Libris

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OPDS Catalog ​

Libris includes a built-in OPDS catalog server. Any OPDS-compatible e-reader can browse the library and download books directly over HTTP, without going through the web UI.

The catalog is served from <host>/opds. Access uses HTTP Basic authentication with the realm libris-opds. Clients that support OPDS send the credentials automatically on every browse and download request.

Supported Readers ​

Any reader that speaks OPDS can connect, including:

  • KOReader — open-source reader for Kindle, Kobo, Android, and more.
  • Calibre — desktop library manager with OPDS browsing.
  • Marvin — iOS reading app.
  • Thorium — desktop reader (Windows, macOS, Linux).
  • Foliate — Linux reader.

Other OPDS clients work the same way: point them at the catalog URL and supply your OPDS credentials.

Connecting a Reader ​

  1. Go to Settings > Connections in the Libris web UI.
  2. In the OPDS Catalog section, note the catalog URL (<host>/opds).
  3. Set a username and password for OPDS access. These credentials are stored per user (hashed with bcrypt) and are independent of your web session.
  4. In your reader, add a new OPDS catalog and enter the URL and the username and password you set.

Each user has their own OPDS credentials. The credentials are the only per-user part of OPDS — see The catalog is shared below.

What You Can Browse ​

The root catalog (<host>/opds) is a navigation feed with these entries:

  • New Arrivals (/opds/new) — recently added books.
  • All Books (/opds/books) — a paginated feed of every organized book, sorted alphabetically by title.
  • Genres (/opds/genres) — books grouped by genre.
  • Series (/opds/series) — books grouped by series.
  • Languages (/opds/languages) — books grouped by language. Only the languages actually present in the library are listed, rendered as full names from their ISO 639-1 codes.
  • Search — full-text search exposed as an OpenSearch descriptor (/opds/search), so readers that support search can query the catalog from within the app.

There is no top-level "by author" feed. A per-author acquisition feed exists at /opds/authors/{slug}, where {slug} is a URL-friendly form of the author name. Author names appear on each book entry; reaching an author feed depends on the reader following that path.

Downloading Books ​

Books are downloaded directly from the catalog. Only EPUB is a recognized download format — it is the only format mapped to an OPDS acquisition link (application/epub+zip). The same credentials used for browsing apply to downloads; readers send them automatically.

The Catalog Is Shared ​

The OPDS catalog serves the shared organized library. Every authenticated OPDS user sees the entire catalog, regardless of who uploaded each book. The feed is filtered only by status (organized books), not by uploader.

Only the OPDS credentials are per user. Reading progress, manual reading-status overrides, and other service credentials remain per user, but the set of books available over OPDS is the same for everyone.