books.catalog.search
Search 40M+ books by title, author, subject, or ISBN — ratings, cover images, edition counts, publish year (Open Library / Internet Archive)
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/books.catalog.search.md
What books.catalog.search does on Apibase
AI agents call books.catalog.search to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
isbn | string | — | Search by ISBN number |
page | integer | — | Page number for pagination (default: 1) |
sort | string | — | Sort order: "new" (newest first), "old" (oldest), "rating" (highest rated) |
limit | integer | — | Results per page (default: 10, max: 100) |
query | string | — | General search query across title, author, and full text (e.g. "dune frank herbert") |
title | string | — | Search by book title only (e.g. "The Great Gatsby") |
author | string | — | Search by author name (e.g. "Tolkien") |
subject | string | — | Search by subject/genre (e.g. "science fiction", "history") |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why books.catalog.search is rated Low
Retrieves book metadata from public catalogs without modifying data or executing arbitrary operations.
From the tool's definition Search 40M+ books by title, author, subject, or ISBN — ratings, cover images
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs books.catalog.search safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For books.catalog.search, this is the rule to start with:
books.catalog.search is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every books.catalog.search call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about books.catalog.search
Search 40M+ books by title, author, subject, or ISBN — ratings, cover images, edition counts, publish year (Open Library / Internet Archive). It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apibase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
books.catalog.search accepts 8 parameters: isbn, page, sort, limit, query, title, author, subject. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for books.catalog.search: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.
books.catalog.search is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the books.catalog.search rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for books.catalog.search. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
books.catalog.search is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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