Livrarr

Self-hosted ebook and audiobook library manager. Built for the *arr ecosystem — finds, grabs, and organizes your books the way Sonarr does for TV.

⚠️ Alpha software. Core workflows work. Rough edges exist. Feedback welcome.

Note: alpha4 and earlier used an OpenLibrary User-Agent that wasn't fully policy-compliant, which could cause OL lookups (search, enrichment, author monitor, cover backfill) to fail. alpha5 ships a compliant UA — run alpha5 or later. See Notes → OpenLibrary compliance for detail.

What it does

• Search any Torznab or Newznab indexer (Prowlarr, NZBHydra2, Jackett, or direct) for ebooks and audiobooks
• Grab via qBittorrent or SABnzbd (forthcoming: support for other clients)
• Import to your library with automatic file organization
• Enrich metadata from Hardcover, OpenLibrary, Google Books, and Audnexus
• Read in your browser with a built-in ebook reader and audiobook player
• Push to Calibre-Web Automated (CWA) or AudioBookShelf (ABS)

Design Philosophy

• Ebooks and audiobooks unified in a single instance — no separate installations
• No closed-source metadata proxy — all providers are open, pluggable, and federated
• Single container, single SQLite database — nothing else to manage
• AI-assisted metadata disambiguation when exact matches fail

Quick Start

1. Copy the compose file

services:
  livrarr:
    image: ghcr.io/kkodecs/livrarr:0.1.0-alpha6
    container_name: livrarr
    ports:
      - 8789:8789
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - /path/to/books:/books
      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
    restart: unless-stopped

2. Set permissions and start

mkdir config
sudo chown 1000:1000 config
docker compose up -d

3. Open the UI

Navigate to http://your-server:8789. You'll be prompted to create your admin account on first launch — no pre-seeding required.

4. Configure

Go to Settings and add:

• A root folder (where books land after import)
• A download client (qBittorrent or SABnzbd)
• At least one indexer (any Torznab/Newznab source: Prowlarr, NZBHydra2, Jackett, or direct indexer URL + API key)

Configuration

All settings live in the UI. Optionally create /config/config.toml for advanced options:

[server]
port = 8789          # internal port (map externally in compose)
bind_address = "0.0.0.0"

[log]
level = "info"       # trace | debug | info | warn | error

Requirements

Permissions (PUID / PGID)

Set PUID/PGID to your host user so Livrarr reads and writes your files with the right ownership — the same convention as Sonarr/Radarr. On startup the container briefly runs as root, fixes ownership of /config, then drops to PUID:PGID and runs the app as that user. It never leaves the app running as root, and it only ever changes ownership of /config — never your library.

environment:
  - PUID=1000   # run `id -u` on the host
  - PGID=1000   # run `id -g` on the host

Mounted paths must be accessible by that user:

• /config — writable (database, covers, config file); ownership is auto-fixed to PUID:PGID
• /books — writable (Livrarr moves files here on import); you own this
• /downloads — readable (completed download directory); you own this

Livrarr auto-fixes /config only — make sure your library and downloads are already owned by (or accessible to) your PUID:PGID.

Hardened / rootless: to never run as root at all, delete the cap_add: block and set user: "1000:1000" (pre-chown your ./config on the host first); in this mode PUID/PGID are ignored. Rootless Docker/Podman must use this mode. On Kubernetes use securityContext.runAsUser/runAsGroup/fsGroup. With SELinux, add :z/:Z to your bind mounts.

Upgrading from an older build? If you used the simple Quick Start compose, nothing changes. If you copied the hardened docker-compose.yml (with cap_drop: ALL), add the cap_add: block (or switch to user: "1000:1000") — otherwise the container stops on start with a message telling you exactly what to do.

Download path mapping

Livrarr and your download client must see completed downloads at the same host path. Example:

• qBittorrent saves to /mnt/data/downloads on the host
• Mount that same path into both containers: - /mnt/data/downloads:/downloads

/books and /downloads in the compose file are example container paths — you can rename them as long as you're consistent across all containers.

Alpha Limitations

• Multi-user partially implemented — additional users can log in but share admin indexers/clients. Treat as single-user for alpha.
• Cover accuracy can still vary for some titles (especially Goodreads matches). A manual refresh usually fixes it.

Stack

Built in Rust (backend) + React (frontend). Ships as a single Docker image — no database sidecar, no separate web server. For full workflows you'll still need a download client and at least one indexer. Starts in under a second.

Notes

OpenLibrary compliance

Per OpenLibrary's published API policy, bulk clients must use a User-Agent that identifies the app and includes a contact (email or URL). alpha4 and earlier sent a UA with the app name but no contact field (Livrarr/0.1.0-alpha4), which OL flagged as non-compliant bulk traffic — this could cause OpenLibrary search, enrichment, author monitor, and cover backfill to fail. The gap is tracked in #83.

alpha5 ships a fully policy-compliant UA (app name + version + contact email + contact URL), which also earns OL's higher rate limit (3 req/s vs 1 req/s). If you're on an older build, upgrade:

docker compose pull livrarr && docker compose up -d

Community

• Discord: Join the Livrarr Discord — help, discussion, feature requests
• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features

License

GPLv3