mcpbeat

Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API MCP Server

io.github.nulib/dc-api
answering

Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API is answering right now. Last checked 14 min ago. 180 installs a week from npm. It exposes 8 tools. Last commit 31 Jul 2026.

Agent integration with the Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API

Installs per day peak 281 · avg 34 · -74% w/w
a month agotoday
Uptime history 42 hours of history
42 hours agonow
100.0%
Uptime 24h
91 of 91 checks
8
Tools
read from the server
753 ms
Response time
average over 24h
180
Installs / week
npm and PyPI

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 14 min ago.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add dc-api --transport http https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dc-api": {
      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.dc-api]
url = "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dc-api": {
      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dc-api": {
      "url": "https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 8

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

view
view-collection
View a collection from the NUL Digital Collections in an interactive viewer.
view-search-results
View results from the search-works tool in an interactive viewer.
view-similar-works
View results from the similarity-search tool in an interactive viewer.
view-work
View a work from the NUL Digital Collections in an interactive viewer.
collections
list-collections
List collection records from the NUL Digital Collections.
search
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.
similarity
similarity-search
Find works that are similar to a given work. Uses semantic similarity based on work embeddings.
work
get-work
Retrieve the full metadata for a work from the NUL Digital Collections.

Endpoints

URLTransportStateLatencyChecked
https://api.dc.library.northwestern.edu/api/v2/mcp streamable-http answering 602 ms 14 min ago

Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API do?
It exposes 8 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: get-work, list-collections, search, similarity-search, view-collection, view-search-results and 2 more. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →
Is Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API working right now?
We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 91 of 91 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 753 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.
How do I connect Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API?
Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.
Does Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API need an API key?
No. Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 8 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.
How fast is Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API?
It answers our handshake in 753 ms on average, which is faster than 11% of all working MCP servers we measure. That is on the slow side — worth knowing if the tool sits inside an interactive loop. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.
How many people use Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API?
The npm package @nulib/dc-api-mcp was installed 180 times in the last week. Week over week that is -74%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Northwestern University Libraries Digital Collections API open source?
Yes — written in TypeScript, 14 stars on GitHub and 1 open issue. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.