audiobookshelf Documentation

File: README.md Copy Chapter

⚠️ Frontend pull requests are not being reviewed or merged for the existing Vue frontend. The frontend is currently being rewritten and migrated to React and should be available soon. Copy Chapter

About

Audiobookshelf is a self-hosted audiobook and podcast server.

Features Copy Section

• Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
• Stream all audio formats on the fly
• Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
• Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
• Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
• Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
• Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
• Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
• Progressive Web App (PWA)
• Chromecast support on the web app and android app
• Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
• Chapter editor and chapter lookup (using Audnexus API)
• Merge your audio files into a single m4b
• Embed metadata and cover image into your audio files
• Basic ebook support and ereader
  • Epub, pdf, cbr, cbz
  • Send ebook to device (i.e. Kindle)
• Open RSS feeds for podcasts and audiobooks

Is there a feature you are looking for? Suggest it

Join us on Discord

Demo Copy Section

Check out the web client demo: https://audiobooks.dev/ (thanks for hosting @Vito0912!)

Username/password: demo/demo (user account)

Android App (beta) Copy Section

Try it out on the Google Play Store

iOS App (beta) Copy Section

Beta is currently full. Apple has a hard limit of 10k beta testers. Updates will be posted in Discord.

Using Test Flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/wiic7QIW (beta is full)

Organizing your media

Directory structure and folder names are important to Audiobookshelf!

See library docs for supported directory structures, folder naming conventions, and audio file metadata usage.

Installation

See install docs

Reverse Proxy Set Up

Important! Audiobookshelf requires a websocket connection.

Note: Using a subfolder is supported with no additional changes but the path must be `/audiobookshelf` (this is not changeable). See [discussion](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/discussions/3535)

See reverse proxy docs

Contributing

See contributing docs

Localization Copy Section

Thank you to Weblate for hosting our localization infrastructure pro-bono. If you want to see Audiobookshelf in your language, please help us localize. Additional information on helping with the translations here.

Run from source

This application is built using NodeJs.

Dev Container Setup Copy Section

The easiest way to begin developing this project is to use a dev container. An introduction to dev containers in VSCode can be found here.

Required Software:

• Docker Desktop
• VSCode

Note, it is possible to use other container software than Docker and IDEs other than VSCode. However, this setup is more complicated and not covered here.

Install the required software on Windows with winget

Note: This requires a PowerShell prompt with winget installed. You should be able to copy and paste the code block to install. If you use an elevated PowerShell prompt, UAC will not pop up during the installs.

winget install -e --id Docker.DockerDesktop; `
winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode

Install the required software on MacOS with homebrew

brew install --cask docker visual-studio-code

Install the required software on Linux with snap

sudo snap install docker; \
sudo snap install code --classic

After installing these packages, you can now install the Remote Development extension for VSCode. After installing this extension open the command pallet (ctrl+shift+p or cmd+shift+p) and select the command >Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container. This will cause the development environment container to be built and launched.

You are now ready to start development!

Manual Environment Setup Copy Section

If you don't want to use the dev container, you can still develop this project. First, you will need to install NodeJs (version 20) and FFmpeg.

Next you will need to create a dev.js file in the project's root directory. This contains configuration information and paths unique to your development environment. You can find an example of this file in .devcontainer/dev.js.

You are now ready to build the client:

npm ci
cd client
npm ci
npm run generate
cd ..

Development Commands Copy Section

After setting up your development environment, either using the dev container or using your own custom environment, the following commands will help you run the server and client.

To run the server, you can use the command npm run dev. This will use the client that was built when you ran npm run generate in the client directory or when you started the dev container. If you make changes to the server, you will need to restart the server. If you make changes to the client, you will need to run the command (cd client; npm run generate) and then restart the server. By default the client runs at localhost:3333, though the port can be configured in dev.js.

You can also build a version of the client that supports live reloading. To do this, start the server, then run the command (cd client; npm run dev). This will run a separate instance of the client at localhost:3000 that will be automatically updated as you make changes to the client.

If you are using VSCode, this project includes a couple of pre-defined targets to speed up this process. First, if you build the project (ctrl+shift+b or cmd+shift+b) it will automatically generate the client. Next, there are debug commands for running the server and client. You can view these targets using the debug panel (bring it up with (ctrl+shift+d or cmd+shift+d):

• Debug server—Run the server.
• Debug client (nuxt)—Run the client with live reload.
• Debug server and client (nuxt)—Runs both the preceding two debug targets.

