Open Library API

openlibrary.org · Data

Data No Auth Free & Open Books Library Literature

Internet Archive's Open Library — search 20+ million books, access metadata, covers, author data, and full texts for public domain works. No API key required.

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Search books

Search for books by title, author, or keyword.

https://openlibrary.org/search.json?q=the lord of the rings&limit=5

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://openlibrary.org/search.json?q=the%20lord%20of%20the%20rings&limit=5"

import requests
params = {
    "q": "the lord of the rings",
    "limit": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://openlibrary.org/search.json",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://openlibrary.org/search.json');
url.searchParams.set('q', 'the lord of the rings');
url.searchParams.set('limit', '5');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://openlibrary.org/search.json")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("q", "the lord of the rings")
	q.Set("limit", "5")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://openlibrary.org/search.json")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "q" => "the lord of the rings",
  "limit" => "5"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://openlibrary.org/search.json?" . http_build_query([
    "q" => "the lord of the rings",
    "limit" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get book by ISBN

Get book details by ISBN.

https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json"

import requests
response = requests.get(
    "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json",
)
print(response.json())

const url = 'https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json';

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	targetURL := "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json"
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json")

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json";
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

No API key needed
Search: GET https://openlibrary.org/search.json?q=harry+potter&limit=5
By ISBN: GET https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780743273565.json
Book covers: https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/{isbn}-L.jpg

What can you build with Open Library API?

Open Library API is a Data API. Developers commonly use data APIs for:

enriching your app with third-party datasets
building data pipelines and ETL workflows
querying and searching large datasets
powering research, analysis, and reporting tools
syncing reference data into your own systems

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Open Library API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide

Open documentation ↗