list_all_collectionsLABSCO SUMMARY
Pick the book up where you left it.
It knows the chapter you are on and the text of your highlights, which turns "explain what I marked last night" into something answerable from the book rather than from memory.
What it is
An MCP server for Apple Books. It reads the library, reading state and annotations, and behind an opt-in flag edits user-created collections directly in the library database.
What you get
- Every book listed, searched by title, or filtered by genre
- Reading state broken out: in progress, finished, unstarted, recently read
- Annotations listed with the anchor text you marked shown in place
- Collections listed, searched, described, and their books read
- Collections created, renamed and deleted, and books added or removed, once writes are enabled
- Writes that refuse while Books is open and take an automatic WAL-safe backup first
Requirements
macOS with Apple Books, installed from PyPI as apple-books-mcp. Collection editing is off until writes are enabled in the server args; those writes go to the library database and can be reverted by iCloud if collection syncing is on.
Setup effort
One command — uvx apple-books-mcp@latest
USE CASES
01
Continuing a book with help
The chapter you are on and the recent highlights inside it are read together.
02
Expanding a highlight you did not fully follow
Pull the surrounding paragraph with your marked text shown in place.
03
Revisiting a book you finished
Gather its highlights and cluster them by theme.
04
Choosing what to read next
List the unstarted books alongside the ones you have picked up recently.
05
Tidying the library into shelves
Create a collection and move books into it, with writes enabled.
06
Finding a book by title or genre
Search titles directly, or list everything in one genre.
30 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
get_collection_booksdescribe_collectionsearch_collections_by_titlecreate_collectionrename_collectiondelete_collectionadd_book_to_collectionremove_book_from_collectionlist_all_booksdescribe_booklist_annotationssearch_books_by_titleget_books_by_genreget_books_in_progressget_finished_booksget_unstarted_booksget_recently_read_bookslist_all_annotationsrecent_annotationsdescribe_annotationget_annotation_contextget_highlights_by_colorsearch_notessearch_annotationsget_annotations_by_date_rangeget_library_statslist_book_chaptersget_chapter_contentget_current_reading_positionBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
30 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
uvx on PATH
Where it runs
The documented client runs the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
uvx apple-books-mcp@latestMCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"apple-books-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"apple-books-mcp@latest"
]
}
}
}
