Anna's Archive MCP

annas-mcp

An MCP server that lets Claude, Cursor, Codex and other AI clients search Anna's Archive for books and papers and download the file you pick. It also works as a command-line tool.

It signs in with your membership's secret key and renews the session by itself, so you never copy cookies from a browser. If you're coming from iosifache/annas-mcp, switching is a one-line change.

Tool	What it does
book_search	Finds books, textbooks, manuals and standards by title, author or topic, filtered by format, language, source or year; can include file activity counts
article_search	Finds journal articles by keyword, author or year, or looks one up by DOI; can include file activity counts
metadata_search	Searches library catalogs such as Open Library, WorldCat and ISBNdb for editions and ISBNs
book_details	Shows a result's ISBNs and other identifiers, edition, description and reported file problems
account_status	Shows your membership and how many fast downloads are left
book_download	Downloads a book using the hash from a search result
article_download	Downloads an article by DOI or hash

Use it only for material you are entitled to obtain, under the laws and terms that apply to you.

Setup

You need Node.js 18 or newer and an Anna's Archive membership. Any tier can download; searching needs Lucky Librarian or higher.

1. Get your secret key

Copy the secret key you log in with from your Anna's Archive account page. It is also your API key (API FAQ).

2. Add the server to your client

Claude Code

claude mcp add annas-mcp \
  --env ANNAS_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key \
  -- npx -y annas-mcp

On native Windows (not WSL), end the command with -- cmd /c npx -y annas-mcp.

Claude Desktop, one click

Download annas-mcp.mcpb and open it, or drag it onto Settings → Extensions. Claude Desktop asks for your secret key and lets you pick a different download folder.

Claude Desktop or Cursor, by hand

Add this to Claude Desktop's config (Settings → Developer → Edit Config) or to Cursor's ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "annas-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "annas-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ANNAS_SECRET_KEY": "your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.annas-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "annas-mcp"]

[mcp_servers.annas-mcp.env]
ANNAS_SECRET_KEY = "your-secret-key"

Gemini CLI

gemini extensions install https://github.com/SokolskyNikita/annas-mcp

Gemini CLI asks for your secret key, which it keeps in the system keychain, then for two optional settings; press Enter to skip them. Change them later with gemini extensions config annas-mcp.

Docker

Build the image straight from this repository:

docker build -t annas-mcp https://github.com/SokolskyNikita/annas-mcp.git

Then have your client run it, mounting your download folder at /downloads:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "annas-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "ANNAS_SECRET_KEY", "-v", "/absolute/path/to/downloads:/downloads", "annas-mcp"],
      "env": { "ANNAS_SECRET_KEY": "your-secret-key" }
    }
  }
}

On Linux, add "--user", "1000:1000" with your own user and group IDs before "annas-mcp", so the container can write to the folder.

3. Try it

Restart your client and ask something like "Find the EPUB of Pride and Prejudice and download it." The AI searches, picks a copy and tells you where it saved the file: annas-archive in your home folder unless you chose another.

Switching from iosifache/annas-mcp

This server keeps the same four tools, adds three more and reads the same ANNAS_SECRET_KEY, ANNAS_DOWNLOAD_PATH and ANNAS_BASE_URL variables. In your client's config, replace the path to the old binary with npx:

-      "command": "/path/to/annas-mcp",
-      "args": ["mcp"],
+      "command": "npx",
+      "args": ["-y", "annas-mcp"],

What changes:

• Searches run as your signed-in member account, so they aren't turned away with 403 by the archive's browser check. Searching needs Lucky Librarian or higher.
• The server picks a working official mirror by itself. Set ANNAS_AUTO_BASE_URL=false to use only ANNAS_BASE_URL.
• Downloads are checked against the archive's MD5 hash.
• npx picks up new releases without a manual download.

Signing in

Anna's Archive only lets signed-in members search. The server signs in with your secret key before its first request and again whenever the archive ends the session, about once a week. The session is saved between runs.

If signing in fails, the error says what each mirror answered and how to give the server a browser session instead:

1. Sign in to Anna's Archive in your browser, open its developer tools and go to Application (Chrome, Edge) or Storage (Firefox, Safari) → Cookies.
2. Copy the value of aa_account_id2 into ANNAS_ACCOUNT_COOKIE and restart the MCP server from your client.

The server uses that cookie until it expires, then signs in with the secret key again. Keep the secret key and cookie private.

