Apple Books

Apple Books

What is Apple Books about?

Apple Books offers a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI models to query and manipulate a user's Apple Books library. It surfaces operations such as listing collections, retrieving book details, accessing annotations, searching highlights, and fetching recent activity, all through a standardized tool interface.

How to use Apple Books?

Installation

• Using uv (recommended):

  brew install uv  # macOS only
  uvx apple-books-mcp
  

• Using pip:

  pip install apple-books-mcp
  

Running the server

python -m apple_books_mcp

Configuration for Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-books-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["apple-books-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Or using Python:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apple-books-mcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "apple_books_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Key Features

• List all collections and books in a collection.
• Retrieve detailed metadata for collections and individual books.
• Access all annotations, highlights, and notes with filtering by color or text.
• Perform full‑text search across annotations.
• Get the 10 most recent annotations.
• Structured tool definitions compatible with Claude and other LLMs.

Use Cases

• Summarize recent reading highlights via an AI assistant.
• Automatically organize a library by genre or author.
• Generate personalized book recommendations based on reading history.
• Compare notes from multiple books on the same topic.
• Build productivity workflows that surface important excerpts during research.

FAQ

Q: Do I need an Apple ID? A: The server works with the local Apple Books database on macOS; an Apple ID is required only to sync books to the device.

Q: Can I modify annotations through the server? A: Editing annotations is on the upcoming‑features roadmap; currently the server is read‑only.

Q: Is Docker support available? A: Docker support is planned for a future release.

Q: Which Python versions are supported? A: The package follows standard Python 3.8+ compatibility.

Q: How do I debug the server? A: Use the provided Claude Desktop debug configuration or run npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx apple-books-mcp for inspector output.

Apple Books MCP

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Apple Books.

At a glance

• Ask Claude to summarize your recent highlights
• Ask Claude to organize books in your library by genre
• Ask Claude to recommend similar books based on your reading history
• Ask Claude to compare notes from different books read on the same subject

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/77a5a29b-bfd7-4275-a4af-8d6c51a4527e

And much more!

Available Tools

Tool	Description	Parameters
list_collections()	List all collections	None
get_collection_books(collection_id)	Get all books in a collection	collection_id: str
describe_collection(collection_id)	Get details of a collection	collection_id: str
list_all_books()	List all books	None
get_book_annotations(book_id)	Get all annotations for a book	book_id: str
describe_book(book_id)	Get details of a particular book	book_id: str
list_all_annotations()	List all annotations	None
get_highlights_by_color(color)	Get all highlights by color	color: str
search_highlighted_text(text)	Search for highlights by highlighted text	text: str
search_notes(note)	Search for notes	note: str
full_text_search(text)	Search for annotations containing the given text	text: str
recent_annotations()	Get 10 most recent annotations	None
describe_annotation(annotation_id)	Get details of an annotation	annotation_id: str

Installation

Using uv (recommended)

uvx can be used to directly run apple-books-mcp (without installing it).

brew install uv  # for macos
uvx apple-books-mcp

Using pip

pip install apple-books-mcp

After installing, you can run the server using:

python -m apple_books_mcp

Configuration

Claude Desktop Setup

Using uvx (recommended)

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apple-books-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [ "apple-books-mcp@latest" ]
        }
    }
}

Using python

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apple-books-mcp": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": ["-m", "apple_books_mcp"]
        }
    }
}

Upcoming Features

• add docker support
• add resources support
• edit collections support
• edit highlights support

Contribution

Thank you for considering contributing to this project!

Development

If you cloned this repository, you can test it using Claude Desktop with below configuration:

Use uv venv to create a virtual environment and install the dependencies.

uv venv
uv sync

Debugging

With Claude Desktop

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apple-books-mcp": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "/path/to/apple-books-mcp/",
                "run",
                "apple_books_mcp",
                "-v"
            ]
        }
    }
}

With inspector

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx apple-books-mcp

Opening Issues

If you encounter a bug, have a feature request, or want to discuss something related to the project, please open an issue on the GitHub repository. When opening an issue, please provide:

Bug Reports: Describe the issue in detail. Include steps to reproduce the bug if possible, along with any error messages or screenshots.

Feature Requests: Clearly explain the new feature you'd like to see added to the project. Provide context on why this feature would be beneficial.

General Discussions: Feel free to start discussions on broader topics related to the project.

Contributing

1️⃣ Fork the GitHub repository https://github.com/vgnshiyer/apple-books-mcp
2️⃣ Create a new branch for your changes (git checkout -b feature/my-new-feature).
3️⃣ Make your changes and test them thoroughly.
4️⃣ Push your changes and open a Pull Request to main.

Please provide a clear title and description of your changes.

License

Apple Books MCP is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. See the LICENSE file for details.