Anna's Archive MCP Server (and CLI Tool)
An MCP server and CLI tool for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive
[!NOTE] Notwithstanding prevailing public sentiment regarding Anna's Archive, the platform serves as a comprehensive repository for automated retrieval of documents released under permissive licensing frameworks (including Creative Commons publications and public domain materials). 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.
[!WARNING] Please refer to this section if any of the links lead to a non-functional Anna's Archive server.
Available Operations
| Operation | MCP Tool | CLI Command | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search for books by title, author, or topic | book_search | book-search | book-search "machine learning python" |
| Download a book by its MD5 hash | book_download | book-download | book-download abc123def456 "my-book.pdf" |
| Search for articles by DOI or keywords | article_search | article-search | article-search "10.1038/nature12345" or article-search "neural networks" |
| Download an article by its DOI | article_download | article-download | article-download "10.1038/nature12345" |
Requirements
If you plan to use only the CLI tool, you need:
- A donation to Anna's Archive, which grants JSON API access
- An API key
If using the project as an MCP server, you also need an MCP client, such as Claude Desktop.
The environment should contain two variables:
ANNAS_SECRET_KEY: The Anna's Archive API key.ANNAS_DOWNLOAD_PATH: The path where the documents should be downloaded.
Optionally, you can set:
ANNAS_BASE_URL: The base URL of the Anna's Archive mirror to use (defaults toannas-archive.li).
These variables can also be stored in an .env file in the folder containing the binary.
Setup
Download the appropriate binary from the GitHub Releases section.
If you plan to use the tool for its MCP server functionality, you need to integrate it into your MCP client. If you are using Claude Desktop, please consider the following example configuration:
"anna-mcp": {
"command": "/Users/iosifache/Downloads/annas-mcp",
"args": ["mcp"],
"env": {
"ANNAS_SECRET_KEY": "feedfacecafebeef",
"ANNAS_DOWNLOAD_PATH": "/Users/iosifache/Downloads"
}
}
Demo
As an MCP Server
<img src="screenshots/claude.png" width="600px"/>As a CLI Tool
<img src="screenshots/cli.png" width="400px"/>Anna's Archive Mirrors
Anna's Archive has multiple mirrors, which may be innactive at times due to various reasons. Below is a list of known mirrors and their status as of January 2025:
| Mirror | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|
annas-archive.li | Official | Active |
annas-archive.pm | Official | Active |
annas-archive.in | Official | Active |
annas-archive.org | Official | Innactive |
Alternatively, use The Shadow Library Uptime Monitor to find statuses or alternative mirrors.
This project defaults to annas-archive.li. If that mirror is not working for you, please set the ANNAS_BASE_URL environment variable to one of the other mirrors.