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

🎯 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

📚 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

🔧 CLI Tool Usage

Installation Check

bash

# Verify installation
which python3
uv tool list | grep libgen

If not installed:

bash

uv tool install libgen-api-enhanced

Basic Commands

Search by title:

bash

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

Search by author:

bash

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

Filter by format:

bash

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

Filter by year and format:

bash

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

Get download links:

bash

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

Download books:

bash

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

JSON output (for parsing):

bash

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

Advanced Examples

Find latest EPUB of a book:

bash

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

Download all books by author:

bash

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

Search with language filter:

bash

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

Build bibliography with JSON:

bash

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

🤖 Claude Integration Patterns

Pattern 1: Simple Search Request

User: "Find the book Clean Code"

Claude:

bash

~/.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:

bash

~/.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:

•Search first to confirm:

bash

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

•Show options to user
•Download selected:

bash

~/.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:

bash

~/.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:

•Search for multiple titles:

bash

# 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

•Compile results into markdown reading list
•Optionally offer to download all

📋 Output Format

Human-Readable Output

code

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

json

[
  {
    "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/..."
  }
]

⚠️ 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

🔍 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

bash

# 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)

💡 Pro Tips

1. JSON + jq for Power Workflows

bash

# 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

bash

#!/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

bash

# 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)

🎓 Example Conversations

Example 1: Student looking for textbook

code

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

code

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

code

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]

🚀 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

📚 Related Skills

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

🔗 References

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

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