snqb/book-downloader

Book Downloader Skill - LibGen Integration

Purpose: Search and download academic books, textbooks, and publications from Library Genesis (LibGen) programmatically.

Library: libgen-api-enhanced (53⭐, MIT license, actively maintained) CLI Tool: ~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py

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🎯 When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user needs to:

• Find academic books, textbooks, or technical publications
• Search for books by title, author, or ISBN
• Filter books by format (PDF, EPUB, MOBI), year, or language
• Get download links for books
• Download books programmatically
• Build reading lists or bibliographies

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📚 Core Capabilities

1. Search Books

• By title - Find books matching a title
• By author - Find all books by an author
• Default search - Search across all fields
• Filtered search - Combine search with filters

2. Filter Results

• Format - epub, pdf, mobi, djvu, azw3, etc.
• Year - Publication year (exact or range)
• Language - English, Russian, Spanish, etc.
• Exact matching - Strict vs fuzzy filtering

3. Download Books

• Direct download links - HTTP mirrors (resolved at runtime)
• Tor download links - Onion mirror URLs
• Batch download - Download multiple books at once
• Mirror resilience - Automatically handles mirror failures

4. Metadata Retrieval

• Full bibliographic data (title, author, publisher, year)
• File information (size, format, pages, MD5 hash)
• LibGen ID for reference

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🔧 CLI Tool Usage

Installation Check

# Verify installation
which python3
uv tool list | grep libgen

If not installed:

uv tool install libgen-api-enhanced

Basic Commands

Search by title:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Clean Code"

Search by author:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Isaac Asimov" --type author

Filter by format:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python Programming" --extension epub

Filter by year and format:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Machine Learning" --extension pdf --year 2023

Get download links:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Design Patterns" --download-links

Download books:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" \
  --download --output ~/Books --limit 1

JSON output (for parsing):

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Algorithms" --json --limit 5

Advanced Examples

Find latest EPUB of a book:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Thinking Fast and Slow" \
  --extension epub --exact --limit 3

Download all books by author:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Terry Pratchett" \
  --type author --download --output ~/Books/Pratchett --limit 20

Search with language filter:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Война и мир" \
  --language Russian --extension epub

Build bibliography with JSON:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Deep Learning" \
  --year 2020 --json | jq '.[] | {title, author, year, id}'

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🤖 Claude Integration Patterns

Pattern 1: Simple Search Request

User: "Find the book Clean Code"

Claude:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Clean Code" --limit 5

Present results to user with:

• Title, author, year
• Format and file size
• Ask if they want download links or to download

Pattern 2: Filtered Search

User: "Find Python books from 2023 in EPUB format"

Claude:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python" \
  --extension epub --year 2023 --limit 10

Pattern 3: Download Workflow

User: "Download the latest edition of The Pragmatic Programmer"

Claude:

1. Search first to confirm:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" --limit 3

2. Show options to user
3. Download selected:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Pragmatic Programmer" \
  --download --output ~/Downloads --limit 1

Pattern 4: Author Bibliography

User: "Show me all books by Donald Knuth"

Claude:

~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Donald Knuth" \
  --type author --limit 20 --json

Parse JSON and present formatted list.

Pattern 5: Reading List Builder

User: "Create a reading list for learning Rust"

Claude:

1. Search for multiple titles:

# Run these in parallel for speed
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "The Rust Programming Language" --limit 1
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Programming Rust" --limit 1
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Rust in Action" --limit 1

2. Compile results into markdown reading list
3. Optionally offer to download all

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📋 Output Format

Human-Readable Output

1. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
   Author: Robert C. Martin
   Year: 2008 | Publisher: Prentice Hall
   Format: pdf | Size: 10.2 MB | Pages: 431
   Language: English
   ID: 123456 | MD5: abc123def456...