File: Readme.md Copy Chapter

⚠️ Frontend pull requests are not being reviewed or merged for the existing Vue frontend. The frontend is currently being rewritten and migrated to React and should be available soon. Copy Chapter

About

Audiobookshelf is a self-hosted audiobook and podcast server.

Features Copy Section

• Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
• Stream all audio formats on the fly
• Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
• Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
• Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
• Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
• Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
• Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
• Progressive Web App (PWA)
• Chromecast support on the web app and android app
• Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
• Chapter editor and chapter lookup (using Audnexus API)
• Merge your audio files into a single m4b
• Embed metadata and cover image into your audio files
• Basic ebook support and ereader
  • Epub, pdf, cbr, cbz
  • Send ebook to device (i.e. Kindle)
• Open RSS feeds for podcasts and audiobooks

Is there a feature you are looking for? Suggest it

Join us on Discord

Demo Copy Section

Check out the web client demo: https://audiobooks.dev/ (thanks for hosting @Vito0912!)

Username/password: demo/demo (user account)

Android App (beta) Copy Section

Try it out on the Google Play Store

iOS App (beta) Copy Section

Beta is currently full. Apple has a hard limit of 10k beta testers. Updates will be posted in Discord.

Using Test Flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/wiic7QIW (beta is full)

Organizing your media

Directory structure and folder names are important to Audiobookshelf!

See library docs for supported directory structures, folder naming conventions, and audio file metadata usage.

Installation

See install docs

Reverse Proxy Set Up

Important! Audiobookshelf requires a websocket connection.

Note: Using a subfolder is supported with no additional changes but the path must be `/audiobookshelf` (this is not changeable). See [discussion](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/discussions/3535)

See reverse proxy docs

Contributing

See contributing docs

Localization Copy Section

Thank you to Weblate for hosting our localization infrastructure pro-bono. If you want to see Audiobookshelf in your language, please help us localize. Additional information on helping with the translations here.

Run from source

This application is built using NodeJs.

Dev Container Setup Copy Section

The easiest way to begin developing this project is to use a dev container. An introduction to dev containers in VSCode can be found here.

Required Software:

• Docker Desktop
• VSCode

Note, it is possible to use other container software than Docker and IDEs other than VSCode. However, this setup is more complicated and not covered here.

Install the required software on Windows with winget

Note: This requires a PowerShell prompt with winget installed. You should be able to copy and paste the code block to install. If you use an elevated PowerShell prompt, UAC will not pop up during the installs.

winget install -e --id Docker.DockerDesktop; `
winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode

Install the required software on MacOS with homebrew

brew install --cask docker visual-studio-code

Install the required software on Linux with snap

sudo snap install docker; \
sudo snap install code --classic

After installing these packages, you can now install the Remote Development extension for VSCode. After installing this extension open the command pallet (ctrl+shift+p or cmd+shift+p) and select the command >Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container. This will cause the development environment container to be built and launched.

You are now ready to start development!

Manual Environment Setup Copy Section

If you don't want to use the dev container, you can still develop this project. First, you will need to install NodeJs (version 20) and FFmpeg.

Next you will need to create a dev.js file in the project's root directory. This contains configuration information and paths unique to your development environment. You can find an example of this file in .devcontainer/dev.js.

You are now ready to build the client:

npm ci
cd client
npm ci
npm run generate
cd ..

Development Commands Copy Section

After setting up your development environment, either using the dev container or using your own custom environment, the following commands will help you run the server and client.

To run the server, you can use the command npm run dev. This will use the client that was built when you ran npm run generate in the client directory or when you started the dev container. If you make changes to the server, you will need to restart the server. If you make changes to the client, you will need to run the command (cd client; npm run generate) and then restart the server. By default the client runs at localhost:3333, though the port can be configured in dev.js.

You can also build a version of the client that supports live reloading. To do this, start the server, then run the command (cd client; npm run dev). This will run a separate instance of the client at localhost:3000 that will be automatically updated as you make changes to the client.

