Google Books integration

Overview

Google Books tool provides access to book volumes and user bookshelves. Volume operations: get a volume by ID, search volumes by query. Bookshelf operations: get a public bookshelf by ID, list all public bookshelves for a user. Bookshelf Volume operations: add a volume to a shelf, clear all volumes from a shelf, list volumes on a shelf, move a volume to a position within a shelf, remove a volume from a shelf. Authenticated operations (add, clear, move, remove) use the authenticated user’s My Library and require OAuth2 with write scope. Read operations for other users’ public shelves only require a userId.

Node Type

Action — processes input items and produces output

Input / Output

Direction	Port(s)
Input	Input
Output	Output, Error

Credentials

This tool requires Google Books OAuth2 credentials. See the Credentials Guide for setup instructions.

Resources

Resource	Value
Bookshelf	bookshelf
Bookshelf Volume	bookshelfVolume
Volume	volume

Operations

Resource	Operation	Value	Description
Volume	Get	get	Retrieve a specific book volume by its ID.
Volume	Get All	getAll	Search for book volumes matching a query string.
Bookshelf	Get	get	Retrieve a specific bookshelf by ID for a given user.
Bookshelf	Get All	getAll	List all public bookshelves belonging to a given user.
Bookshelf Volume	Add	add	Add a volume to the authenticated user’s bookshelf.
Bookshelf Volume	Clear	clear	Remove all volumes from the authenticated user’s bookshelf.
Bookshelf Volume	Get All	getAll	List all volumes in a public bookshelf for a user.
Bookshelf Volume	Move	move	Move a volume to a specific position within the authenticated user’s bookshelf.
Bookshelf Volume	Remove	remove	Remove a specific volume from the authenticated user’s bookshelf.

Parameters

Volume: Get (get)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Volume ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the volume to retrieve. Supports expressions like {{ $json.volumeId }}.

Volume: Get All (getAll)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Search Query	string	Yes	—	The search query string (e.g. “flowers+inauthor:keyes”). Supports Google Books query syntax. Supports expressions.
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or limit to a maximum number.
Limit	number	No	10	Maximum number of results to return. Between 1 and 40. (shown when Return All is false)

Bookshelf: Get (get)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to retrieve.
User ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the user whose bookshelves to access.

Bookshelf: Get All (getAll)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
User ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the user whose bookshelves to access.

Bookshelf Volume: Add (add)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Volume ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the volume to add, move, or remove. Supports expressions.
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to operate on.

Bookshelf Volume: Clear (clear)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to operate on.

Bookshelf Volume: Get All (getAll)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to operate on.
User ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the user whose bookshelf volumes to list.
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or limit to a maximum number.
Limit	number	No	10	Maximum number of results to return. Between 1 and 40. (shown when Return All is false)

Bookshelf Volume: Move (move)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Volume ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the volume to add, move, or remove. Supports expressions.
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to operate on.
Volume Position	number	Yes	0	The zero-based position to move the volume to within the bookshelf.

Bookshelf Volume: Remove (remove)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Volume ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the volume to add, move, or remove. Supports expressions.
Shelf ID	string	Yes	—	The ID of the bookshelf to operate on.

All Operations

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Authentication	options	No	oAuth2	Authentication method to use.
				Options: oAuth2 (OAuth2, recommended), serviceAccount (Service Account)
Google Account	credential	No	—	Connect or select your Google account. (shown when Authentication is oAuth2)
Service Account Email	string	Yes	—	The email address of the Google service account, for example my-service-account@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com. (shown when Authentication is serviceAccount)
Private Key	string	Yes	—	The private key from the service account JSON key file. Paste the full PEM block, including the BEGIN and END lines. (shown when Authentication is serviceAccount)
Max Concurrency	number	No	5	Maximum number of items to process concurrently. Between 1 and 20.

Output Data

The API response is merged into the item JSON, so the incoming fields pass through except where a response field uses the same name. Binary data on the input item is not carried to the output.

How many output items an input item produces depends on the operation:

Operation	Output
Volume get	One item carrying the volume record.
Volume getAll	Fans out — one item per matching volume. A search with no matches still emits one item, carrying the input JSON unchanged.
Bookshelf get	One item carrying the bookshelf record.
Bookshelf getAll	Fans out — one item per bookshelf. An empty shelf list still emits one item, carrying the input JSON unchanged.
Bookshelf Volume getAll	Fans out — one item per volume on the shelf. An empty shelf still emits one item, carrying the input JSON unchanged.
Bookshelf Volume add, clear, move, remove	One item carrying success: true. The Google Books API returns no body for these calls, so there is nothing else to report.

Because the fan-out operations already emit one item per record, you do not need a Split Out node after them. Reference a returned field downstream by expression, e.g. {{ $json.volumeInfo.title }}.

Example Configuration

Search the catalogue and return the first 10 matches, one item each:

{
  "type": "google_books",
  "parameters": {
    "authentication": "oAuth2",
    "resource": "volume",
    "operation": "getAll",
    "searchQuery": "{{ $json.query }}",
    "returnAll": false,
    "limit": 10
  }
}

Look up one volume by ID:

{
  "type": "google_books",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "volume",
    "operation": "get",
    "volumeId": "{{ $json.id }}"
  }
}

List a user’s public bookshelves:

{
  "type": "google_books",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "bookshelf",
    "operation": "getAll",
    "userId": "117435690842326208722"
  }
}

Add a volume to a shelf in your own library:

{
  "type": "google_books",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "bookshelfVolume",
    "operation": "add",
    "shelfId": "1001",
    "volumeId": "{{ $json.id }}"
  }
}

Error Handling

Mode	Behavior
stop	Halts workflow on first error
continue	Skips failed items, passes successful ones through
errorPort	Routes failed items to Error output port

Tips

This tool searches for book volumes and manages bookshelves using the Google Books service. It is the right tool when you need to find books by ID or query, or to interact with a user’s public bookshelves or the authenticated user’s private bookshelves. It produces book volume information, lists of bookshelves, and modified bookshelves.