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Digital Public Library of America (BYOK) — connector documentation

  • MCP endpoint: https://byok-dpla.connectorbay.com/mcp
  • REST API: POST https://byok-dpla.connectorbay.com/v1/tools/{tool_name}, described by the OpenAPI 3.1 spec at https://byok-dpla.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
  • Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless, MCP specification 2025-06-18 or later
  • Authentication: your own Digital Public Library of America DPLA API key, sent in the X-Upstream-Key header of every request (never stored, logged or cached)
  • Health: https://byok-dpla.connectorbay.com/health · Tool schemas: https://byok-dpla.connectorbay.com/tools.json
  • Publisher: Unify Dynamics LLC · connectorbay.com/byok-dpla · agent@connectorbay.com

What Digital Public Library of America (BYOK) is for

Digital Public Library of America (BYOK) lets an AI assistant read your own Digital Public Library of America data through the Digital Public Library of America API with a key you supply (DPLA API key). Read-only: 6 tools (search_items, search_items_by_date, search_items_in_state, get_item, facet_counts, search_collections). The BYOK key travels with each request, is used for that one call only and is never stored, logged or cached; it is only ever sent to api.dp.la. Unofficial connector by Unify Dynamics LLC: not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Digital Public Library of America. Digital Public Library of America and its logos are trademarks of their owners and are used only to say which service the connector works with.

Ask your assistant things like:

  • "Find photographs of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in DPLA"
  • "What does DPLA have from 1860 to 1865 about the Civil War?"
  • "Find DPLA items about Hawaii sugar plantations"
  • "Show the DPLA item with id 4f2d33c1d6d1c3a1b0d5f8a8e63b9c1e"
  • "Which institutions contribute DPLA items about jazz?"
  • "Find DPLA collections about Route 66"

What it does

  • search_items: Search DPLA items (digitized books, photographs, maps, audio, documents) by text and by title, creator, subject, type or contributing institution; returns title, creator, date, description, provider and links.
  • search_items_by_date: Search DPLA items made within a year or date range (inclusive), optionally with text; same fields as search_items.
  • search_items_in_state: Search DPLA items about a US state (place metadata), optionally with text; same fields as search_items.
  • get_item: Get one DPLA item by its DPLA id (the id of a search result): title, creator, description, subjects, dates, provider and links.
  • facet_counts: Count DPLA items for a text query grouped by one field (type, subject, provider, institution, language, state or format); returns the most common values.
  • search_collections: Search DPLA collections (groups of related items) by text; returns the collection records as the API sends them.

BYOK key

You bring your own Digital Public Library of America DPLA API key (https://pro.dp.la/developers/api-codex). Your assistant sends it in the X-Upstream-Key header with each request. ConnectorBay uses it for that one call only: it is never stored, logged or cached, never shown in an answer, and it is only sent to api.dp.la over https, with no redirects followed. Create a key with the fewest permissions the tools need (read-only if the provider offers it), and revoke it at the provider whenever you like.

Notices

Records from the Digital Public Library of America (https://dp.la). Each item carries its own rights statement: check it before reuse.

Data sources

Live from the Digital Public Library of America API (api.dp.la) with a BYOK key; documentation: https://pro.dp.la/developers/api-codex. Endpoints checked against that documentation on 2026-10-16.

What it is not

Unofficial connector by Unify Dynamics LLC: not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Digital Public Library of America. Digital Public Library of America and its logos are trademarks of their owners and are used only to say which service the connector works with. It is read-only: it never creates, changes, sends or deletes anything in your Digital Public Library of America account.

Built for: Worldwide. Languages: English.