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Show HN: MCP server for searching and downloading documents from Anna's Archive

233 points by iosifache

by iosifache

0 subcomment

UPDATE:
Following a suggestion from @irskep, I've added CLI command support for the search and download features.
This raised a valid concern - while we're focused on building MCP servers, we shouldn't overlook whether users already have preferred (T/G)UIs available. When they don't exist, we should consider user experience and make our functionality accessible through multiple interfaces beyond just MCP.
https://github.com/iosifache/annas-mcp/releases/tag/v0.0.2

by irskep

4 subcomments

What advantage do you get from this being an MCP server rather than simply a command line tool? Genuinely curious, as I'm trying to develop my mental model of when to use one or the other.
Lovely project!

by snickerdoodle12

5 subcomments

Insane how HN cheers on piracy nowadays, all because it helps them train their LLMs

by puppycodes

1 subcomments

by toomuchtodo

1 subcomments

Edit: Would you accept a PR to override the search and download endpoint hostnames with env vars? For someone who has their own copy and ES index, it might be helpful to support overriding the public endpoint hostnames (/internal/anna/anna.go#L22-L23).

by xmonkee

2 subcomments

I'm an LLM noob, but how feasible it is to make a research agent that can not only download articles, but read and reference them in it's process?

by profsummergig

4 subcomments

My understanding of Anna's Archive is that one has to download large zip files (>10 Gb) containing thousands of books even if one wants only a single book.
Am I correct here?
Does this MCP server allow one to download just a single book?
I remember once using an IPFS based tool to download a single 200-year-old, out-of-copyright copy of "Last of the Mohicans" from Anna's Archive. It worked, but was very very complicated to figure out how to make it work.

by ospider

3 subcomments

by neilv

5 subcomments

> This software does not endorse unauthorized acquisition of copyrighted content and should be regarded solely as a utility. Users are urged to respect the intellectual property rights of authors and acknowledge the considerable effort invested in document creation.
How sincere is that statement?

by johnjames87

5 subcomments

by thorum

5 subcomments

Interesting project! I’m a little surprised that Claude is willing to call these functions. The demo screenshot is downloading a public domain work, I wonder if it would also happily go along with requests for Harry Potter or other copyrighted material?