout(done, 2_000)); response = await fetch(`${api}/${run.id}`, { headers }); run = await response.json();}if (!response.ok) throw new Error(run.error.message);console.log(run.data);# Connect your agent to Fous once, over MCP (Streamable HTTP):# https://api.fous.com/mcp# Set FOUS_API_KEY first: create a key at https://app.fous.com/keys.# Claude Codeclaude mcp add \ --scope user \ --transport http fous https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Codexcodex mcp add fous \ --url https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --bearer-token-env-var FOUS_API_KEY# Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline and morenpx -y add-mcp https://api.fous.com/mcp -g -n fous \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Then ask your agent:# "Use Fous to run gutenberg.org/search_free_books# with {"sort":"newest","query":"Jane Austen","language":"French","max_results":5}"Over HTTP, the answer’s data holds the output. A run still going after 30 seconds answers 202 with its id: ask GET /v1/runs/{id} until it ends.
Schema
Input schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "sort": { "enum": [ "popular", "newest", "title" ], "type": "string", "default": "popular", "description": "Sort by popularity, newest release, or title; for example popular." }, "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Book title, author, or topic, for example Sherlock Holmes." }, "language": { "type": "string", "default": "any", "description": "Language name or two-letter code, for example French or fr; default any." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 20, "maximum": 100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Maximum number of books to return, for example 20; at most 100." } }}Output schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "books" ], "properties": { "books": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "title": { "type": "string" }, "authors": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "name": { "type": "string" }, "birth_year": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ] }, "death_year": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ] } } } }, "subjects": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "languages": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "ebook_number": { "type": "integer" }, "book_page_link": { "type": "string" }, "cover_image_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "read_online_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "epub_download_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] }, "downloads_last_30_days": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ] }, "plain_text_download_link": { "type": [ "string", "null" ] } } } } }}- Price
- 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free.
- Method
gutenberg.org/search_free_books- Returns
- title, authors, languages, subjects, downloads, read/epub/text/cover links, ebook number
Use it from your agent
Give your agent this line. It reads SKILL.md, gets a Fous API key and connects the Fous MCP server. Its run then takes the method gutenberg.org/search_free_books with the inputs above.
Ask your agent
- Find free public domain books by Jane Austen sorted by popularity
- Show me the newest free ebooks about ancient Rome in French
- I need public domain novels by Mark Twain, sorted alphabetically by title, up to 50 results
- Search Project Gutenberg for Sherlock Holmes stories in English with download links
- Looking for free German-language books on philosophy, 10 results sorted by newest release
See more
All Project Gutenberg methodsGets the plain text of a public-domain Project Gutenberg book by title, optionally matching its author and language. Chooses the most downloaded matching edition with a plain-text file, removes the Gutenberg header and license, and can cut the text after a chosen number of words.
gutenberg.org/get_book_textFinds Open Library books by search words, optionally narrowed by author and subject, sorted by relevance or publication age. Returns work-level results; free_online means at least one edition is marked public or borrowable, not that a loan is available now.
openlibrary.org/search_booksSearches Google Books by words, author, subject or ISBN, with language, free-ebook and newest-first options. Ratings counts are not shown by the public book feed; newest sorts the available matches by publication date.
books.google.com/search_booksFinds an Open Library author by name, link or key and lists their works with first publication year, edition count, cover and an author profile.
openlibrary.org/list_author_booksLooks up a Google Books book by title or ISBN. Returns its details, reader ratings and the Google Play ebook offer in a chosen country.
books.google.com/get_bookFinds Bible verses on Bible Gateway that contain the search words or relate to a topic. Returns the verse text and links in Bible order.
biblegateway.com/search_bibleGets a book's catalog details from Open Library by its title, with an optional author or ISBN to identify the right book. Reading availability reflects listed editions; details may be missing when the catalog has none.
openlibrary.org/get_bookFinds poems matching a topic or occasion, or poems by a named poet, in Poetry Foundation search order. Older magazine poems without public text have no first two lines; untagged poems have no themes or occasions.
poetryfoundation.org/search_poems