Calibre Library Web Server

A full‑featured, self‑hosted web server for your Calibre ebook collection.
Browse, search, filter, read, and download your books from any device with a modern browser.

✨ Features

• Multi‑select filters – Authors, Series, Tags, Formats (AND logic)
• Powerful search – across title, author, series, tags
• In‑browser reading of EPUB, PDF, TXT, CBZ/CBR, MOBI (with theme support)
• Reading progress – resumes where you left off (localStorage)
• Dark / Light / Sepia / Nord / Cyberpunk … – 8 themes + custom colours
• Adjustable filter panel height – drag to resize
• Download individual books or ZIP collections of filtered results
• Responsive grid – works on desktop, tablet, and phone
• Settings persist – your colour choices and panel size are saved
• Continue reading button on book modal if progress exists

📦 Dependencies

Python packages (required)

Package	Purpose
Flask	Web framework
waitress	Production WSGI server
rarfile	In‑browser reading of CBR files
mobi	In‑browser reading of MOBI files

Frontend libraries (loaded from CDN)

• JSZip – for CBR/CBZ image extraction
• Epub.js – EPUB reader engine

🚀 Installation

1. Clone or download this script (save as calibre-server.py).

2. Install Python dependencies (preferably in a virtual environment):

   pip install flask waitress
   # optional:
   pip install rarfile mobi

3. Run the server – point it to your Calibre library folder:

   python calibre-server.py --library /path/to/calibre/library

4. Open your browser at http://localhost:5000

🖥️ Usage

Command‑line arguments

Argument	Default	Description
--library	./	Path to your Calibre library (contains metadata.db)
--port	5000	Port to listen on
--host	0.0.0.0	Host IP (use 127.0.0.1 for local only)
--browser	False	Automatically open a browser tab on start

Examples:

# Serve library at /media/books on port 8080, open browser
python calibre-server.py --library /media/books --port 8080 --browser

# Local only, no automatic browser
python calibre-server.py --library ~/Calibre\ Library --host 127.0.0.1

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Escape	Close modal or reader overlay

🧰 How it works

• Reads the Calibre metadata.db SQLite database.
• Serves book covers, downloads, and reading streams via Flask routes.
• The frontend is a single HTML/CSS/JS template with all filtering and reading logic.
• EPUB reading uses epub.js with a scrolled‑document layout (falls back to paginated if needed).
• CBZ and CBR files are unpacked client‑side (CBR is converted to ZIP on the server).
• MOBI files are converted to HTML on the server (images inlined, theme injected by client).
• TXT files are displayed as plain text with adjustable font size and saved scroll position.

🗂️ Supported formats

Format	Download	Read in browser	Notes
EPUB	✅	✅	Full reader with TOC & progress
PDF	✅	✅	Embedded PDF viewer
TXT	✅	✅	Adjustable font, remembers scroll
CBZ	✅	✅	Lazy‑loaded images, remembers scroll
CBR	✅	✅	Requires rarfile (auto‑converted)
MOBI	✅	✅	Requires mobi (converted to HTML)
AZW	✅	❌	Download only
AZW3	✅	❌	Download only
LIT	✅	❌	Download only
DJVU	✅	❌	Download only

⚙️ Customisation

• Themes & colours – click the ⚙️ icon in the header.
  Presets: Dark, Light, Sepia, Nord, Solarized, Cyberpunk, Xterm, Rainbow.
  You can also pick custom background, card, accent, and text colours.

• Filter panel height – drag the ⋮⋮⋮ bar at the bottom of the filter section.

• Auto‑save settings – enabled by default; all preferences are stored in localStorage.

📝 Notes

• The server does not require a separate database – it reads your existing Calibre library directly.
• All reading progress is stored in your browser’s localStorage (no server‑side tracking).
• Large libraries are cached on the client after the first /api/books call – filtering is instant.
• For CBR support, unrar must be installed on the system (the rarfile Python package calls it).
• MOBI conversion is experimental – some complex MOBI files may not render perfectly.

🛡️ License

This project is provided under the MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute it.

🙏 Acknowledgements

• Calibre – the amazing ebook management tool.
• Epub.js – HTML5 EPUB reader.
• JSZip – client‑side ZIP handling.
• Flask – micro web framework.

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Enjoy your personal Calibre cloud!
If you encounter any issues, please check that your library path is correct and that metadata.db exists.