Readwise MCP Enhanced


A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that unifies Readwise Reader document management with full Readwise highlights functionality. Works with Claude Desktop, Continue, and any MCP-compatible AI tool. Built with TypeScript, featuring advanced text processing, smart content controls, and context-optimized responses.

🚀 What This Is

The first unified MCP that combines:
- Complete Readwise Reader API - Save, manage, and search documents
- Full Readwise Highlights API - Access all your highlights, books, and daily reviews
- AI-Powered Text Processing - Intelligent word segmentation and content extraction
- Context Optimization - 94% reduction in token usage while maintaining full functionality
- Smart Content Controls - Prevent context explosion with advanced filtering and pagination

Equivalent to the official Readwise MCP but more efficient and feature-complete. Compatible with all MCP clients.

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✨ Key Features

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- Smart Content Extraction: Pagination, keyword filtering, length limits
- AI-Powered Text Processing: Automatic word segmentation fixes merged words
- Performance Controls: Built-in warnings and guidance for expensive operations
- Flexible Filtering: By location, category, tags, dates, and custom criteria

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- Daily Reviews: Spaced repetition learning system
- Advanced Search: Field-specific queries with relevance scoring
- Book Management: Full metadata with highlight counts and filtering
- Export & Backup: Bulk highlight analysis and incremental sync
- Manual Creation: Add highlights with full metadata support

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- Context Optimized: 94% reduction in token usage (25,600 → 1,600 tokens)
- Dual API Architecture: Seamless v2 (highlights) + v3 (Reader) integration
- Unlimited Results: No artificial limits, just efficient data per item
- MCP Protocol Compliant: Proper logging, error handling, and rate limiting

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🛠️ Installation

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No installation needed! Any MCP client will automatically download and run the package using npx.

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``bash
npm install -g readwise-mcp-enhanced
`

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`bash
git clone https://github.com/arnaldo-delisio/readwise-mcp-enhanced.git
cd readwise-mcp-enhanced
npm install
npm run build
`

🔧 Configuration

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1. Get your Readwise token: https://readwise.io/access_token

2. Add to your MCP client configuration:

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

Continue IDE Extension:
- Add to your Continue configuration file

Other MCP Tools:
- Follow your tool's MCP server configuration instructions

#### Option A - Using npx (Recommended):
`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"readwise-mcp-enhanced": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["readwise-mcp-enhanced"],
"env": {
"READWISE_TOKEN": "your_readwise_access_token_here"
}
}
}
}
`

#### Option B - If installed globally via npm:
`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"readwise-mcp-enhanced": {
"command": "readwise-mcp-enhanced",
"env": {
"READWISE_TOKEN": "your_readwise_access_token_here"
}
}
}
}
`

#### Option C - If installed from source:
`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"readwise-mcp-enhanced": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/readwise-mcp-enhanced/dist/index.js"],
"env": {
"READWISE_TOKEN": "your_readwise_access_token_here"
}
}
}
}
`

3. Restart your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Continue, etc.)

---

📖 Available Tools (13 Total)

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#### readwise_save_document
Save documents with full metadata control.
`json
{
"url": "https://example.com/article",
"tags": ["ai", "productivity"],
"location": "later",
"category": "article"
}
`

#### readwise_list_documents
⭐ Enhanced with Smart Content Controls
`json
{
"withFullContent": true,
"contentMaxLength": 10000,
"contentStartOffset": 0,
"contentFilterKeywords": ["AI", "machine learning"],
"limit": 10
}
`

Smart Content Parameters:
- contentMaxLength: Limit content per document (default: 50,000 chars)
- contentStartOffset: Start extraction from specific position (pagination)
- contentFilterKeywords: Extract only sections containing keywords
- Performance warnings for expensive operations

#### readwise_update_document
Update document metadata (title, author, summary, location, etc.)

#### readwise_delete_document
Remove documents from your Reader library

#### readwise_list_tags
Get all your document tags

#### readwise_topic_search
⭐ Enhanced with AI-powered text processing
- Regex-based search across title, summary, notes, tags
- Automatic word segmentation for better matching
- Distributed keyword finding throughout content

---

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#### readwise_list_highlights
List highlights with advanced filtering:
`json
{
"book_id": 12345,
"highlighted_at__gt": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"page_size": 100
}
`

#### readwise_get_daily_review
Get your spaced repetition highlights:
`json
{
"review_id": 168844911,
"highlights": [
{
"text": "Strategic wisdom quote...",
"title": "The Art of War",
"author": "Sun Tzu"
}
]
}
`

#### readwise_search_highlights
⭐ Advanced search with field-specific queries:
`json
{
"textQuery": "strategy tactics",
"fieldQueries": [
{
"field": "document_title",
"searchTerm": "Art of War"
}
],
"limit": 20
}
`

#### readwise_list_books
Get books with highlight metadata:
`json
{
"category": "books",
"last_highlight_at__gt": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"
}
`

