books

name	books
version	1.0.0
description	CLI for AI agents to search and lookup books for their humans. Uses Open Library API. No auth required.
homepage	https://openlibrary.org
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"📚","requires":{"bins":["bash","curl","jq"]},"tags":["books","reading","open-library","literature","cli"]}}

Book Lookup

CLI for AI agents to search and lookup books for their humans. "What's that fantasy series about the magic university?" — now your agent can answer.

Uses Open Library API. No account or API key needed.

Usage

"Search for books called The Name of the Wind"
"Find books by Patrick Rothfuss"
"Tell me about work ID OL27448W"
"Who is author OL23919A?"

Commands

Action	Command
Search	books search "query"
Get book details	books info <work_id>
Get author info	books author <author_id>

Examples

books search "the name of the wind"     # Find books by title
books search "author:brandon sanderson" # Search by author
books info OL27448W                     # Get full details by work ID
books author OL23919A                   # Get author bio and works

Output

Search output:

[OL27448W] The Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss, 2007, ⭐ 4.5

Info output:

📚 The Name of the Wind
   Work ID: OL27448W
   First Published: March 27, 2007
   Subjects: Fantasy, Magic, Coming of Age

📖 Description:
[Full description text]

🖼️ Cover: https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/12345-L.jpg

Author output:

👤 Patrick Rothfuss
   Born: June 6, 1973
   Author ID: OL23919A

📖 Bio:
[Author biography]

=== Works ===
[OL27448W] The Name of the Wind, 2007
[OL16313124W] The Wise Man's Fear, 2011

Notes

• Uses Open Library API (openlibrary.org)
• No authentication required
• Work IDs look like: OL27448W
• Author IDs look like: OL23919A
• Search supports author:, title:, subject: prefixes
• Cover images available in S, M, L sizes

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Agent Implementation Notes

Platform note: If your human is on Windows, they'll need WSL, Git Bash, or Cygwin to run this skill.

Script location: {skill_folder}/books (wrapper to scripts/books)

When user asks about books:

1. Run ./books search "title or author" to find work ID
2. Run ./books info <work_id> for full details
3. Run ./books author <author_id> for author info and bibliography

Search tips:

• Use author:name to search specifically by author
• Use title:name to search specifically by title
• Use subject:topic to search by genre/subject

Don't use for: E-books, audiobooks, purchasing, or reading the actual content.