The Old Ways Library MCP
A public, read-only MCP server that allows AI assistants to search The Old Ways library for historical texts, mythology references, deity profiles, and glossary entries across Norse, Hellenic, Kemetic, Celtic, and Zoroastrian traditions, retrieving cited passages with canonical URLs.
Endpoint and access
No sign-in to connect and list tools. Individual tools may still need a vendor account, credentials, or permissions; check the documented prerequisites.
https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcpWhat you can do with it
- Search the library for historical texts and book pages
- Retrieve a section of an indexed page with its canonical citation URL
- List available books, traditions, and search index build dates
Source and maintenance
Protocol and capabilities
- Server
- oldways-library 1.0.0
- MCP protocol
- 2025-06-18
- Tools
- 3 advertised
- Resources
- 2 advertised
- Resource templates
- 0 advertised
- Prompts
- Not advertised
{
"tools": {
"listChanged": true
},
"resources": {
"listChanged": true
}
}Tools
3 advertised
search_library — Search The Old Ways public library
Search the Old Ways historical-text and mythology reference collection: Norse, Greek/Hellenic, Egyptian/Kemetic, Celtic and Zoroastrian writings, glossary, deity profiles and explanatory questions. Returns canonical citation URLs and short previews from a prebuilt lexical index. Not web search or verification of historical claims. Use read_page to examine the passage and recorded edition details. Known malformed and noindex pages are excluded.
{
"type": "object",
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"required": [
"query"
],
"properties": {
"kind": {
"enum": [
"chapter",
"book",
"glossary",
"questions",
"reference"
],
"type": "string"
},
"limit": {
"type": "integer",
"default": 5,
"maximum": 8,
"minimum": 1
},
"query": {
"type": "string",
"maxLength": 200,
"minLength": 1
},
"tradition": {
"enum": [
"norse",
"hellenic",
"kemetic",
"celtic",
"zoroastrian"
],
"type": "string"
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
}{
"readOnlyHint": true,
"openWorldHint": false,
"idempotentHint": true,
"destructiveHint": false
}read_page — Read a cited Old Ways page or passage
Read a bounded text excerpt from an indexed public theoldways.co page. Supply a canonical URL or path returned by search_library. Returns a citation URL, edition/source note, text and nextOffset for continuation. Never accesses arbitrary websites, private accounts or the live app. Imported historical editions can contain transcription errors; editorial summaries are not passage-level source verification.
{
"type": "object",
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"required": [
"url"
],
"properties": {
"url": {
"type": "string",
"maxLength": 500,
"minLength": 1
},
"length": {
"type": "integer",
"default": 4000,
"maximum": 8000,
"minimum": 1
},
"offset": {
"type": "integer",
"default": 0,
"maximum": 2000000,
"minimum": 0
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
}{
"readOnlyHint": true,
"openWorldHint": false,
"idempotentHint": true,
"destructiveHint": false
}list_collections — List Old Ways books and supported collections
List available book landing pages, traditions, content types, index-build timestamp and the source policy before exploring The Old Ways. Index-build time is not the publication date of a historical text.
{
"type": "object",
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"properties": {},
"additionalProperties": false
}{
"readOnlyHint": true,
"openWorldHint": false,
"idempotentHint": true,
"destructiveHint": false
}Prompts
Not advertised
Resources
2 advertised
source-policy — Old Ways source and editorial policy
oldways://source-policyreading-guide — Old Ways first-reading guide
oldways://reading-guide30-day availability
Aggregated from read-only remote checks; this is not a tool-execution or security guarantee.
- Successful checks
- 1 of 1 (100%)
- Average latency
- 320 ms
- 95th percentile latency
- 320 ms
Maintenance history
Public check and source-refresh events. Editorial and ownership records remain private.
- · probe · passed · 320 ms · metadata changed · 3 tool(s), 2 resource(s), 0 resource template(s)
Connect from your client
Each snippet registers the same endpoint; pick the client you use.
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http the-old-ways-library-mcp https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcpCodex
codex mcp add the-old-ways-library-mcp --url https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcpCursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"the-old-ways-library-mcp": {
"url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
}
}
}Cline
{
"mcpServers": {
"the-old-ways-library-mcp": {
"type": "streamableHttp",
"url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp",
"disabled": false
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"the-old-ways-library-mcp": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
}
}
}Gemini CLI
gemini mcp add --transport http the-old-ways-library-mcp https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcpClaude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"the-old-ways-library-mcp": {
"url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
}
}
}Windsurf
{
"mcpServers": {
"the-old-ways-library-mcp": {
"serverUrl": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
}
}
}Let your agent find its tools
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Other documentation and reference servers
Do you run The Old Ways Library MCP?
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