| name | book-downloader |
| description | Search and download academic books, textbooks, and publications from Library Genesis (LibGen) programmatically. |
Book Downloader Skill - LibGen Integration
Purpose: Search and download academic books, textbooks, and publications from Library Genesis (LibGen) programmatically.
Library: libgen-api-enhanced (53⭐, MIT license, actively maintained)
CLI Tool: ~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py
🎯 When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when the user needs to:
- Find academic books, textbooks, or technical publications
- Search for books by title, author, or ISBN
- Filter books by format (PDF, EPUB, MOBI), year, or language
- Get download links for books
- Download books programmatically
- Build reading lists or bibliographies
📚 Core Capabilities
1. Search Books
- By title - Find books matching a title
- By author - Find all books by an author
- Default search - Search across all fields
- Filtered search - Combine search with filters
2. Filter Results
- Format - epub, pdf, mobi, djvu, azw3, etc.
- Year - Publication year (exact or range)
- Language - English, Russian, Spanish, etc.
- Exact matching - Strict vs fuzzy filtering
3. Download Books
- Direct download links - HTTP mirrors (resolved at runtime)
- Tor download links - Onion mirror URLs
- Batch download - Download multiple books at once
- Mirror resilience - Automatically handles mirror failures
4. Metadata Retrieval
- Full bibliographic data (title, author, publisher, year)
- File information (size, format, pages, MD5 hash)
- LibGen ID for reference
🔧 CLI Tool Usage
Installation Check
which python3
uv tool list | grep libgen
If not installed:
uv tool install libgen-api-enhanced
Basic Commands
Search by title:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Clean Code"
Search by author:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Isaac Asimov" --type author
Filter by format:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python Programming" --extension epub
Filter by year and format:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Machine Learning" --extension pdf --year 2023
Get download links:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Design Patterns" --download-links
Download books:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" \
--download --output ~/Books --limit 1
JSON output (for parsing):
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Algorithms" --json --limit 5
Advanced Examples
Find latest EPUB of a book:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Thinking Fast and Slow" \
--extension epub --exact --limit 3
Download all books by author:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Terry Pratchett" \
--type author --download --output ~/Books/Pratchett --limit 20
Search with language filter:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Война и мир" \
--language Russian --extension epub
Build bibliography with JSON:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Deep Learning" \
--year 2020 --json | jq '.[] | {title, author, year, id}'
🤖 Claude Integration Patterns
Pattern 1: Simple Search Request
User: "Find the book Clean Code"
Claude:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Clean Code" --limit 5
Present results to user with:
- Title, author, year
- Format and file size
- Ask if they want download links or to download
Pattern 2: Filtered Search
User: "Find Python books from 2023 in EPUB format"
Claude:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python" \
--extension epub --year 2023 --limit 10
Pattern 3: Download Workflow
User: "Download the latest edition of The Pragmatic Programmer"
Claude:
- Search first to confirm:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" --limit 3
- Show options to user
- Download selected:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" \
--download --output ~/Downloads --limit 1
Pattern 4: Author Bibliography
User: "Show me all books by Donald Knuth"
Claude:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Donald Knuth" \
--type author --limit 20 --json
Parse JSON and present formatted list.
Pattern 5: Reading List Builder
User: "Create a reading list for learning Rust"
Claude:
- Search for multiple titles:
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Rust Programming Language" --limit 1
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Programming Rust" --limit 1
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Rust in Action" --limit 1
- Compile results into markdown reading list
- Optionally offer to download all
📋 Output Format
Human-Readable Output
1. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Author: Robert C. Martin
Year: 2008 | Publisher: Prentice Hall
Format: pdf | Size: 10.2 MB | Pages: 431
Language: English
ID: 123456 | MD5: abc123def456...
JSON Output
[
{
"id": "123456",
"title": "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship",
"author": "Robert C. Martin",
"publisher": "Prentice Hall",
"year": "2008",
"pages": "431",
"language": "English",
"extension": "pdf",
"filesize": "10.2 MB",
"md5": "abc123def456...",
"tor_download": "http://libgen.onion/...",
"direct_download": "http://download.mirror.com/..."
