alt.hn

8/24/2026 at 11:00:37 PM

Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage

 https://github.com/murerkinn/bookshelf

by arbayi

8/25/2026 at 3:48:15 AM

Client side end to end encryption is a must have for me when hosting anything nowadays. I am using Cryptomator for this specific reason. It takes away a lot of legal questions because I only need to curate the data to serve my own needs and do not have to curate it for state actors too.

I really wish client side end to end encryption would become more widespread in the developer community. It is not hard to implement anymore and takes away all the headaches of having to comply with certain regulations.

There are so many laws now that regulate copyright and hosting. An accidentally public S3 bucket full of ebooks could technically land you in jail in certain jurisdictions. Automatic shutdown notices. Providers themselves may also automatically scan stored material, and so on. There are so many reasons not to host your media library unencrypted on a third party server.

I recommend using this kind of tool only if you can prove that you are legally allowed to possess every ebook you upload in every jurisdiction you travel to or live in, as well as in the jurisdiction where the server is located.

RIP Aaron Swartz.

by bordercontrol

8/25/2026 at 12:08:53 AM

If it is helpful to other people here is how I manage my ebook library with flatfiles and heterogeneous devices (Android, macOS, iOS, Kindle, etc)

I have my own eBook library hosted with copyparty. It is a single binary. Runs on plain files. And speaks OPDS for integration with KOreader (Kindle) or Readest (iOS/macOS). https://github.com/9001/copyparty#opds-feeds

It also speaks webdav so I can quickly sync everything via rclone to an SD card on devices like an Android tablet.

I really like the convenience of flat files and multiple protocols.

by philips

8/25/2026 at 3:30:54 AM

Having built a tool in this space, I enjoy seeing all the Calibre alternatives that have been coming out in the last few years! It's fascinating to see the specific wants that people have.

Bookshelf, for example -- what possesses someone to make an ebook library that _only works on object storage_? Is this a weekend project, answering the question of "what would this look like"? Or was it something the author wanted for a long time?

by phildenhoff

8/25/2026 at 3:41:00 AM

About five hundred dependencies (give or take).

npm being npm.

by Insimwytim

8/25/2026 at 3:09:19 AM

Not to hijack but for non object storage use cases I’ve been using Grimmory[1] and like it. Opds, kobo api, kindle email and web reader cover pretty much every use case.

[1] https://github.com/grimmory-tools/grimmory

by davkan

8/25/2026 at 1:50:44 AM

I'm a fan of audiobookshelf. Don't let the name fool you, it does a lot! I use it for podcasts, audio books, & ebooks. It's great!

by BloodyIron

8/25/2026 at 2:07:40 AM

I absolutely love audiobookshelf for audiobooks. And I currently use it for my epubs, but it does not handle that particularly well. It doesn't save progress consistently and the UI for page flipping leaves a lot to be desired. Definitely going to check out how OP's library works

by rfarley04

8/25/2026 at 2:58:52 AM

I've been using Readest (https://web.readest.com/) but I'll definitely be checking this out.

by iamcoder18

8/25/2026 at 12:40:46 AM

For someone looking for a bit more than this, I recently got Bookorbit running and its quite powerful for being so young. https://bookorbit.app/

by robbiet480

8/25/2026 at 1:27:14 AM

Have you done calibre web or others? How does it compare?

by Vaslo

8/25/2026 at 1:30:55 AM

I haven't spent much time with calibre-web in a long time but can confidently say BookOrbit blows it out of the water in terms of functionality. I love that I can have one app that handles books and audiobooks. The ecosystem of apps that work with it is growing quick too, Apogee for iOS being a standout for me. They recently added readaloud support (like Amazon Whispersync or Storyteller) natively in the app, which I've never seen done before.

I have no relation to BookOrbit except I'm a very happy user.

by robbiet480

8/25/2026 at 3:52:18 AM

I don't think calibreweb is that old, are you thinking of the calibre webserver?

by wredcoll

8/25/2026 at 1:15:57 AM

Does Calibre support S3 these days as a storage backend?

by storywatch

8/25/2026 at 2:13:05 AM

No but you can use s3fs

(I have my Calibre library in iCloud Drive, but if I wasn't inside the Apple Ecosystem I'd use R2)

by jilles

8/25/2026 at 12:43:51 AM

Now if only I had a good self hosted object store option

by bakies

8/25/2026 at 1:49:04 AM

Ceph muahaha

by BloodyIron

8/25/2026 at 2:11:12 AM

VersityGW is very handy.

by zrail

8/25/2026 at 1:18:16 AM

RustFS

by mlnj