Thank you, Ashwin. That is indeed a good usage scenario for searching
Project Gutenberg.
To clarify, this scenario is already possible for human users by limiting
your Google search like so: "site:gutenberg.org tomorrow creeps in this
petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time".
The tool I've announced above (Gutensearch) allows one to run multiple such
queries via machine-to-machine communication ("API") without running into
Google blocking.
Cheers,
A.
On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 7:17 PM Ashwin Baindur <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I don't know much about the technology, but thanks a lot for this Asaf. It
> will be really helpful to locate specific quotes where the name of the text
> is not remembered, besides many other uses. Warm regards, Ashwin
>
> On Tue, 16 Dec 2025 at 02:31, Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Dear Wikimedians,
>>
>> I have recently discovered that the venerable digital library Project
>> Gutenberg does not offer a sitewide full-text search. While it is possible
>> to search it using a site-limited search in a search engine (e.g. "site:
>> gutenberg.org <search string>" in most search engines), it is not
>> possible to do so regularly and programmatically (the search engines charge
>> money for API access).
>>
>> I have therefore created the Gutensearch API service
>> <https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/>.[1] It is simply a RESTful search
>> API searching ALL the texts in Project Gutenberg (I will be updating the
>> database with new texts every few months), returning results in JSON. The API
>> documentation is linked from the homepage
>> <https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/docs/api>[2], as is the link for
>> requesting
>> a free API key <https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/api_key_requests/new>[3].
>> (API keys are implemented to control abuse.)
>>
>> If this is something that would be useful to one of your tools or
>> applications, feel free to request a key. Be sure to specify the intended
>> use, both for inspiration and to help identify your request as not spammy.
>>
>> If you know of people outside Wikimedia who might find this handy, feel
>> free to forward this message onwards.
>>
>> Feedback welcome!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Asaf
>> (volunteer capacity)
>>
>> [1] https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/
>> [2] https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/docs/api
>> [3] https://gutensearch.toolforge.org/api_key_requests/new
>> --
>> Asaf Bartov <[email protected]>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> Warm regards,
>
> Ashwin Baindur
> _______________________________________________
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> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
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--
Asaf Bartov <[email protected]>
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