internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary

Bot write-access request: ReadersTroveBot (API usergroup + write access)

Open
#13,614 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Affects: Data Module: Import Needs: Staff / Internal Needs: Staff Decision Needs: Triage Theme: Bots Theme: Public APIs
Dominant language
Python
Stars
6.7k
Forks
2k
Avg merge
2d 19h
Merged PRs (30d)
138

Description

The specific ask

We are authenticated and posting to /api/import with a valid session, and
receiving 403. Per the Writing-Bots guide, we are requesting:

1. Bot privileges for the account below
2. Addition to the **API usergroup** so /api/import accepts our posts

Who we are

Readers Trove (https://readerstrove.com) is a free book discovery web app that
helps readers find their next book and see where to get it, with library
availability (Libby, and free downloads where they exist) shown before store
links. We catalog books via OpenLibrary work keys and link every book page
back to its OL record.

What the bot does

A nightly job (capped at 5 records per night) creates MINIMAL OL records for
newly released books that remain unresolvable 7+ days after publication -
after our dedupe search against existing OL records fails and after the
natural ONIX/publisher feed window has passed. Records contain facts only:
title, author, publisher, ISBN, publication date, tagged
source_records: readerstrove:giveback. We never add descriptions,
covers, or subjective content (publisher-copyrighted material stays out).

Account

- Bot account: ReadersTroveBot
- Contact: support@readerstrove.com (listed on the account profile)
- Identified user agent on all writes
- Serial (never parallel) requests, well under any rate concern at 5/night

The ask

Plain OL accounts can already edit; we are filing this request as a courtesy
per the bot guidelines so the account is documented as a bot and, if the
maintainers see fit, considered for any future programmatic write privileges.
Happy to adjust scope, rate, or fields on request.

Thank you!

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the Writing-Bots guide and the /api/import authorization requirements described in the issue. Review how bot accounts and the API usergroup are currently handled, then confirm whether ReadersTroveBot should receive the requested privileges and document the maintainers' decision.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api, authorization
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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