Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API

io.github.nulibPublished by GitHub account nulibv2.12.0Updated Oct 29, 2026

Agent integration with the Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API

VerifiedStreamable HTTPWeb executableWeb Search & Scraping Knowledge & Memory

Server details

Identifier: io.github.nulib/dc-api
Transport: Streamable HTTP
Runtime: Web executable
Trust: Verified
Published: Sep 16, 2026

Security note

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Overview

AI-generated overview

Searches and browses Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections, returning work metadata, collections and IIIF manifests for an assistant.

What you can do: Search works by field values or natural language, with field values as extra constraints
Retrieve full metadata for a single work by ID and list available collections
Find works similar to a given work using semantic embeddings
View a work, a collection, or saved search and similarity results as IIIF manifests for compatible viewers
When to use it: Useful when someone wants an assistant to explore Northwestern University Libraries' digitized materials: finding works on a topic, pulling catalog metadata, browsing collections, or locating visually or semantically similar items.
Requirements: Can be used as a hosted remote endpoint over streamable HTTP with no local install, or run locally from the npm package or container image. Local development needs Node.js 24+ and mise; optional environment variables DC_API_BASE, DC_IIIF_BASE and SECRETS_PATH override defaults. No authentication is declared.

Before you install

Read-only access to a public library catalog; no credentials are requested by default. The local setup mentions a SECRETS_PATH variable for AWS Secrets Manager configuration, so review what that path exposes before setting it. Queries and work IDs are sent to the Northwestern University Libraries API.

Installation

In SourceWeft

Open Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Web executable via Streamable HTTP. Remote servers run from the web runtime once configured in a workspace.

Use with an agent

Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another agent — or into SourceWeft chat. The agent reads this server's install guide, shows you its publisher, endpoint and sign-in, and adds it to your client once you agree. Keys never go into a command.

Read https://sourceweft.com/mcp/io.github.nulib%2Fdc-api/install.md and connect the MCP server it describes to my client. Before changing any config, show me its publisher, endpoint and sign-in method and wait for my OK. Never put an API key in a command or in a file I would commit; ask me where it should come from.

Read the install guide the agent follows

Other MCP clients

Add this to your client's mcpServers config.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "northwestern-university-libraries-digita": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}

README

dc-api-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes Northwestern University Library's Digital Collections as tools for AI assistants. It provides tools for searching, browsing, and retrieving metadata and IIIF manifests for digitized library materials.

Available Tools

Tool	Description
`search`	Search for works using field-based and/or natural language queries
`similarity-search`	Find works visually or semantically similar to a given work
`get-work`	Retrieve full metadata for a single work by ID
`view-work`	View a work's IIIF manifest for display in compatible viewers
`list-collections`	List available digital collections
`view-collection`	Browse a specific collection's IIIF manifest
`view-search-results`	Retrieve results from a previous search
`view-similar-works`	Retrieve results from a previous similarity search

Using the Remote Endpoint

The server is available as a hosted remote at:

No local installation is required. Configure your MCP client to connect to this URL using the streamable HTTP transport.

Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file.

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

json

{  "mcpServers": {    "dc-api": {      "type": "http",      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"    }  }}

{  "mcpServers": {    "dc-api": {      "type": "http",      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"    }  }}

Claude Code

Development

Requirements

Node.js 24+ (see .tool-versions)
mise (used by bin/run.sh to activate the correct runtime)

Setup

Configuration

The server reads the following environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
`DC_API_BASE`	`https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2`	Base URL for the Digital Collections API
`DC_IIIF_BASE`	`https://iiif.dc.library.northwestern.edu/iiif/3`	Base URL for the IIIF server
`SECRETS_PATH`	(none)	Base path for AWS Secrets Manager config

Running locally

stdio (for Claude Desktop / Claude Code)

Or via the wrapper script (activates the correct Node.js version via mise):

HTTP (Streamable HTTP transport, port 3000)

Configuring Claude Desktop (local build)

Replace /path/to/dc-api-v2/mcp with the absolute path to this directory. Restart Claude Desktop after editing.

Tests

Command	Result
`bun run test`	Run the test suite
`bun test:watch`	Run the test suite, watching for changes
`bun test:coverage`	Run the test suite and calculate coverage
`bun test:record`	Run the test suite against live data and record new fixtures

By default, the test suite uses pre-recorded HTTP fixtures. Set MSW_MODE=live to run against live data.
bun test:record records new fixtures (requires mitmproxy: pip install mitmproxy).

Source: mcp/README.md at commit 56b4d99

Tools

search

Search for works in the Digital Collections using field-based and/or natural language queries. If both a natural language query and specific field values are provided, the natural language query will take priority, using the specified field values as additional constraints. The result will also include a list of aggregations that show how many results match different values for certain fields. For example, you could see how many results match each collection, work type, or visibility and use that information to refine your search. Perform an empty search to retrieve all works and their aggregations. NOTE: Structured field values enclosed in double quotes will be treated as exact, case-sensitive matches, while unquoted values will be treated as full-text searches.

Parameterspagequeryfieldsmax_resultspublic_only

get-work

Get Work

Retrieve the full metadata for a work from the NUL Digital Collections.

Parameterswork_idrequired

list-collections

List Collections

List collection records from the NUL Digital Collections.

Parameterspagemax_resultspublic_only

similarity-search

Search for Similar Works

Find works that are similar to a given work. Uses semantic similarity based on work embeddings.

Parameterspagework_idrequiredmax_resultspublic_only

view-work

View Work

View a work from the NUL Digital Collections in an interactive viewer.

Parameterswork_idrequired

view-collection

View Collection

View a collection from the NUL Digital Collections in an interactive viewer.

Parameterscollection_idrequired

view-search-results

View Search Results

View results from the search-works tool in an interactive viewer.

Parameterspagequeryfieldsmax_resultspublic_only

view-similar-works

View Similar Works

View results from the similarity-search tool in an interactive viewer.

Parameterspagework_idrequiredmax_resultspublic_only

Version history

v2.12.0LatestOct 29, 2026
v2.11.15Sep 16, 2026

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