If you are using VSCode, this project includes a couple of pre-defined targets to speed up this process. First, if you build the project (ctrl+shift+b or cmd+shift+b) it will automatically generate the client. Next, there are debug commands for running the server and client. You can view these targets using the debug panel (bring it up with (ctrl+shift+d or cmd+shift+d):

• Debug server—Run the server.
• Debug client (nuxt)—Run the client with live reload.
• Debug server and client (nuxt)—Runs both the preceding two debug targets.

File: readme.md Copy Chapter

⚠️ Frontend pull requests are not being reviewed or merged for the existing Vue frontend. The frontend is currently being rewritten and migrated to React and should be available soon. Copy Chapter

About

Audiobookshelf is a self-hosted audiobook and podcast server.

Features Copy Section

• Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
• Stream all audio formats on the fly
• Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
• Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
• Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
• Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
• Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
• Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
• Progressive Web App (PWA)
• Chromecast support on the web app and android app
• Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
• Chapter editor and chapter lookup (using Audnexus API)
• Merge your audio files into a single m4b
• Embed metadata and cover image into your audio files
• Basic ebook support and ereader
  • Epub, pdf, cbr, cbz
  • Send ebook to device (i.e. Kindle)
• Open RSS feeds for podcasts and audiobooks

Is there a feature you are looking for? Suggest it

Join us on Discord

Demo Copy Section

Check out the web client demo: https://audiobooks.dev/ (thanks for hosting @Vito0912!)

Username/password: demo/demo (user account)

Android App (beta) Copy Section

Try it out on the Google Play Store

iOS App (beta) Copy Section

Beta is currently full. Apple has a hard limit of 10k beta testers. Updates will be posted in Discord.

Using Test Flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/wiic7QIW (beta is full)

Organizing your media

Directory structure and folder names are important to Audiobookshelf!

See library docs for supported directory structures, folder naming conventions, and audio file metadata usage.

Installation

See install docs

Reverse Proxy Set Up

Important! Audiobookshelf requires a websocket connection.

Note: Using a subfolder is supported with no additional changes but the path must be `/audiobookshelf` (this is not changeable). See [discussion](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/discussions/3535)

See reverse proxy docs

Contributing

See contributing docs

Localization Copy Section

Thank you to Weblate for hosting our localization infrastructure pro-bono. If you want to see Audiobookshelf in your language, please help us localize. Additional information on helping with the translations here.

Run from source

This application is built using NodeJs.

Dev Container Setup Copy Section

The easiest way to begin developing this project is to use a dev container. An introduction to dev containers in VSCode can be found here.

Required Software:

• Docker Desktop
• VSCode

Note, it is possible to use other container software than Docker and IDEs other than VSCode. However, this setup is more complicated and not covered here.

Install the required software on Windows with winget

Note: This requires a PowerShell prompt with winget installed. You should be able to copy and paste the code block to install. If you use an elevated PowerShell prompt, UAC will not pop up during the installs.

winget install -e --id Docker.DockerDesktop; `
winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode

Install the required software on MacOS with homebrew

brew install --cask docker visual-studio-code

Install the required software on Linux with snap

sudo snap install docker; \
sudo snap install code --classic

After installing these packages, you can now install the Remote Development extension for VSCode. After installing this extension open the command pallet (ctrl+shift+p or cmd+shift+p) and select the command >Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container. This will cause the development environment container to be built and launched.

You are now ready to start development!

Manual Environment Setup Copy Section

If you don't want to use the dev container, you can still develop this project. First, you will need to install NodeJs (version 20) and FFmpeg.

Next you will need to create a dev.js file in the project's root directory. This contains configuration information and paths unique to your development environment. You can find an example of this file in .devcontainer/dev.js.

You are now ready to build the client:

npm ci
cd client
npm ci
npm run generate
cd ..

Development Commands Copy Section

After setting up your development environment, either using the dev container or using your own custom environment, the following commands will help you run the server and client.

To run the server, you can use the command npm run dev. This will use the client that was built when you ran npm run generate in the client directory or when you started the dev container. If you make changes to the server, you will need to restart the server. If you make changes to the client, you will need to run the command (cd client; npm run generate) and then restart the server. By default the client runs at localhost:3333, though the port can be configured in dev.js.

You can also build a version of the client that supports live reloading. To do this, start the server, then run the command (cd client; npm run dev). This will run a separate instance of the client at localhost:3000 that will be automatically updated as you make changes to the client.