}
]
⚠️ Important Considerations
Mirror Availability
- LibGen mirrors change frequently
libgen-api-enhanced handles mirror resolution automatically- If download links fail, the library will try alternative mirrors
- Tor links are more stable but require Tor browser/setup
Rate Limiting
- Be respectful with search frequency
- For bulk operations, add delays between requests
- Consider caching search results
Legal & Ethical Use
- LibGen operates in a legal gray area in many jurisdictions
- Users are responsible for compliance with local copyright laws
- Recommend legal alternatives when appropriate (library, university access, legitimate purchases)
File Quality
- Not all uploads are equal quality
- Check MD5 hash for integrity verification
- Prefer recent uploads for better quality
- EPUB usually better than PDF for reading on devices
Language Detection
- Language filter is exact match
- Common values: "English", "Russian", "Spanish", "German", "French"
- Case-sensitive in exact mode
🔍 Troubleshooting
"No results found"
- Try broader search terms
- Remove filters (especially year/exact match)
- Try different search type (title vs default)
- Check spelling
"Error resolving download link"
- Mirror may be temporarily down
- Try again later
- Use Tor download link as fallback
Import Error
uv tool install --force libgen-api-enhanced
Slow download link resolution
- This is normal - library checks multiple mirrors
- Use
--download-links flag only when needed
- Consider using Tor links directly (no resolution needed)
💡 Pro Tips
1. JSON + jq for Power Workflows
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Algorithms" --json | \
jq '.[] | "\(.title) by \(.author)"'
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python" --extension epub --json | \
jq 'sort_by(.filesize) | .[0]'
2. Format Preferences
- EPUB - Best for e-readers, smartphones, tablets
- PDF - Best for desktop, printing, preserves formatting
- MOBI - Legacy Kindle format (use EPUB + Calibre instead)
- DJVU - Academic papers, scanned books (smaller than PDF)
3. Batch Download Script
#!/bin/bash
while IFS= read -r book; do
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "$book" \
--download --output ~/Books --limit 1
sleep 2
done < booklist.txt
4. Verification Workflow
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Book Title" --json > results.json
jq '.[] | {title, year, extension, filesize}' results.json
🎓 Example Conversations
Example 1: Student looking for textbook
User: I need "Introduction to Algorithms" by CLRS
Claude:
[Runs search]
Found 3 editions:
1. 3rd Edition (2009) - PDF, 12.3 MB
2. 3rd Edition (2009) - EPUB, 8.1 MB
3. 2nd Edition (2001) - PDF, 15.2 MB
Which would you prefer? I recommend the 3rd edition EPUB for better readability.
Example 2: Researcher building bibliography
User: Find recent machine learning books
Claude:
[Runs search with --year 2023 --year 2024]
Found 15 recent ML books. Here are the top 5:
[Lists results]
Would you like me to:
1. Download any of these
2. Export as BibTeX
3. Create a reading list with summaries
Example 3: Format conversion need
User: I need this book in EPUB but only found PDF
Claude:
I can help with that:
1. First, let me search for EPUB versions
[Runs --extension epub search]
2. If no EPUB found, I can help you convert using Calibre
[Suggests calibre-cli conversion]
🚀 Future Enhancements
Potential additions to this skill:
- Anna's Archive integration - Fallback when LibGen fails
- Calibre integration - Format conversion, metadata management
- Citation generation - BibTeX, APA, MLA export
- Reading list management - Track what you've downloaded
- Mirror health monitoring - Track which mirrors work best
- ISBN search - Direct lookup by ISBN-10/ISBN-13
- Duplicate detection - Avoid downloading same book twice
📚 Related Skills
- pdf skill - Extract text, manipulate PDFs
- llm-delegator - Analyze book content with LLMs
- python skill - For custom scripting with the library
🔗 References
Last Updated: 2025-01-31
Maintainer: Claude Code Skills