Configuration

Variable	Needed for	Description
ANNAS_SECRET_KEY	Everything	Your Anna's Archive secret key. The server signs in with it and uses it for downloads.
ANNAS_DOWNLOAD_PATH	Optional	Folder for downloaded files. Defaults to annas-archive in your home folder. See Choosing the download folder.
ANNAS_ACCOUNT_COOKIE	Optional	An aa_account_id2 cookie to use before signing in. See Signing in.
ANNAS_BASE_URL	Optional	Mirror to try first; the official mirrors stand in for it while it fails. Defaults to annas-archive.gl. Language versions such as es.annas-archive.gl are refused, since the server reads the archive in English.
ANNAS_AUTO_BASE_URL	Optional	Set to false to always use ANNAS_BASE_URL instead of picking a mirror automatically.
ANNAS_MCP_CACHE_DIR	Optional	Where the server saves its session and npx caches release binaries. See The cache folder.

The server and CLI also read a .env file from their working directory. Variables already set in the environment take precedence.

The server only uses ANNAS_BASE_URL and the official mirrors annas-archive.gl, .pk and .gd; Choosing a mirror explains how it picks one. Whatever host you set in ANNAS_BASE_URL receives your credentials, so only use one you trust.

Choosing the download folder

Downloads go to ~/annas-archive (%USERPROFILE%\annas-archive on Windows), which is created on the first download. Set ANNAS_DOWNLOAD_PATH to use another folder. It must be an absolute path, except that a leading ~ stands for your home folder.

On macOS, Desktop, Documents, Downloads and iCloud Drive are protected: the first download there makes macOS ask whether your MCP client may access the folder. If that access is denied, downloads fail with [CONFIG] cannot write to the download folder; allow your client in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders, or pick a folder directly in your home folder. Avoid /tmp, which the operating system clears.

Tools

The AI fills in each tool's options from your request. HOW-IT-WORKS.md lists them and what each tool returns, and --help shows them on the command line.

Before downloading, the server checks completed regular files directly in your download folder against the full MD5 hash. If one matches, it returns that file's path and size regardless of its name or extension, without downloading it or making a fresh account request; downloads_left is omitted. For article downloads by DOI, the DOI is resolved to a hash first. If no local file matches, the server downloads a verified copy and chooses a unique filename without overwriting an existing file. A fast download may use your membership's allowance, which Anna's Archive counts over a rolling 18- or 24-hour window. Downloading a file again within that window is free, and account_status shows how many are left.

Troubleshooting

Errors start with a code:

Code	What to do
[CONFIG]	A variable is missing or invalid, Anna's Archive rejected the secret key or the download folder can't be written to. Check Configuration.
[UPSTREAM_BLOCKED]	The archive refused access. Check that your membership allows searching. If the error says no fast downloads are left, wait for the window to roll over; account_status shows the allowance. If signing in itself failed, see Signing in.
[NOT_FOUND]	Nothing matched, or that copy has no fast download. Try another query, or another copy from the search results.
[INVALID_ARGUMENT]	Fix the hash, DOI, id, filter, sort, page, limit or timeout.
[REQUEST_TIMEOUT]	Retry, or raise timeout_seconds.
[UPSTREAM]	The archive or a download server failed. The error says which one and why; retry later.

A failed download lists every server it tried and why each one failed. The server only checks your credentials when you search or download, not when it starts.

If the server doesn't start at all, run npx -y annas-mcp --version in a terminal to see the error. The launcher unpacks releases with the system's tar, which macOS, most Linux distributions and Windows 10 or later include.

Command line

Every tool is also a command. Set the same variables (or put them in a .env file), then:

npx -y annas-mcp book-search "pride and prejudice" --language en --format epub --include-stats
npx -y annas-mcp book-search --author "Jane Austen" --year 1813 --sort oldest
npx -y annas-mcp article-search 10.1038/nature14539
npx -y annas-mcp metadata-search 9780141439518
npx -y annas-mcp book-details <hash>
npx -y annas-mcp account-status
npx -y annas-mcp book-download <hash> "Pride and Prejudice.epub"
npx -y annas-mcp article-download 10.1038/nature14539

Add --include-stats to a book or article search to include per-file download, list, quality-vote, report and comment counts when available. Add --json for machine-readable output, --timeout 10m to change the timeout and --help to any command for all of its options.

Privacy

annas-mcp runs on your machine and has no telemetry. It sends your secret key (and cookie, if you set one) only to Anna's Archive, and downloads files from the servers Anna's Archive points it to. DOI lookups may contact doi.org. The npx launcher and the MCP Bundle contact GitHub to fetch and verify release binaries. Apart from downloaded files, it stores only the release binary, the saved session and recent mirror health, all in the cache folder. Questions: open an issue.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for building from source, tests and releases.

Credits

The idea for this project comes from iosifache/annas-mcp, which first exposed Anna's Archive as an MCP server. This repository is a complete rewrite and shares no code with it.

License

MIT