If you are using VSCode, this project includes a couple of pre-defined targets to speed up this process. First, if you build the project (ctrl+shift+b or cmd+shift+b) it will automatically generate the client. Next, there are debug commands for running the server and client. You can view these targets using the debug panel (bring it up with (ctrl+shift+d or cmd+shift+d):

• Debug server—Run the server.
• Debug client (nuxt)—Run the client with live reload.
• Debug server and client (nuxt)—Runs both the preceding two debug targets.

File: docs/README.md Copy Chapter

OpenAPI specification

This directory includes the OpenAPI spec for the ABS server. The spec is made up of a number of individual yaml files located here and in the subfolders, with root.yaml being the file that references all of the others. The files are organized to have the same hierarchy as the server source files. The full spec is bundled into one file in openapi.json.

The spec is linted and bundled using redocly-cli. This tool also generates HTML docs for the spec.

The tools created by pb33f, specifically vacuum and wiretap, are also useful for linting and verification. These tools check for some other things, such as validating requests to and responses from the server.

Bundling the spec Copy Section

The command used to bundle the spec into a yaml file is redocly bundle root.yaml > bundled.yaml.

The yq tool is used to convert the yaml to a json using the yq -p yaml -o json bundled.yaml > openapi.json.

Linting the spec Copy Section

The command used to lint the spec is redocly lint root.yaml

To generate an HTML report using vacuum, you can use vacuum html-report [file] to generate report.html and view the report in your browser.

Generating documentation Copy Section

Redocly allows for creating a static HTML page to document the API. This is done by using redocly build-docs [file] and supports exploded specs.

Putting it all together Copy Section

The full command that I run to bundle the spec and generate the documentation is:

redocly bundle root.yaml > bundled.yaml && \
yq -p yaml -o json bundled.yaml > openapi.json && \
redocly build-docs openapi.json

File: server/migrations/readme.md Copy Chapter

Database Migrations

This directory contains all the database migration scripts for the server.

What is a migration? Copy Chapter

A migration is a script that changes the structure of the database. This can include creating tables, adding columns, or modifying existing columns. A migration script consists of two parts: an "up" script that applies the changes to the database, and a "down" script that undoes the changes.

Guidelines for writing migrations Copy Chapter

When writing a migration, keep the following guidelines in mind:

• You must name your migration script according to the following convention: <server_version>-<migration_name>.js. For example, v2.14.0-create-users-table.js.

  • server_version should be the version of the server that the migration was created for (this should usually be the next server release).
  • migration_name should be a short description of the changes that the migration makes.

• The script should export two async functions: up and down. The up function should contain the script that applies the changes to the database, and the down function should contain the script that undoes the changes. The up and down functions should accept a single object parameter with a context property that contains a reference to a Sequelize QueryInterface object, and a Logger object for logging. A typical migration script might look like this:

  javascript Copy

  async function up({ context: { queryInterface, logger } }) {
    // Upwards migration script
    logger.info('migrating ...');
    ...
  }
  
  async function down({ context: { queryInterface, logger } }) {
    // Downward migration script
    logger.info('reverting ...');
    ...
  }
  
  module.exports = {up, down}

• Always implement both the up and down functions.

• The up and down functions should be idempotent (i.e., they should be safe to run multiple times).

• Prefer using only queryInterface and logger parameters, the sequelize module, and node.js built-in modules in your migration scripts. You can require other modules, but be aware that they might not be available or change from they ones you tested with.

• It's your responsibility to make sure that the down migration reverts the changes made by the up migration.

• Log detailed information on every step of the migration. Use Logger.info() and Logger.error().

• Test tour migrations thoroughly before committing them.

  • write unit tests for your migrations (see test/server/migrations for an example)
  • you can force a server version change by modifying the version field in package.json on your dev environment (but don't forget to revert it back before committing)

How migrations are run Copy Chapter

Migrations are run automatically when the server starts, when the server detects that the server version has changed. Migrations are always run in server version order (from oldest to newest up migrations if the server version increased, and from newest to oldest down migrations if the server version decreased). Only the relevant migrations are run, based on the new and old server versions.

This means that you can switch between server releases without having to worry about running migrations manually. The server will automatically apply the necessary migrations when it starts.