Shelf

Shelf — connector documentation

• MCP endpoint: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: POST https://shelf.connectorbay.com/v1/tools/{tool_name}, described by the OpenAPI 3.1 spec at https://shelf.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless, MCP specification 2025-06-18 or later
• Authentication: none required. An optional Authorization: Bearer <key> raises rate limits.
• Health: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/health · Tool schemas: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/tools.json
• Publisher: Unify Dynamics LLC · connectorbay.com/shelf · agent@connectorbay.com

What Shelf is for

"Who wrote it, when, and is it any good" for books; "find that show and its newest episode" for podcasts; "what's on that album and let me hear a bit" for music — answered from open catalogues with links, not from an assistant's memory. Shelf wraps Open Library (the Internet Archive's catalogue of ~40 million books), the Apple Podcasts directory with fyyd.de as a fallback and each show's own RSS feed, and Deezer plus MusicBrainz for music.

What it covers

Books: search by words, title, author, subject or language, with readers' ratings, first publication year, median pages, ISBNs and whether a public-domain scan exists to read online; one edition by ISBN with description, format and identifiers; an author's dates, bio and most-published works; the most-held books on a subject; free-to-read classics with Internet Archive links; ISBN validation and 10↔13 conversion; a reading-time estimate. Podcasts: shows with publisher, genre, episode count and feed URL; a show's latest episodes with dates, durations, summaries and audio links straight from the feed. Music: tracks with ISRC and a 30-second preview MP3; an artist's type, country, active years, genre tags, official links, top tracks and studio albums; an album's release date, label, UPC and full tracklist with previews.

What it is not

Shelf sells nothing and knows no prices. Ratings are Open Library readers', not critics'; "free to read" means a public-domain scan, and borrowable-only titles are marked as such. Previews are Deezer's 30-second clips; full tracks are not served. Apple's directory rate-limits per IP, so a search may come from fyyd.de instead — the feed URL is the same either way.

Tools

Books

book_search — Search Open Library's catalogue of ~40 million books: title, authors, first publication year, editions, median pages, readers' rating, subjects, languages, ISBNs, cover, whether it is free to read online with the link. Use for "who wrote X", "books by Ursula Le Guin", "Spanish books about astronomy", "free classics about the sea". Args: query, title, author, subject, language, free_only, sort, limit.

book — One edition by ISBN: title, authors, publisher and date, pages, format, languages, description, subjects, first publication of the work, cover, identifiers (Goodreads, LCCN…), and a read-online link if the Internet Archive has a scan. Use for "what is this ISBN", "details of the book with barcode 978…". Args: isbn.

author — An author from Open Library: dates, bio, number of works, top subjects, links, and their most-published books with ratings. Use for "who is Ursula Le Guin", "what did Chinua Achebe write", "when was Tolkien born". Args: name.

books_by_subject — The most-held books on a subject in Open Library (by number of editions): title, authors, year, cover, and free read-online links where a public scan exists. Use for "classic science fiction", "good books about beekeeping", "free books on Roman history". Args: subject, free_only, limit.

free_ebooks — Books that are free to read online right now — public-domain scans on the Internet Archive via Open Library — with the read link, authors and year. Use for "is Moby-Dick free", "free Jane Austen", "public-domain books about gardening". Args: query, limit.

isbn_check — Validate an ISBN's check digit and convert between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13, with the registration group (language area) decoded. Local, instant. Use for "is this ISBN valid", "convert this ISBN-10 to 13". Args: isbn.

reading_time — How long a book takes to read from its page or word count at a chosen speed (adult average ≈ 238 wpm, ~275 words per page), and how many days at a daily budget. Use for "how long is a 400-page novel", "can I finish this in a week at 30 minutes a day". Args: pages, words, words_per_minute, minutes_per_day.

Podcasts

podcast_search — Find podcasts in the Apple Podcasts directory: name, publisher, genre, episode count, latest release, artwork, Apple page and the RSS feed URL (pass it to podcast_episodes). Use for "find the Hardcore History podcast", "podcasts about Roman history", "Hindi news podcasts". Args: query, country, limit.

podcast_episodes — A podcast's latest episodes from its own feed: title, date, duration, season/episode numbers, summary, audio URL and link, plus the show's description and website. Use for "latest episode of X", "what has Y released this month", "get the audio link for the newest episode". Args: feed_url, show, limit.

Music

music_search — Search music: tracks (with artist, album, length, explicit flag, ISRC and a 30-second preview MP3), artists (fans, album count) or albums. Use for "find the song Creep", "preview Blinding Lights", "albums called Rumours". Args: query, kind, limit.

artist — An artist's profile: type (person/group), country, active years, genre tags and official links (MusicBrainz), plus top tracks with previews and studio albums with dates (Deezer). Use for "tell me about Radiohead", "what are Adele's biggest songs", "list Nirvana's albums". Args: name.

album — An album's details and full tracklist: release date, label, genres, length, UPC, cover, and every track with duration and a 30-second preview. Use for "what's on OK Computer", "when did Rumours come out", "tracklist of Thriller". Args: title, artist.