#### readwise_get_book_highlights
Get all highlights from a specific book:
`json
{
"bookId": 53827741
}
`

#### readwise_export_highlights
Bulk export for analysis and backup:
`json
{
"updatedAfter": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"includeDeleted": false
}
`

#### readwise_create_highlight
Manually add highlights with metadata:
`json
{
"highlights": [
{
"text": "Important insight...",
"title": "Book Title",
"author": "Author Name",
"note": "My thoughts on this",
"category": "books"
}
]
}
`

---

🎯 Context Optimization

94% Token Reduction while maintaining full functionality:

| Tool | Before | After | Savings |
|------|--------|-------|---------|
| List Highlights (32 items) | ~25,600 tokens | ~1,600 tokens | 94% |
| Daily Review (5 items) | ~5,000 tokens | ~400 tokens | 92% |
| List Books (10 items) | ~8,000 tokens | ~600 tokens | 93% |

Optimized Fields:
- Highlights: id, text, note, book_id only
- Books: id, title, author, category, num_highlights only
- Search: text, book, author, score only

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🧠 AI-Powered Features

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Automatically fixes common text extraction issues:
- whatyou → what you
- fromdissatisfaction → from dissatisfaction
- timeago → time ago

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- Sentence-based chunking for YouTube transcripts
- Distributed keyword filtering throughout content
- Context-aware text extraction with proper spacing

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- Multi-field search with relevance scoring
- Export-based comprehensive search equivalent to official MCP
- Field-specific filtering (title, author, text, notes, tags)

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📊 Technical Architecture

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`typescript
// Seamless API switching
v2 API: Highlights, books, daily review, export
v3 API: Reader documents, tags, search
`

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- Unlimited results with minimal data per item
- LLM-optimized responses for efficient parsing
- Structured JSON maintains full reasoning capabilities

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- ES Module standard with proper TypeScript definitions
- MCP protocol compliant logging and error handling
- Comprehensive rate limiting and graceful fallbacks

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⚙️ API Coverage

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- ✅ Documents: Save, list, update, delete
- ✅ Tags: List and filter
- ✅ Content: Smart extraction with controls
- ✅ Search: Enhanced topic search

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- ✅ Highlights: List, create, search, export
- ✅ Books: List with metadata and filtering
- ✅ Daily Review: Spaced repetition system
- ✅ Advanced Search: Field-specific queries

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🔐 Authentication & Security

- Single Token: One Readwise token for both APIs
- Environment Variable: Secure token storage via READWISE_TOKEN
- No Token Exposure: Never exposed through MCP clients or tools interface

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📈 Rate Limits

- Reader API: 20 requests/minute (default), 50/minute (CREATE/UPDATE)
- Highlights API: Standard Readwise limits with automatic retry-after handling
- Smart Handling: 429 responses include "Retry-After" header processing

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🚀 Usage Examples

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`typescript
// Paginate through large document
readwise_list_documents({
withFullContent: true,
contentMaxLength: 5000,
contentStartOffset: 0,
contentFilterKeywords: ["machine learning", "AI"]
})
`

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`typescript
// Search across documents and highlights
readwise_search_highlights({
textQuery: "productivity habits",
fieldQueries: [
{ field: "document_author", searchTerm: "James Clear" }
],
limit: 10
})
`

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`typescript
// Get daily review for spaced repetition
readwise_get_daily_review()

// Search related highlights for deeper study
readwise_search_highlights({
textQuery: "from daily review topics",
limit: 20
})
`

---

📦 Dependencies

`json
{
"@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.0.0",
"dotenv": "^16.3.0",
"node-html-parser": "^7.0.1",
"wordsninja": "^1.0.0"
}
`

Key Addition: wordsninja` for AI-powered word segmentation

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🔄 Migration from Basic Reader MCP

This unified MCP is fully backward compatible. All existing Reader tools work unchanged while adding 7 new highlights tools.

No breaking changes - just enhanced functionality and better performance.

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🌟 Why This MCP?

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- ✅ More context efficient (94% reduction)
- ✅ Unified interface (Reader + Highlights)
- ✅ Smart content controls (pagination, filtering)
- ✅ AI-powered text processing
- ✅ Unlimited results with minimal verbosity

$3

- ✅ Complete highlights ecosystem (7 new tools)
- ✅ Advanced search capabilities
- ✅ Production-ready performance
- ✅ Context optimization

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📄 License

MIT

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🙏 Acknowledgments

Built upon the foundation of edricgan/Readwise-Reader-MCP with significant enhancements:

- Enhanced Reader functionality with smart content controls
- Complete highlights integration equivalent to official MCP
- AI-powered text processing with word segmentation
- Context optimization for production efficiency
- Unified architecture combining dual APIs seamlessly

This represents a complete evolution from basic document management to a comprehensive, production-ready Readwise platform. 🚀