docs / books

Books & Authors

Book details, search, authors and free ebooks.

base /books/v14 endpoints

post/books/v1/book_detail1 credit

merged book record by ISBN-10/13 or OLID (work OL..W / edition OL..M): title/authors/covers/subjects/description/pages/publishers/languages/editions/identifiers/ratings+distribution/reading-log; queried ISBN always injected

Parameter		Allowed / range	Description
id	required	—	ISBN-10/13, OR OpenLibrary work id (OL..W), OR edition id (OL..M).

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post/books/v1/search1 credit

search books: q OR fielded (title/author/subject/publisher/place/person/isbn/language); rich cards (ratings/reading-log/ebook_access/IA); sort=new|old|rating|want_to_read|editions; pagination

Parameter		Allowed / range	Description
q	optional	—	Free-text search. Supply `q` OR at least one fielded param (title/author/subject/publisher/place/person/isbn/language).
title	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on title (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
author	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on author (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
subject	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on subject (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
publisher	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on publisher (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
place	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on place (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
person	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on person (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
isbn	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on isbn (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
language	optional	—	Fielded search filter — match on language (OpenLibrary search). Combinable with other fielded params.
sort	optional	new · old · rating · want_to_read · editions	Result ordering (OpenLibrary sort). Common keys shown; other OpenLibrary sort keys also pass through.
limit = 20	optional	1–100	Results per page (1-100, default 20); out-of-range values are clamped.
page = 1	optional	1–1000	1-based page number (clamped to 1-1000).

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post/books/v1/author1 credit

author by OLID (OL..A) → bio/photo/dates/alternate-names/remote-ids(goodreads/wikidata/viaf/gutenberg)/links + include_works; or query/name → best-match-ranked author list

Parameter		Allowed / range	Description
id	optional	—	OpenLibrary author id (OL..A) for a profile. Supply `id` OR a query (`query`/`name`/`q`) for author search.
query	optional	—	Author search text → best-match-ranked list. Supply this OR `id`.
include_works = false	optional	—	Profile mode only: also return the author's top works.
works_limit = 20	optional	1–50	Max works when include_works=true (1-50).
limit = 10	optional	1–50	Results per page (1-50, default 10); out-of-range values are clamped.

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post/books/v1/ebook1 credit

public-domain full-text (Project Gutenberg): query OR id=Gutenberg-id OR ids=batch; filters languages/topic/sort; returns formats{epub/txt/html/kindle/cover}+download_url+read_url; gutenberg.org OPDS fallback when gutendex is down

Parameter		Allowed / range	Description
query	optional	—	Full-text search of Project Gutenberg. Supply `query` OR `id` (Gutenberg id) OR `ids` (batch) OR a filter.
id	optional	—	A single Project Gutenberg ebook id (digits).
ids	optional	—	Batch of Gutenberg ids (list or comma-separated string).
languages	optional	—	Gutendex language filter — comma-separated ISO 639-1 codes (e.g. en, fr).
topic	optional	—	Gutendex topic filter (matches bookshelf or subject).
sort	optional	popular · ascending · descending	Gutendex ordering. Known keys shown; passed through if Gutendex adds more.
mime_type	optional	—	Gutendex mime_type filter (e.g. application/epub+zip, text/plain).
author_year_start	optional	—	Gutendex filter: author alive on/after this year.
author_year_end	optional	—	Gutendex filter: author alive on/before this year.
copyright	optional	—	Gutendex copyright filter: true\|false\|null (comma-separated to combine).
limit = 32	optional	1–32	Results per page (1-32, default 32); out-of-range values are clamped.
page = 1	optional	1–1000	1-based page number (clamped to 1-1000).

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Example request · book_detail

curl -X POST https://api.reefapi.com/books/v1/book_detail \
  -H "x-api-key: $REEF_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"id":"9780439023528"}'

Response shape

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": { /* the result */ },
  "meta": {
    "latency_ms": 240,
    "record_count": 12,
    "completeness_pct": 100
  },
  "error": null
}