hardcover-mcp

Talk to your Hardcover library from any AI assistant.

hardcover-mcp connects your Hardcover library to AI assistants like Claude and Copilot. Search for books, update your reading status, manage lists, explore series — all through natural conversation instead of clicking through menus.

What you can say

"What's on my currently reading list?"

"Add Project Hail Mary to my library as currently reading"

"Search for books by Brandon Sanderson"

"Look up ISBN 9780547928227"

"Create a list called 'Summer Reading' and add The Hobbit to it"

"Show me the Stormlight Archive series in reading order"

"Move Project Hail Mary and The Martian to currently reading"

"What books has Andy Weir written? Add any I haven't read to my want-to-read list"

"Compare my rating of Dune with the Hardcover average"

What's covered

• Library tracking — status, ratings, reading dates
• List management — create, edit, add/remove books
• Discovery — search books, authors, series, editions, and more
• Account info — your profile and reading stats

Safety & control

• You control your API key — it stays on your machine, never shared with third parties
• Runs locally through your MCP client — no external server involved
• Actions only happen when explicitly requested — nothing runs in the background
• You review prompts and outputs in your client before anything is sent

Quick Start

1. Install uv (a fast Python package runner — the setup takes seconds).
2. Get an API token from hardcover.app/account/api.
3. Add the config below to your MCP client — no manual install needed, uvx handles it.

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "hardcover": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["hardcover-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "HARDCOVER_API_TOKEN": "<your token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hardcover": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["hardcover-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "HARDCOVER_API_TOKEN": "<your token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Browse & discover

What you can do	Tool
Search for books, authors, series, and more	search_books
Look up a book by title or ID	get_book
Look up a specific edition by ISBN or ASIN	get_edition
Explore a series in reading order	get_series
Browse an author's catalogue	get_author

Your library

What you can do	Tool
See your profile and book count	me
Get reading statistics (totals, ratings, books read per year)	get_reading_stats
Browse your library, filter by reading status	get_user_library
Check your status/rating for a specific book (includes privacy setting)	get_user_book
List your reviews	get_user_reviews
List books you own, with edition details	get_owned_books
Add a book or update its status, rating, review, notes, privacy, and edition	set_user_book
Mark an edition as owned or not owned	set_edition_owned
Log reading dates and progress (pages, audiobook time)	add_user_book_read / update_user_book_read
Remove a book or reading entry	delete_user_book / delete_user_book_read

Lists

What you can do	Tool
View all your lists	get_my_lists
View a specific list with its books	get_list
Create, rename, or delete a list	create_list / update_list / delete_list
Add or remove books from a list	add_book_to_list / remove_book_from_list

Development

git clone https://github.com/kristianedlund/hardcover-mcp.git
cd hardcover-mcp
uv sync

Lint and format checks (using Ruff):

uv run ruff check src/
uv run ruff format --check src/

Run tests:

uv run pytest tests/ -v

Integration Tests

Integration tests hit the live Hardcover API and require a valid token. They are skipped automatically in CI and when the token is absent.

To run them locally, create a .env file with your token:

HARDCOVER_API_TOKEN=your_token_here

Then run:

uv run pytest tests/integration/ -v

Write tests follow a create → verify → delete lifecycle so the account is left unchanged.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Open an issue first to discuss the change.
2. Fork the repo and create a branch (feature/short-description or fix/short-description).
3. Run lint and tests before submitting:

   uv run ruff check src/
   uv run ruff format --check src/
   uv run pytest tests/ -v
   

4. Keep PRs focused — one change per PR.
5. Use conventional commit prefixes: feat:, fix:, chore:, docs:.

Rate Limiting

The Hardcover API allows 60 requests per minute. The server handles this automatically — it queues requests and retries if needed. You shouldn't hit this in normal use.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
"API token is not set"	Add your token to the config (see Quick Start above)
"Access is denied" on Windows	Add "UV_LINK_MODE": "copy" to the env block in your config
Slow or repeated errors	The server retries automatically — wait a moment and try again
Unexpected results	Check for a newer version: the Hardcover API may have changed

Disclaimer

Unofficial project. Not affiliated with Hardcover.