BookLore is a self-hosted app that brings your entire book collection under one roof.
Organize, read, annotate, sync across devices, and share, all without relying on third-party services.
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## ✨ Features
| | Feature | Description |
|:---:|:---|:---|
| 📚 | **Smart Shelves** | Custom and dynamic shelves that organize themselves with rule-based Magic Shelves, filters, and full-text search |
| 🔍 | **Automatic Metadata** | Covers, descriptions, reviews, and ratings pulled from Google Books, Open Library, and Amazon, all editable |
| 📖 | **Built-in Reader** | Open PDFs, EPUBs, and comics right in the browser with annotations, highlights, and reading progress |
| 🔄 | **Device Sync** | Connect your Kobo, use any OPDS-compatible app, or sync progress with KOReader. Your library follows you everywhere |
| 👥 | **Multi-User Ready** | Individual shelves, progress, and preferences per user with local or OIDC authentication |
| 📥 | **BookDrop** | Drop files into a watched folder and BookLore detects, enriches, and queues them for import automatically |
| 📧 | **One-Click Sharing** | Send any book to a Kindle, an email address, or a friend instantly |
---
## 🚀 Quick Start
All you need is [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) and [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/).
📦 Image Repositories
| Registry | Image |
|----------|------------------------------------|
| GitHub Container Registry | `ghcr.io/booklore-app/booklore` |
### Step 1: Environment Configuration
Create a `.env` file:
```ini
# Application
APP_USER_ID=1000
APP_GROUP_ID=1000
TZ=Etc/UTC
# Database
DATABASE_URL=jdbc:mariadb://mariadb:3306/booklore
DB_USER=booklore
DB_PASSWORD=ChangeMe_BookLoreApp_2025!
# Storage: LOCAL (default) or NETWORK (disables file operations, see Network Storage section below)
DISK_TYPE=LOCAL
# MariaDB
DB_USER_ID=1000
DB_GROUP_ID=1000
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=ChangeMe_MariaDBRoot_2025!
MYSQL_DATABASE=booklore
```
### Step 2: Docker Compose
Create a `docker-compose.yml`:
```yaml
services:
booklore:
image: ghcr.io/booklore-app/booklore:latest
container_name: booklore
environment:
- USER_ID=${APP_USER_ID}
- GROUP_ID=${APP_GROUP_ID}
- TZ=${TZ}
- DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
- DATABASE_USERNAME=${DB_USER}
- DATABASE_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
- DISK_TYPE=${DISK_TYPE}
depends_on:
mariadb:
condition: service_healthy
ports:
- "6060:6060"
volumes:
- ./data:/app/data
- ./books:/books
- ./bookdrop:/bookdrop
healthcheck:
test: wget -q -O - http://localhost:6060/api/v1/healthcheck
interval: 60s
retries: 5
start_period: 60s
timeout: 10s
restart: unless-stopped
mariadb:
image: lscr.io/linuxserver/mariadb:11.4.5
container_name: mariadb
environment:
- PUID=${DB_USER_ID}
- PGID=${DB_GROUP_ID}
- TZ=${TZ}
- MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
- MYSQL_DATABASE=${MYSQL_DATABASE}
- MYSQL_USER=${DB_USER}
- MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
volumes:
- ./mariadb/config:/config
restart: unless-stopped
healthcheck:
test: [ "CMD", "mariadb-admin", "ping", "-h", "localhost" ]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 10
```
### Step 3: Launch
```bash
docker compose up -d
```
Open **http://localhost:6060**, create your admin account, and start building your library.
---
## ⚠️ Network Storage (NAS / NFS / SMB / CIFS)
> [!CAUTION]
> BookLore's file operations (metadata writing, file renaming, file organization) are built for **local file systems only**. Network-attached storage (NAS, NFS, SMB/CIFS mounts, cloud-backed FUSE, etc.) is **unsupported and untested**. Mount options, network latency, caching, and filesystem semantics are all outside BookLore's control and can cause silent file corruption, incomplete writes, missing files, and other unpredictable behavior. **Issues related to network storage will be closed without investigation.**
If your book files live on network storage, set `DISK_TYPE=NETWORK` in your `.env` file. This puts BookLore into **network storage mode**, which disables all file write and reorganization features. Metadata is stored in the database only and your files are never modified. This is the only supported configuration for network storage.
---
## 📥 BookDrop: Zero-Effort Import
Drop book files into a folder. BookLore picks them up, pulls metadata, and queues everything for your review.
```mermaid
graph LR
A[📁 Drop Files] --> B[🔍 Auto-Detect]
B --> C[📊 Extract Metadata]
C --> D[✅ Review & Import]
```
| Step | What Happens |
|:---|:---|
| 1. **Watch** | BookLore monitors the BookDrop folder around the clock |
| 2. **Detect** | New files are picked up and parsed automatically |
| 3. **Enrich** | Metadata is fetched from Google Books and Open Library |
| 4. **Import** | You review, tweak if needed, and add to your library |
Mount the volume in `docker-compose.yml`:
```yaml
volumes:
- ./bookdrop:/bookdrop
```
---
## 💜 Support BookLore
BookLore is free, open source, and built with care. Here's how you can give back:
| Action | How |
|:---|:---|
| ⭐ **Star this repo** | It's the simplest way to help others find BookLore |
| 💰 **Sponsor development** | [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/booklore) funds hosting, testing, and new features |
| 📢 **Tell someone** | Share BookLore with a friend, a subreddit, or your local book club |
---
## 🌍 Translations
BookLore is used by readers around the world. Help make it accessible in your language on [Weblate](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/booklore/).
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## 🌟 Sponsors & Partners
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## ⚖️ License
**GNU Affero General Public License v3.0**
Copyright 2024–2026 BookLore
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html)