# Readwise MCP > Readwise MCP Server connects your AI client directly to your entire reading library. Manage books, highlights, tags, and spaced repetition reviews using natural language commands. Your agent can search specific passages, create new notes, or pull up your daily review queue—all without you opening the Readwise app. ## Overview - **Category:** productivity - **Price:** Free - **Tags:** reading, spaced-repetition, highlights, knowledge-management ## Description **Readwise MCP Server** connects your AI client straight into your whole reading life, period. You don't gotta dig through the Readwise app; you just tell your agent what you need, and it gets it from your data. It's like having a personal librarian who lives inside your chat window. Want to know which books you've read? Your agent uses `list_books` to give you a rundown of everything in your library. You can narrow that down by asking for books saved under a specific category using `list_books_by_category`, or see all the material grouped by where it came from—like Kindle versus PDF—with `list_books_by_source`. If you're looking for something specific, just hit it with a title or keyword, and the agent uses `search_books` to pull up the relevant books. Need the basic info on one book? `get_book` grabs all that metadata by ID or title. Managing your actual notes is where this thing gets serious. If you read something killer, you can use `create_highlight` to drop a new highlight into any specific book immediately. Did you change your mind about a note? No sweat; `update_highlight` lets you modify the text, tags, or whole damn note after it's already there. And if that highlight was garbage and you wanna trash it? Use `delete_highlight`. To pull up details on one single piece of genius writing, use `get_highlight` with its ID. You can see everything you’ve captured by running `list_highlights`, which spits out the text, your note, location, and tags for every highlight. Want to find a specific thought or passage? Just run `search_highlights`; it finds passages based on keywords or associated tags. You gotta organize that stuff, right? Your agent can pull up a complete list of every single tag you've used across all your notes using `list_tags`. It’s how you keep the signal from the noise. When you need to study, forget opening the app. The server uses `get_daily_review` to fetch exactly what spaced repetition review material you gotta hit today. If you just wanna see *what* reviews are waiting without studying them right now, run `list_reviews`. Need to export your data for backups or analysis? You can use `export_highlights`. This tool is smart; it supports incremental exports so you only pull new data since a specific date, which saves time and bandwidth. To make sure everything's connected, just ask the agent to run `check_readwise_status` to verify your API connection is up and running. Listen up: if you need to work with any of these tools—from listing all books (`list_books`) or grabbing book details (`get_book`), to managing notes by creating, updating, or deleting highlights using `create_highlight`, `update_highlight`, and `delete_highlight`—your agent handles the entire process. It's direct, it's fast, and you don't gotta think about which button to push. ## Tools ### check_readwise_status Verifies that your API connection to Readwise is active and working. ### create_highlight Adds a new highlight directly into a specified book. ### delete_highlight Removes an existing, unwanted highlight from your library. ### export_highlights Downloads all highlights. It supports incremental exports so you only pull new data since a specific date. ### get_book Retrieves core information about a specific book by title or ID. ### get_daily_review Fetches the current set of spaced repetition reviews you need to study today. ### get_highlight Retrieves all details for a single, specific highlight using its ID. ### list_books Outputs a list of every book currently stored in your Readwise library. ### list_books_by_category Lists only the books you've saved that fall under a specific category. ### list_books_by_source Lists all books grouped by their original source (e.g., Kindle, PDF). ### list_highlights Returns a list of highlights, showing the text, note, location, and associated tags. ### list_reviews Shows you what's waiting in your review queue without fetching the actual content yet. ### list_tags Retrieves a complete list of all tags you have assigned across your notes and highlights. ### search_books Searches your entire book collection by keyword or title. ### search_highlights Finds specific passages or notes based on keywords, allowing you to quickly locate ideas. ### update_highlight Modifies the text, note, or tags of an existing highlight after it was created. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` Find all my highlights related to 'stoicism' and summarize the key themes. ``` **Response:** ``` I found 14 highlights mentioning stoicism. The recurring themes focus on the dichotomy of control, the practice of negative visualization, and maintaining equanimity in the face of external adversity. ``` **Prompt:** ``` List all the books I've saved from my Kindle library. ``` **Response:** ``` I've retrieved your Kindle library. You have 22 books saved, including 'Meditations' by Marcus Aurelius, 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, and 'Deep Work' by Cal Newport. