Google Books

Robinson uses the Google Books API as one of it’s source for book metadata. Retrieving data such as titles, authors, descriptions, total page number, and cover images. While some requests can be made without an API key, using a key is recommended for adding large numbers of books.

Prerequisites

  • A Google account
  • Access to Google Cloud Console

Step 1: Create or Select a Google Cloud Project

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
  2. Sign in with your Google account.
  3. Create a new project or select an existing project from the project selector.

Step 2: Enable the Books API

  1. In the Cloud Console, open APIs & Services → Library.
  2. Search for Books API.
  3. Select Books API from the results.
  4. Click Enable.

Step 3: Create an API Key

  1. Navigate to APIs & Services → Credentials.
  2. Click Create Credentials.
  3. Select API Key.
  4. Give your key a memorable name.
  5. Under Select API Restrictions, select Books API
  6. Google will generate a new API key.
  7. Copy the key and add it to the environment variable GOOGLE_BOOKS_API_KEY
  8. Restart your application stack.

Step 4: Restrict the API Key (Optional, but suggested)

To improve securityif you’re exposing robinson on the internet through a reverse proxy

  1. Open the newly created API key.
  2. Under Application restrictions, choose a website restriction, add your instance address here.
  3. Save your changes.

Additional Resources