OpenStax Scraper

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Scrape free, peer-reviewed textbooks from OpenStax — a nonprofit initiative by Rice University providing high-quality, openly licensed textbooks across science, math, business, humanities, and more.

What This Scraper Does

• Browse all 100+ OpenStax textbooks, optionally filtered by subject
• Get detailed metadata for specific books by slug or URL
• Search books by keyword across titles and descriptions
• Extract ISBN numbers, PDF links, cover images, author information, and resource links

Output Fields

Input Options

Mode: browseBooks (default)

Browse all published OpenStax books, optionally filtered by subject.

{
"mode":"browseBooks",
"subject":"science",
"maxItems":50
}

Mode: bookDetails

Fetch details for specific books by slug or URL.

{
"mode":"bookDetails",
"bookSlugs":[
"university-physics-volume-1",
"https://openstax.org/details/books/college-algebra"
]
}

Mode: searchBooks

Search books by keyword.

{
"mode":"searchBooks",
"searchQuery":"calculus",
"maxItems":20
}

Subject Filters

Available subjects: Math, Science, Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, Computer Science, College Success, High School

Use Cases

• Education research: Catalog all free textbooks by subject
• Library integrations: Build digital library catalogs with open textbook metadata
• Academic tools: Find textbooks for curriculum planning
• EdTech applications: Integrate free textbook data into learning platforms

FAQ

Q: Does this require authentication? A: No. OpenStax provides a public API — no credentials needed.

Q: How many books are available? A: OpenStax publishes 100+ textbooks across all subjects.

Q: Are the PDF links publicly accessible? A: Yes. OpenStax PDFs are freely downloadable with no login required.

Q: How often is data updated? A: Books are updated regularly. Run the scraper periodically to catch new editions.