MCP server · Research

Anna's Archive MCP server

Let your AI search Anna's Archive for books and articles and download the file you pick.

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This is a small helper that connects your AI assistant to Anna's Archive, a large search site for books and journal articles. Once it is set up, you can just ask your AI to find a book or paper and save it to your computer. It is handy if you often look up textbooks, manuals or research papers and would rather not click through search pages yourself.

What is an MCP server? The 30-second version

On its own, your AI can only chat with you. An MCP server is a small helper program that gives your AI a new skill or a connection to an outside service. This one connects your AI to Anna's Archive, so when you ask for a book or an article, the AI can actually search there and download the file for you. You stay in the chat, and the helper does the running around in the background.

What this MCP server does

You ask your AI something like find the EPUB of Pride and Prejudice and download it. The AI passes your request to this helper, which signs in to Anna's Archive with your membership key and runs the search. It shows the matches back to the AI, the AI picks one, and the helper downloads that file to a folder on your computer. Then it tells you where the file was saved. If you already downloaded the same file before, it can spot it in your folder and skip downloading it again.

What you can do with it

Search for books by title, author, topic, format, language or year
Search for journal articles by keyword, author or DOI
Look up editions and ISBNs in library catalogs
Check a result's ISBNs, edition, description and reported file problems
See your membership and how many fast downloads you have left
Download a book by file hash or by its Anna's Archive page link
Download an article by DOI or hash

Try asking your AI

“Find the EPUB of Pride and Prejudice and download it.”
“Search for textbooks on organic chemistry in English and show me the newest ones.”
“Look up the article with DOI 10.1038/nature14539 and download it.”
“How many fast downloads do I have left this window?”

What it gives back to you

You get back a list of matching books or articles with titles, authors, formats and other details, plus short summaries the AI can read out to you. When you download something, it tells you the file's name, where it was saved and its size. Account questions come back as a short answer, like how many fast downloads remain. Everything shows up as normal chat text, so you do not have to read any technical output.

Before you start

What you need

Node.js 18 or newer installed on your computer
A paid Anna's Archive membership (Lucky Librarian or higher is recommended so both search and download work)
Your Anna's Archive secret key from your account page
An MCP client such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or Gemini CLI

Good to know

It downloads files to your computer and uses your paid membership's download allowance, so only use it for material you are entitled to obtain under the laws and terms that apply to you, and keep your secret key private.

Install it with your AI

Add Anna's Archive MCP server to your AI, no technical skills needed

You don't install anything by hand. You copy one prompt, paste it into an AI that can work on your computer, and it checks, installs and connects the server for you, asking you when it needs something.

Sign in to get the install prompt

Members get a ready-made prompt that lets the Claude desktop app check Anna's Archive MCP server, install it and connect it for them, step by step. You don't need any technical skills: you copy, paste and answer a few questions. Your connected AI can also find and install any of the 4,361 MCP servers here for you.