[GUI Plugin] Ask Grok

[sheldonrrr]

Ask Grok - A calibre Plugin to Ask Questions About Books

A versatile plugin that lets you ask questions about books directly in calibre using various AI models, including Grok, Google Gemini, Ollama (Local AI), and DeepSeek.

Why Use This Plugin?
With a multitude of AI tools available, you might want to leverage AI to ask questions about a book directly within calibre. However, doing this manually means you’d need to copy-paste the book’s information—like its title, author, or publisher—into an AI tool. This plugin eliminates that hassle by letting you call the capabilities of **Grok, Google Gemini, Ollama Local AI, or DeepSeek** directly in calibre, with no copy-pasting required! Just select a book, choose your preferred AI, ask your question, and get answers seamlessly.

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Features

• Ask questions about books with AI directly in calibre
• Configurable API key for various AI models: Grok, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek
• Support for Ollama (Local AI) for private and local AI interactions
• Automatically includes the current book's metadata (title, author, publisher) - no copy-paste needed
• Simple single input-output dialog interface
• Customizable prompt template
• Preview-able interface shortcuts
• Check plugin version info in the interface
• New! Edit Random Question Prompts: Customize the AI-generated question ideas.
• New! Enable Streaming Config for every AI: Choose whether to receive AI responses as they are generated for a more interactive experience.
• Enhanced Internationalization: Extensive interface text has been added for a more globally friendly experience.

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Installation

Method 1: Install via GitHub Zip File

1. Download the plugin zip file (attached below as Ask_Grok.zip)
2. In calibre, go to Preferences -> Plugins -> Load plugin from file
3. Select the downloaded Ask_Grok.zip file to install
4. Restart calibre after installation

Method 2: Install via calibre Official Plugin Market

1. Open calibre’s Preferences
2. Go to Plugins
3. Click Get new plugins
4. Search for Ask Grok in the Filter by name field
5. Select the plugin and install
6. Restart calibre

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How to Get Your API Key(s)

1. For Grok: Go to https://console.x.ai/, create a team if needed, navigate to API Keys, click Create API Keys, name it (e.g., calibre_Ask_Grok), save, and copy the generated Key value (e.g., Bearer x-ai ***** or x-ai *****).
2. For Google Gemini: Visit the Google AI Studio or Google Cloud Console to generate your API key.
3. For DeepSeek: Obtain your API key from the DeepSeek official website.
4. For Ollama (Local AI): No API key is strictly needed, as it runs locally. Ensure Ollama is installed and a model is running on your system.

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Configure API Keys and AI Models in calibre

1. In calibre, click the Ask Grok dropdown menu in the toolbar, then select Configure.
2. Select your desired AI Model (e.g., Grok, Gemini, DeepSeek, Ollama).
3. Paste your API Key (if applicable) into the relevant input box (e.g., X.AI Authorization Token for Grok).
4. For Ollama, you might configure the local server endpoint.
5. Click Save.
6. You’ll see a Save successful message.

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How to Use the Plugin

1. Select a book in your calibre library.
2. Click the Ask Grok button in the toolbar.
3. Select your preferred AI model from the dropdown.
4. Enter your question in the popup dialog.
5. Click Send to get the AI’s answer.
6. Click Suggestion? to see AI-generated question ideas.
7. Utilize the Edit Random Question Prompts option in configurations to customize these suggestions.

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Shortcuts

• Send: Command + Enter

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Supported Languages[*]Danish (da), German (de), English (en), Spanish (es), Finnish (fi), French (fr), Japanese (ja), Dutch (nl), Norwegian (no), Portuguese (pt), Russian (ru), Swedish (sv), Simplified Chinese (zh), Traditional Chinese (zht), Cantonese (yue)[/list]
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Requirements

• calibre 7.25 or higher
• External Python modules: requests, bleach, markdown2

Note: The plugin uses built-in calibre modules like PyQt5 for the GUI and standard Python libraries (os, sys, json, etc.).

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AI Model API Key Notes

• API call limits and pricing depend on your selected AI model provider (Grok, Google Gemini, DeepSeek) and your account permissions.
• For Ollama, performance depends on your local hardware and the downloaded model.

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Recent Updates (v1.2.0 & v1.2.1)

• v1.2.0 New Features:
  • AI: Google Gemini Supported
  • AI: Ollama Local AI Supported
  • AI: DeepSeek Supported
• v1.2.0 Enhancements:
  • Edit Random Question Prompts: Customize suggestions for AI-generated questions.
  • Enable Streaming Config in every AI: Get real-time AI responses.
  • i18n Enhancement: Further improved internationalization.
• v1.2.1 Fixes:
  • The Random Question button is now correctly triggered when the Grok model is selected.
  • Results returned by Gemini and Grok models are no longer truncated.
  • Extensive internationalization interface text has been added for better user experience.
• v1.2.2 Fixes:
  • Fixed the Random Question button in DeepSeek's max tokens.

