Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#1

Post by iosifache » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:06 PM UTC

I was looking around for an MCP server that could connect Anna's Archive to Claude Desktop, as I wanted to be able to search and download books directly through the interface.

I couldn't find any public implementations, so ended up building one myself.

What it does?

- It searches Anna's Archive by keywords. - It downloads books from search results. - It works directly in Claude Desktop through MCP.

Check out the repository's README for detailed installation and configuration instructions.

The code is fully open source and builds run on GitHub Actions for transparency.

I figured I'd share, since I couldn't be the only one wanting this functionality!

Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive
github.com

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#2

Post by neilv » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:40 PM UTC

> This software does not endorse unauthorized acquisition of copyrighted content and should be regarded solely as a utility. Users are urged to respect the intellectual property rights of authors and acknowledge the considerable effort invested in document creation.

How sincere is that statement?

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#3

Post by thorum » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:42 PM UTC

Interesting project! I’m a little surprised that Claude is willing to call these functions. The demo screenshot is downloading a public domain work, I wonder if it would also happily go along with requests for Harry Potter or other copyrighted material?

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#4

Post by puppycodes » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:50 PM UTC

love this. god bless anna's archive

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#5

Post by throwaway314155 » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:54 PM UTC

thorum wrote: post #3

Interesting project! I’m a little surprised that Claude is willing to call these functions. The demo screenshot is downloading a public domain work, I wonder if it would also happily go along with requests for Harry Potter or other copyrighted material?

Last I checked downloading isn't the issue. It's distributing. Not an expert though.

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#6

Post by bigyabai » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:58 PM UTC

neilv wrote: post #2

> This software does not endorse unauthorized acquisition of copyrighted content and should be regarded solely as a utility. Users are urged to respect the intellectual property rights of authors and acknowledge the considerable effort invested in document creation. How sincere is that statement?

As sincere as the user takes it.

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#7

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:58 PM UTC

Edit: Would you accept a PR to override the search and download endpoint hostnames with env vars? For someone who has their own copy and ES index, it might be helpful to support overriding the public endpoint hostnames (/internal/anna/anna.go#L22-L23).

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#8

Post by hotstickyballs » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 9:59 PM UTC

thorum wrote: post #3

Interesting project! I’m a little surprised that Claude is willing to call these functions. The demo screenshot is downloading a public domain work, I wonder if it would also happily go along with requests for Harry Potter or other copyrighted material?

Just give the AI something worse that would happen if it doesn’t call these functions.

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#9

Post by iosifache » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 10:05 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

Edit: Would you accept a PR to override the search and download endpoint hostnames with env vars? For someone who has their own copy and ES index, it might be helpful to support overriding the public endpoint hostnames (/internal/anna/anna.go#L22-L23).

> local copy of this corpus

Are you referring to the JSON index (https://annas-archive.org/faq#api)?

Re: Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

#10

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 09, 2025, 10:07 PM UTC

iosifache wrote: post #9

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

Edit: Would you accept a PR to override the search and download endpoint hostnames with env vars? For someone who has their own copy and ES index, it might be helpful to support overriding the public endpoint hostnames (/internal/anna/anna.go#L22-L23).

> local copy of this corpus Are you referring to the JSON index ( https://annas-archive.org/faq#api )?

[deleted]