MCP Setup

Connect any MCP-compatible AI agent to the Open Scripture API in seconds. The MCP server is hosted at https://openscriptureapi.org/api/mcp — no installation or local process required.

Claude Code

Add the server to Claude Code using the CLI, or with a .mcp.json file in your project root.

claude mcp add --transport http open-scripture-api https://openscriptureapi.org/api/mcp

After adding the server, restart Claude Code. The 6 scripture tools will appear automatically.

Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file, then restart the app.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "open-scripture-api": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://openscriptureapi.org/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The config file is located at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Other AI Agents

Any MCP-compatible agent that supports the Streamable HTTP transport can connect using the server URL. Refer to your agent's documentation for how to register an MCP server, then use:

• Transport: streamableHttp
• URL: https://openscriptureapi.org/api/mcp

Available Tools

Once connected, the following tools are available to your agent:

• get_scripture — The most versatile tool. Fetch verse text for any combination of references in a single call — individual verses, verse ranges, whole chapters, multi-chapter spans, even across different books (e.g. "Alma 32:21-23; John 3:16; Mosiah 2-3; D&C 76:50-70, 92-96"). Use context_verses to also return surrounding verses for context (e.g. context_verses: 2 returns 2 verses before and after each result). This is the most efficient way to retrieve verse content — one call instead of many.
• get_chapter — Fetch a full chapter by book ID and chapter number. Returns all verses with optional summary and footnotes.
• search_scripture — Advanced search with rich query syntax: simple terms, "exact phrases", 'ordered proximity', wildcards (house*, gr?y), boolean OR (faith + belief), NOT (faith # doubt), and proximity search (faith & works ~5). Filter by volume or book. Set regex=true to pass raw regex. Use highlight=true for KWIC snippets, word_frequency=true for top co-occurring words, and context_verses for surrounding context.
• get_cross_references — Get cross-references for a specific verse by resolving its footnotes to actual scripture content. Returns the source verse text and all cross-referenced verses. Use context_verses for surrounding context.
• find_references_in_text — Scan free-form text (talks, articles, notes) for scripture references, then automatically fetch the actual verse content for each one found. Use context_verses to include surrounding context around each discovered reference.
• resolve_reference — Parse and validate a plain-text reference without fetching verse content. Returns the normalized reference string and a structured breakdown. Useful for validation before calling get_scripture.

Valid Identifiers

Volume IDs

There are 5 available volumes. Use these IDs anywhere a volume_id is required: oldtestament, newtestament, bookofmormon, doctrineandcovenants, pearlofgreatprice

Book ID Pattern

Book IDs are lowercase with no spaces or punctuation. Examples: genesis, psalms, matthew, revelation, 1nephi, 2nephi, mosiah, alma, helaman, 3nephi, moroni, doctrineandcovenants, moses, abraham.

Chapter ID Pattern

Chapter IDs follow the pattern {bookId}{chapterNumber}, where the chapter number is 1-indexed. Examples: genesis1, 1nephi1, alma32, doctrineandcovenants89, revelation22.