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Privacy Handling

• The plugin sends book metadata (title, author, publisher, publish time, language) to the selected AI model but excludes user-defined data like Tags or Comments.
• Your AI API Key (Grok, Gemini, DeepSeek) is stored locally in a JSON file and isn’t sent to any third-party server.
• Uses Python’s requests module for external API calls; no third-party servers are involved in data processing by the plugin itself beyond direct API calls to your chosen AI provider.
• The privacy policy of each AI model (Grok, Gemini, DeepSeek) regarding data usage for model training may vary. Please consult their respective official statements.
• You can set the Grok API Key via environment variable: XAI_AUTH_TOKEN.
• For other models, environment variable support may be added in future updates or is handled by their specific API client libraries.

Grok Official Statement: Private Chat is private and won’t be used for training, but may be retained for up to 30 days for safety purposes.

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Feedback Welcome!
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for the plugin. I’ll update this thread with any new features or changes.

GitHub Repository
You can find the source code and contribute to the project on GitHub: https://github.com/sheldonrrr/ask_grok

[Comfy.n]

Looks cool, I'll be definitely trying this when I get the API key. Congratulations!

Notes:

- Files should be placed in the root of zip structure. They're currently inside a 'ask_grok-main' folder.

- Upon toolbar button click, I should get a menu in English, as that is my UI language. Not a big deal, I figured how to change it

[sheldonrrr]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

Looks cool, I'll be definitely trying this when I get the API key. Congratulations!

Notes:

- Files should be placed in the root of zip structure. They're currently inside a 'ask_grok-main' folder.

- Upon toolbar button click, I should get a menu in English, as that is my UI language. Not a big deal, I figured how to change it

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Hi Comfy.n, thanks for your feedback! Both issues have been addressed:

1. I've added a Release page on GitHub (https://github.com/sheldonrrr/ask_grok/releases) with an installation ZIP where the zip file are placed directly in the root directory. The first issue was caused by GitHub's automated ZIP generation when downloading from the repo.
2. The default language has now been set to English.

Feel free to grab the updated version from the Release page. Let me know if there's anything else!

[sheldonrrr]

Changelog for v1.1.15

• Fix: Resolved [400 error] request bugs on Windows and Linux.

• API Update: Now using x.ai API version: grok-3-latest.

• New Feature: Added window size memory support.

New release available here: v1.1.15 on GitHub

Thanks to our real user Ken for the feedback! Fixing compatibility issues across different systems with this release has been quite interesting.

[sheldonrrr]

I am happy to announce the release of Ask Grok version 1.1.19, which includes several bug fixes, improvements, and new features. Here's what's new:

• Bug Fix: Resolved an issue on Windows in version 1.1.15.
• Improvement: Added string localization for better language support.
• UI Update: Renamed the 'Suggest Button' to 'Random Question Button' for clarity.
• New Feature - History: Automatically saves the most recent query history. When you reopen the same book, the latest history will be displayed in the ask dialogue.
• New Feature - Copy Button: Easily copy the answer content or both the question and answer content with a single click.

Download: The new release is available at GitHub Releases.

Welcome your feedback! Please share your thoughts and suggestions in this thread.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by sheldonrrr

Download: The new release is available at GitHub Releases.

Welcome your feedback! Please share your thoughts and suggestions in this thread.

Rather than pointing people to GitHub (which people would need to read this thread to know an update was available) you might like to update the first post of this thread with the new version.

Additionally could you not include the __MACOSX folder in the zip.

[sheldonrrr]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Rather than pointing people to GitHub (which people would need to read this thread to know an update was available) you might like to update the first post of this thread with the new version.

Additionally could you not include the __MACOSX folder in the zip.

Hey, Peter. Thanks for your guidance.

Actually, I also want to put the new version information in the first post of this thread, but I can't find the entry. It seems that my account lacks this permission. Currently I can only reply and quote the first post. In fact, I also want to update to the first post. If you can teach me, I will be very grateful.

Thanks for the feedback on the zip file. I will solve the problem of the __MACOSX folder and deal with this problem later. It seems that I still have a lot of details to consider in solving the compatibility problem of different platform systems.

[PeterT]

It's quite possible that you don't have enough posts yet to edit the message. When you have a version you want released, I'll handle the updating of the post for youyu.

[PeterT]

We will also need to update the Plugin index to include the plugin. If you look at Index of Plugins you will see an attachment which is the standardized template we add to the index. Again, just fill it out and one of the admins can handle getting your plugin added.

[sheldonrrr]

Originally Posted by PeterT

We will also need to update the Plugin index to include the plugin. If you look at Index of Plugins you will see an attachment which is the standardized template we add to the index. Again, just fill it out and one of the admins can handle getting your plugin added.

Hey, Peter, you made my day.

The attached file (pluginIndexSample-Ask_Grok.txt) is based on the standard information downloaded from the Index rules you provided. I edited and filled it.

The Ask_Grok_v1.1.19.zip is the file without any hidden folder can be used for Index.

If the plugin is added to the index, I will also add a new way to search and install it through the official index! (I wrote it before, and it finally will work till now.)

Is this OK for publish for Index?

Thanks a lot.

[PeterT]

Should be done; takes an hour or so for calibre to detect the change in plugins.

[PeterT]

OK. It's visible.

[BetterRed]

Moderator Notice

Changed thread title to comply with convention


BR

[sheldonrrr]

Originally Posted by PeterT

OK. It's visible.

You made my day. Hope this plugin could help more people.

[sheldonrrr]

Big Update: Multiple AI supported.