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Create a new highlight for 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant' with the note: 'Crucial insight on leverage'. ``` **Response:** ``` Successfully added your highlight to 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant' with the note regarding leverage. ``` ## Capabilities ### Search and List Books The agent retrieves book metadata by searching titles, filtering by category, or listing all saved books. ### Manage Highlights and Notes You can create new highlights, update existing ones, or delete old notes directly through conversation. ### Access Review Cycles The server pulls your daily spaced repetition review queue and allows you to retrieve specific passages for study. ### Categorize and Organize Data You can list all existing tags or search highlights based on their associated tags. ### Data Export The agent exports your highlight data incrementally, allowing you to pull historical data for backup or analysis. ## Use Cases ### Drafting an academic paper on behavioral economics. Problem: You need to synthesize three different concepts—loss aversion, sunk cost fallacy, and cognitive bias—from books saved over the last year. Agent Action: Your agent runs `search_highlights` using those keywords, gathers all relevant passages, and compiles them into a coherent summary for you. ### Quickly checking if an idea is already noted. Problem: You read something useful but aren't sure if you highlighted it before. Agent Action: You ask the agent to 'search my highlights about AI ethics.' The tool runs `search_highlights` and tells you exactly what you wrote, saving you from rereading. ### Curating a reading list for a client. Problem: A client needs books on deep work but only from specific sources. Agent Action: You ask the agent to `list_books_by_source` and then filter that result by category, providing them with an immediate, actionable bibliography. ### Preparing for a big exam or interview. Problem: You need to prove you retained information from six months ago. Agent Action: The agent triggers `get_daily_review` and presents the flashcard-style material, forcing retrieval practice on difficult concepts. ## Benefits - Find quotes instantly: Instead of manually scrolling, use `search_highlights` to pull every passage mentioning 'stoicism' across all your source material. You get the data in seconds. - Keep track of sources: Use `list_books_by_source` or `list_books_by_category` to see exactly where a concept came from, keeping your knowledge organized by origin. - Study efficiently: The agent runs `get_daily_review` to pull today's spaced repetition cards. You study the material without ever seeing the underlying database structure. - Organize on the fly: Use `list_tags` and then `create_highlight` together. When you find a key insight, you can highlight it and assign a tag like 'Finance Theory' immediately. - Build a data archive: If you need to analyze your notes for tax purposes or grant writing, use `export_highlights`. It supports incremental exports, so you don't re-download everything every time. ## How It Works The bottom line is: you talk to your reading notes, and your AI client runs the commands for you. 1. Subscribe to the server and input your Readwise API Token. 2. Your AI client uses a natural language prompt (e.g., 'Find all highlights on stoicism'). 3. The MCP Server maps the request to the appropriate tool (like `search_highlights`) and returns structured data to your agent. ## Frequently Asked Questions **How do I find all my highlights related to a certain topic using search_highlights?** You simply prompt your agent with the query. The tool runs `search_highlights` and returns passages matching those keywords, like 'sustainability' or 'quantum physics'. It doesn't just list notes; it pulls specific text snippets. **Can I use create_highlight to add a note if the book isn't fully linked?** Yes. You can use `create_highlight` by providing the necessary Book ID and the content/note, even if you feel the link is incomplete. The tool requires specific identifiers to attach the new data correctly. **What's the difference between list_books and search_books?** `list_books` provides every book ID and title in your library, regardless of what you are searching for. `search_books` actively searches by keyword or title to help you locate a specific volume faster. **Do I need to manually run export_highlights after using the server?** No. The agent handles running `export_highlights` for you when prompted, particularly supporting incremental exports so you only download data updated since your last successful pull. **How does get_daily_review work in practice?** You prompt the agent to 'start my review session.' It then calls `get_daily_review`, which pulls all current spaced repetition cards, presenting them for immediate study. **What do I need to provide when running check_readwise_status?** You must supply a valid Readwise API Token. This token, found in your account settings, proves the connection and allows your agent to manage your data. Running this tool confirms if the server can talk to your personal library. **How do I find out what tags are available using list_tags?** The `list_tags` tool returns a complete inventory of every tag currently applied across your entire Readwise library. This lets you see the full scope of your knowledge structure before creating new annotations or reports. **If I need to back up my data, how does export_highlights handle large volumes?** It supports incremental exporting using an `updatedAfter` filter. This means you don't download everything every time; instead, the tool pulls only highlights that have been updated since a specific date, keeping your backup process fast and efficient. **What can I do with the Readwise connector?** You can list, search, create, update, and delete highlights, browse books by source or category, manage tags, access your daily spaced repetition review, and export all data incrementally for analysis or backup. **How does the daily review feature work?** The daily review tool retrieves highlights selected by Readwise's spaced repetition algorithm, helping your AI agent surface the most important passages at the optimal retention interval. **Can I filter books by where they came from?** Yes, you can filter by source (Kindle, Instapaper, Pocket, web, Apple Books) or by category (books, articles, tweets, podcasts) to quickly find the content you need.