JSON Output

[
  {
    "id": "123456",
    "title": "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship",
    "author": "Robert C. Martin",
    "publisher": "Prentice Hall",
    "year": "2008",
    "pages": "431",
    "language": "English",
    "extension": "pdf",
    "filesize": "10.2 MB",
    "md5": "abc123def456...",
    "tor_download": "http://libgen.onion/...",
    "direct_download": "http://download.mirror.com/..."
  }
]

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⚠️ Important Considerations

Mirror Availability

• LibGen mirrors change frequently
• libgen-api-enhanced handles mirror resolution automatically
• If download links fail, the library will try alternative mirrors
• Tor links are more stable but require Tor browser/setup

Rate Limiting

• Be respectful with search frequency
• For bulk operations, add delays between requests
• Consider caching search results

Legal & Ethical Use

• LibGen operates in a legal gray area in many jurisdictions
• Users are responsible for compliance with local copyright laws
• Recommend legal alternatives when appropriate (library, university access, legitimate purchases)

File Quality

• Not all uploads are equal quality
• Check MD5 hash for integrity verification
• Prefer recent uploads for better quality
• EPUB usually better than PDF for reading on devices

Language Detection

• Language filter is exact match
• Common values: "English", "Russian", "Spanish", "German", "French"
• Case-sensitive in exact mode

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🔍 Troubleshooting

"No results found"

• Try broader search terms
• Remove filters (especially year/exact match)
• Try different search type (title vs default)
• Check spelling

"Error resolving download link"

• Mirror may be temporarily down
• Try again later
• Use Tor download link as fallback

Import Error

# Reinstall the library
uv tool install --force libgen-api-enhanced

Slow download link resolution

• This is normal - library checks multiple mirrors
• Use --download-links flag only when needed
• Consider using Tor links directly (no resolution needed)

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💡 Pro Tips

1. JSON + jq for Power Workflows

# Extract just titles and authors
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Algorithms" --json | \
  jq '.[] | "\(.title) by \(.author)"'

# Find smallest file size
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Python" --extension epub --json | \
  jq 'sort_by(.filesize) | .[0]'

2. Format Preferences

• EPUB - Best for e-readers, smartphones, tablets
• PDF - Best for desktop, printing, preserves formatting
• MOBI - Legacy Kindle format (use EPUB + Calibre instead)
• DJVU - Academic papers, scanned books (smaller than PDF)

3. Batch Download Script

#!/bin/bash
# Download multiple books from a list
while IFS= read -r book; do
  ~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "$book" \
    --download --output ~/Books --limit 1
  sleep 2  # Be nice to servers
done < booklist.txt

4. Verification Workflow

# 1. Search and save results
~/.claude/skills/book-downloader/book_search.py "Book Title" --json > results.json

# 2. Review results
jq '.[] | {title, year, extension, filesize}' results.json

# 3. Download specific book by MD5
# (Extract MD5 from results, then search by it for exact match)

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🎓 Example Conversations

Example 1: Student looking for textbook

User: I need "Introduction to Algorithms" by CLRS
Claude:
  [Runs search]
  Found 3 editions:
  1. 3rd Edition (2009) - PDF, 12.3 MB
  2. 3rd Edition (2009) - EPUB, 8.1 MB
  3. 2nd Edition (2001) - PDF, 15.2 MB

  Which would you prefer? I recommend the 3rd edition EPUB for better readability.

Example 2: Researcher building bibliography

User: Find recent machine learning books
Claude:
  [Runs search with --year 2023 --year 2024]
  Found 15 recent ML books. Here are the top 5:
  [Lists results]

  Would you like me to:
  1. Download any of these
  2. Export as BibTeX
  3. Create a reading list with summaries

Example 3: Format conversion need

User: I need this book in EPUB but only found PDF
Claude:
  I can help with that:
  1. First, let me search for EPUB versions
     [Runs --extension epub search]
  2. If no EPUB found, I can help you convert using Calibre
     [Suggests calibre-cli conversion]

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🚀 Future Enhancements

Potential additions to this skill:

• Anna's Archive integration - Fallback when LibGen fails
• Calibre integration - Format conversion, metadata management
• Citation generation - BibTeX, APA, MLA export
• Reading list management - Track what you've downloaded
• Mirror health monitoring - Track which mirrors work best
• ISBN search - Direct lookup by ISBN-10/ISBN-13
• Duplicate detection - Avoid downloading same book twice

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📚 Related Skills

• pdf skill - Extract text, manipulate PDFs
• llm-delegator - Analyze book content with LLMs
• python skill - For custom scripting with the library

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🔗 References

• libgen-api-enhanced GitHub
• Library Genesis - Official site (mirrors vary)
• Anna's Archive - Alternative source

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Last Updated: 2025-01-31 Maintainer: Claude Code Skills