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 · Today, 05:49 AM

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

rantanplan · Today, 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 · Today, 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 · Today, 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 · Today, 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.

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: 15,183 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: 1,102 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: 83,556 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?

Today, 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?

Today, 08:32 AM	#9
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,488 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.

Today, 10:38 AM	#11
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,488 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.

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