Conventions

• Read-only. Every tool reads public data or computes; nothing is written anywhere and nothing about the user is stored.
• Result envelope. ok: true with data, or ok: false with a structured error (bad_input, not_found, upstream_error). degraded lists optional sources that were unreachable.
• Rate limits. Free tier 60 tool calls/minute and 300/day per user (keyed on the user identifier supplied by the host agent, else client IP); Pro keys raise this. Over-limit calls return HTTP 429 with Retry-After. initialize and tools/list are never counted.

Support

agent@connectorbay.com · connectorbay.com/shelf/support

Shelf — Privacy Policy

Effective 22 September 2026. Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us"), Menlo Park, California.

What Shelf is. Shelf is a connector (an MCP server and REST API) that AI assistants and personal agents call on your behalf for book, author, podcast and music information from open catalogues. You interact with your assistant; the assistant sends us only the specific request needed: a title, an author, an ISBN, a show or artist name, a feed URL.

What we receive. The arguments of each tool call, the technical headers needed to serve the request (an IP address or a client identifier supplied by the assistant, and a Pro API key if you have one), and standard server logs.

What we do not receive or store. We do not receive your conversation with the assistant, your name, contacts, listening or reading history, or credentials for any service. Request arguments are used to fetch the answer in memory and are not stored; what anyone searches for is not kept or profiled. Rate-limit counters (a client identifier and timestamps) are held in memory for at most 24 hours. Hosting-provider access logs, which contain IP addresses and request paths but not request bodies, are retained for up to 30 days for security and abuse prevention.

Sub-processors. To answer requests we send only the title, name, ISBN or feed URL asked about (never anything about you) to Open Library / Internet Archive, Apple's iTunes Search API, fyyd.de, the podcast's own RSS host, Deezer and MusicBrainz. Preview and audio links point directly at those services' CDNs; playing them is between the listener and that service. Hosting: Vercel (United States regions).

Legal bases and your rights. For users in California, the EU/UK and elsewhere, our processing is necessary to provide the service you request through your assistant. Because we store no personal data beyond short-lived logs, requests to access, correct or delete personal data are usually satisfied automatically; you can still contact agent@connectorbay.com and we will respond within 30 days. We do not sell or share personal information and do not use your data to train models.

Children. Shelf is a general-audience service operated by the adult using the assistant; explicit-content flags from the sources are passed through.

Changes. We will post changes here with a new effective date.

Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com

Shelf — Terms of Service

Effective 22 September 2026. These terms govern use of the Shelf connector ("the Service") operated by Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us").

1. The Service. Shelf returns catalogue information about books, authors and subjects (Open Library), podcasts and their episodes (Apple Podcasts directory, fyyd.de, RSS feeds) and music (Deezer, MusicBrainz), including links to read public-domain books and to 30-second music previews. It is accessed through an AI assistant or directly over MCP or HTTP.
2. Catalogue data. Descriptions, ratings, dates and metadata are reproduced as published by the sources and may be incomplete or wrong; verify at the linked page. The Service does not host books, episodes or music — links point to the rights holders' or archives' own services under their terms.
3. Copyright. Read-online links are provided only where the source marks a work as public domain or lendable; previews are Deezer's licensed 30-second clips. Do not use the Service to circumvent any rights holder's terms.
4. Acceptable use. Do not use the Service to overwhelm the underlying services or to circumvent rate limits. Automated use within the published limits is welcome.
5. Availability. The Service is provided "as is" without warranty. We may change, limit or discontinue it at any time.
6. Data. Our Privacy Policy describes what we process. In short: nothing about you is stored.
7. Attribution. Book data from Open Library (Internet Archive; data under its open licence), podcast directory data from Apple's iTunes Search API (per Apple's terms) and fyyd.de, episode data from each show's feed (© its publisher), music data from Deezer's public API (per Deezer's terms; artwork and previews © their rights holders) and MusicBrainz (CC0). Respect those terms when reusing output.
8. Pro keys. Optional Pro API keys are issued at our discretion, are personal to the holder and may be revoked for abuse.
9. Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Unify Dynamics LLC is not liable for any loss arising from use of or reliance on the Service. Our total liability is limited to US $100.
10. Governing law. California law; venue in San Mateo County, California.
11. Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com · https://connectorbay.com/shelf

Shelf support

Email agent@connectorbay.com. We answer within two business days.

• MCP endpoint: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Live status: https://shelf.connectorbay.com/health

When you report a problem, include the question you asked your agent, roughly when, and which agent you used (for example Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini). Never send us passwords, account numbers or ID numbers. Shelf never asks for them.