About Poetrydb
Poetrydb is an MCP server for searching and retrieving public-domain poems from PoetryDB. It supports title search, phrase matching within poem lines, random selections, and author listings, and is aimed at poetry discovery and reference.
Key features
- 01Search poems by title
- 02Find phrases within poem lines
- 03Fetch random public-domain poems
- 04List available authors
Use cases
- 01Locate a poem by title
- 02Find poems containing a phrase
- 03Browse random public-domain poetry
- 04Check which authors are available
MCP support
Exposes PoetryDB search, line-text lookup, random poem, and author-list tools to MCP clients. It can be used through Pipeworx or run locally as a stdio MCP server.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-poetrydb https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-poetrydb":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-poetrydb":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-poetrydb":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-poetrydb":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project READMEmcp-poetrydb
PoetryDB MCP.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
search_poems | Search PoetryDB for poems by title or partial title (e.g., "The Road Not Taken"). Returns matching poems with full text, author, and line count. Note: searches titles only, not poem body text. |
get_poem_lines | Full-text search within poem lines on PoetryDB — finds any poem containing the given phrase in one of its lines. Returns full poem text (capped). Keyless. |
random_poems | Fetch one or more random public-domain poems from PoetryDB. Returns full poem text (capped). Keyless. |
list_authors | List all authors available in PoetryDB. Keyless. |
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"poetrydb": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/poetrydb/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1683+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_poems \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"title":"The Road Not Taken"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_poems. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"poetrydb": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-poetrydb"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-poetrydb
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Poetrydb data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
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