Desktop App Bookery - Calibre alternative for Kobo

JoeC3 · 05-25-2026, 10:55 AM

Hi everyone, I got tired of dealing with Calibre, it's done the job but is just too heavy for my needs.

So, I am building Bookery, an alternative inspired by Beets and Calibre.

Open to feedback!

https://github.com/JoeCotellese/bookery

Sirtel · 05-25-2026, 12:11 PM

Good to see there are alternatives to calibre for those who need/want them.

Not for me, though. Too much stuff about metadata I don't need (I fill all my metadata in manually) and lacking features important to me (file editing, conversion options, automatic metadata management/collections/subtitle and series support for Kobo devices - or does the latter exist?

Also, mandatory kepub use when syncing with a Kobo is maybe not the best idea. Some folks want their sideloaded books as epubs, not kepubs. Apologies if I've misunderstood this point.

rantanplan · 05-25-2026, 04:22 PM

Interesting approach. Is there partial sync or would it always try to sync 2500 ebooks to my Kobo device?

I think this would be perfect for my raspberrypi but then device sync wouldn’t work.

Why specifically metadata from google books and open library? They never struck me as particularly complete.

JSWolf · 05-25-2026, 04:32 PM

Can we please have some screenshots? Also, does this have no GUI?

PeterT · 05-25-2026, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can we please have some screenshots? Also, does this have no GUI?

If you read the description at GitHub

Quote:

Web UI — bookery serve launches a local browser UI for paginated/sortable browsing of the catalog, filter chips, cover thumbnails, a responsive mobile card layout, per-book detail/edit pages, search-active-providers, and "apply candidate metadata with diff" rematch flow.

JSWolf · 05-26-2026, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

If you read the description at GitHub

But the first sentence of the description reads...

Quote:

A CLI-first ebook library manager inspired by beets and Calibre.

Mentioning the GUI should be right there with mentioning the CLI.

pickyaxe · 05-28-2026, 05:49 AM

is this pure vibecoding? how much did you actually vet the code?

rantanplan · 05-28-2026, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

is this pure vibecoding? how much did you actually vet the code?

The contribution notes are quite telling. I don't think this code has been vetted or went through a proper code review. Which would be okay if this was disclosed, to be honest.

What I find a bit sad is that none of the questions asked have been answered.

Quoth · 05-28-2026, 08:32 AM

Given the nature of Browsers now, it's absolute madness for a local application to need a browser for GUI.
Suggests incompetence.

JSWolf · 05-28-2026, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Given the nature of Browsers now, it's absolute madness for a local application to need a browser for GUI.
Suggests incompetence.

QT is basically chromium under the hood. So calibre is basically running it's GUI via a chromium type browser.

Quoth · 05-28-2026, 10:38 AM

No, QT is not Chromium.
The ebook reader in Calibre does use QT browser components based on Chromium, but since it's rendering HTML & CSS, that's reasonable. Even that is not the same thing as running an actual browser.

Web apps in a general sense simply to implement a GUI isn't reasonable.

rantanplan · 05-29-2026, 03:26 AM

This is a cli first app it makes sense to only have a webapp. Beets works the same.

Though the difference is that beets is made for remote headless server hosting your music collection and this here is supposed to host you ebook collection and transfer them to a locally connected e-Reader.

I’d say that the author missed the point of why beets is cli first and why people would more likely use Musicbrainz Picard for their local music collection.

Quoth · 05-29-2026, 11:16 AM

grsync, the gui shell for cli rsync is 50 Mbyte,
rsync cli running < 100 Mbyte.
firefox with one tab is 624 M Byte.
Calibre main GUI 2x 27 Mbyte, so under 60 Mbyte.

MGlitch · 05-29-2026, 01:00 PM

That OP said ask questions and has failed to answer any of the questions asked or address any of the concerns raised tells me everything I need to know about this. I doubt it’s malicious but it’s not something I’d use.

PeterT · 05-29-2026, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGlitch

That OP said ask questions and has failed to answer any of the questions asked or address any of the concerns raised tells me everything I need to know about this. I doubt it’s malicious but it’s not something I’d use.

It's the standard. Register, make a post and disappear.

I've even made a few Guthub issues and while the developer has made commits no feedback on my issues.

05-25-2026, 10:55 AM	#1
JoeC3 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2026 Device: Kobo	Bookery - Calibre alternative for Kobo Hi everyone, I got tired of dealing with Calibre, it's done the job but is just too heavy for my needs. So, I am building Bookery, an alternative inspired by Beets and Calibre. Open to feedback! https://github.com/JoeCotellese/bookery

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05-25-2026, 12:11 PM	#2
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 15,206 Karma: 247594217 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Good to see there are alternatives to calibre for those who need/want them. Not for me, though. Too much stuff about metadata I don't need (I fill all my metadata in manually) and lacking features important to me (file editing, conversion options, automatic metadata management/collections/subtitle and series support for Kobo devices - or does the latter exist? Also, mandatory kepub use when syncing with a Kobo is maybe not the best idea. Some folks want their sideloaded books as epubs, not kepubs. Apologies if I've misunderstood this point.

05-25-2026, 04:22 PM	#3
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,114 Karma: 12503116 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, reMarkable PaperPro	Interesting approach. Is there partial sync or would it always try to sync 2500 ebooks to my Kobo device? I think this would be perfect for my raspberrypi but then device sync wouldn’t work. Why specifically metadata from google books and open library? They never struck me as particularly complete.

05-25-2026, 04:32 PM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 83,609 Karma: 153646251 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Can we please have some screenshots? Also, does this have no GUI?

05-28-2026, 05:49 AM	#7
pickyaxe Addict Posts: 298 Karma: 3762916 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: none	is this pure vibecoding? how much did you actually vet the code?

05-28-2026, 08:32 AM	#9
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,499 Karma: 114630155 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Given the nature of Browsers now, it's absolute madness for a local application to need a browser for GUI. Suggests incompetence.

05-28-2026, 10:38 AM	#11
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,499 Karma: 114630155 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	No, QT is not Chromium. The ebook reader in Calibre does use QT browser components based on Chromium, but since it's rendering HTML & CSS, that's reasonable. Even that is not the same thing as running an actual browser. Web apps in a general sense simply to implement a GUI isn't reasonable.

05-29-2026, 03:26 AM	#12
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,114 Karma: 12503116 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, reMarkable PaperPro	This is a cli first app it makes sense to only have a webapp. Beets works the same. Though the difference is that beets is made for remote headless server hosting your music collection and this here is supposed to host you ebook collection and transfer them to a locally connected e-Reader. I’d say that the author missed the point of why beets is cli first and why people would more likely use Musicbrainz Picard for their local music collection.

05-29-2026, 11:16 AM	#13
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,499 Karma: 114630155 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	grsync, the gui shell for cli rsync is 50 Mbyte, rsync cli running < 100 Mbyte. firefox with one tab is 624 M Byte. Calibre main GUI 2x 27 Mbyte, so under 60 Mbyte.

05-29-2026, 01:00 PM	#14
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,889 Karma: 23142258 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	That OP said ask questions and has failed to answer any of the questions asked or address any of the concerns raised tells me everything I need to know about this. I doubt it’s malicious but it’s not something I’d use.