AI assistants

Connect an AI assistant to BiblioScan

BiblioScan ships an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server: Claude or any compatible assistant can read your scans, prices and inventory — read-only, authenticated with an API key you can revoke anytime.

Create an API key See the steps

Server: https://biblioscan.ai/api/mcp
Transport: HTTP (JSON-RPC 2.0)
Auth: Bearer bsk_…
Access: Read-only

Connect in 3 steps

Works with MCP clients that accept an API key in the Authorization header: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and other file-configured clients.

01
Create an API key
In Settings → AI assistants (MCP), create a key (1-year expiration recommended) and copy it right away — it will never be shown again.
02
Configure your assistant
Add the server https://biblioscan.ai/api/mcp with your key in the Authorization header — one command in Claude Code, or a few lines of config elsewhere.
03
Ask a first question
Ask your assistant something about your BiblioScan data to check the connection works.

Claude Code (terminal)

One command is all it takes — replace bsk_YOUR_KEY with your key:

Add BiblioScan to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http biblioscan https://biblioscan.ai/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer bsk_YOUR_KEY"

Clients with a JSON config file

For Claude Desktop and other file-configured clients, declare the server under mcpServers:

Config snippet — mcpServers block

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "biblioscan": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://biblioscan.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer bsk_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Heads up: unlike BiblioScan's REST API, the MCP server expects the key behind a Bearer prefix.

Test the connection

Try something like:

"List my latest BiblioScan scans and give me the 5 most valuable books"

Some consumer MCP clients only accept OAuth for remote connectors (no custom header). Those can't connect yet — OAuth support is on the roadmap.

What the assistant can read

The server exposes 7 tools, all read-only and scoped to your account's data.

Tool	What the assistant gets
`get_profile`	Your profile and remaining credits (photo scans and barcodes).
`list_scans`	Your shelf scans, with pagination, search and favorites.
`get_scan`	The books in a scan: title, authors, Amazon prices, buyback offers.
`lookup_book`	The full price sheet for an ISBN you already scanned.
`list_barcode_scans`	Your barcode scan history.
`list_stock`	Your inventory (stock).
`get_stock_item`	The details of one stock item.

Security

V1 of the MCP server is deliberately read-only.

Read-only

The assistant can't scan, delete, or buy anything. No writes go through MCP: an LLM can be manipulated by prompt injection, so it gets no mutation power at all.

Revocable anytime

Delete the key in Settings and the connection stops working immediately — without logging you out or touching your other keys.

One key per assistant

Create a dedicated key per assistant: the "Last used" column shows who actually uses what, and revocation stays surgical.

The key stays in your MCP client

Paste the key only into your client's configuration — never into a conversation, a Git repo, or public code.

Limits and errors

The server enforces a limit of 120 requests per minute per key. Errors worth knowing:

Code	When	What to do
401 Unauthorized	Key missing, invalid, expired, or revoked.	Create a new key in Settings and update your assistant's configuration.
403 Forbidden	Disallowed origin — the request comes from a third-party browser page.	Go through an MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop…), not a web page.
429 Too Many Requests	The assistant exceeds 120 requests per minute.	Wait a few seconds — most assistants retry on their own.

Ready to connect your assistant?

Create your API key in Settings, paste it into your MCP client — that's it.

Create my API key REST API documentation

https://biblioscan.ai/api/mcp