📚 lib-x

Browse your Calibre Library from your terminal or app launcher.

lib-x demo

View Demos & Previews

Full Demo:

lib-x-full-github-demo.webm

Previews:

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
  • Prerequisites
  • Universal Installation
  • Platform-Specific Instructions
• Usage
  • Quick Start
  • Command-Line Options
  • Environment Variables
  • Scripting & Keybindings
  • Examples & Workflows
• Configuration
  • Configuration File Location
  • Configuration Variables
• Full Text Search
• Extensions
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Contribution
• Support

Features

• Multiple Launcher Support: Browse with fzf, rofi, or gum, all supporting rich previews.
• Deep Calibre Integration: Interface securely with your library via calibredb. Supports both native and Flatpak Calibre installations automatically.
• Search & Filter: Search books using Calibre's native syntax, or browse directly by Authors, Series, Tags, Formats, Languages, Ratings, Publishers, and Identifiers.
• Full Text Search (FTS): Search inside the actual content of your books using Calibre's FTS engine. Manage the FTS index (enable, disable, reindex) directly from the Miscellaneous menu.
• Search History: Automatically tracks your past search queries for quick recall. Shared across both regular search and FTS search.
• Personal Reading Lists: Track your reading journey with built-in user lists (Reading, Paused, Planning, Re-reading, Completed, Dropped, Docs).
• Extensive Book Actions: Directly from the terminal:
  • Read your books
  • Edit Metadata (Tags, Authors, Dates, etc.)
  • Convert formats (ebook-convert)
  • Polish books (ebook-polish)
  • View raw metadata
  • Open in Calibre's GUI Viewer (ebook-viewer)
  • Drop into a stateful interactive shell
• Smart Format Picker: When a book has multiple formats, choose the right one to read — or set CONFIG_PREFERRED_BOOK_FMT / LIB_X_PREFERRED_BOOK_FMT to skip the prompt and always read your preferred format directly.
• Bulk Add Books: Seamlessly add books from files or folders (integrates with fzf or yazi as a file chooser).
• Theming & Styling: Theming support through .theme extensions with Tokyo Night as the default theme.
• Multi-language Support: Loadable language files (.lang) to localize UI prompts and messages.
• Cover Art Previews: High-quality book cover image rendering directly in the terminal using chafa, icat, or imgcat.
• Custom Readers: Map specific formats (e.g., EPUB, PDF) to your preferred CLI/GUI reading apps.
• Scriptable Shortcuts: Bypass menus and jump straight to specific lists, searches, or actions using direct command-line flags — combinable with --book-skip, --book-exit, and --cmd-exit for fully headless scripting.
• Direct List Management: Add/remove books to your reading lists directly from the command line (--add-to-reading, --add-to-completed, etc.).
• Dropped Book Filtering: Automatically hides dropped books from all menus by default (CONFIG_FILTER_DROPPED).
• Stateful Sub-Shell Execution: Drop into a shell (or run --shell-exec) pre-loaded with environment variables of your currently selected book for custom scripting or manual database interactions.
• Extensible fzf Keybindings: Ship with built-in binds (alt-e, alt-m, alt-r, alt-v) that run book actions straight from the results list, and are fully overridable via CONFIG_FZF_OPTS.
• Desktop Integration: Generate a .desktop file to launch natively from application menus (Linux).
• Cache Management: Automatically caches your Calibre database as JSON for lightning-fast speeds, cleaning up stale previews and data automatically (Default: 7 days).
• OS Support: Works across Linux, macOS, Windows (via WSL/MSYS/Cygwin), and Android (Termux).
• Auto-Updater: Secure update checker that pulls the latest version from GitHub and shows you the diff before applying.
• Shell Completions: Includes tab completions for fish, bash, and zsh covering flags, custom categories, and book sorting options.

Installation

Prerequisites

Required:

• calibre - Provides calibredb for database interactions. Both native and Flatpak installations are supported (Flatpak is auto-detected).
• fzf - Main terminal launcher.
• jq - For rapid JSON database parsing.
• sh - Any POSIX-compliant shell (Bash, Zsh, Dash, etc.).
• Nerd Font - For the icons (Recommended: JetBrains Mono Nerd Font).

Optional (Highly Recommended for Full Functionality):

• Terminal File Explorers (For adding books): yazi or fzf
• Calibre CLI Tools: ebook-convert, ebook-polish, ebook-viewer, ebook-meta, ebook-edit (Usually bundled with Calibre).
• Alternate Launchers: rofi (for a desktop app experience) or gum (for styled TUI flows).
• Modern Terminal That Supports True Color: kitty, ghostty, wezterm, etc.
• Terminal Image Viewers (For Cover Art):
  • chafa (Cross-terminal)
  • icat (Recommended for Kitty and Ghostty)
  • imgcat (For iTerm2/WezTerm)
• Terminal QoL:
  • bat (Better paging and diff viewing)

---

Universal Installation

Ensure ~/.local/bin exists and is added to your system's $PATH.

curl -sL "https://github.com/Benexl/lib-x/releases/download/v0.5.0/lib-x" -o ~/.local/bin/lib-x
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/lib-x

To uninstall, just run: rm ~/.local/bin/lib-x, then to remove its related data folders rm -r ~/.config/lib-x and rm -r ~/.cache/lib-x.

---

Platform-Specific Instructions

Note: I am not the one who maintains any of these packages and you should probably turn off auto updates in lib-x if using them.

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S lib-x-git

# or if you prefer paru

paru -S lib-x-git

Nix / NixOS

1. Imperative:

nix profile install github:Benexl/lib-x

2. Declarative: First, add the repository to your flake.nix inputs:

inputs = {
  nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
  lib-x = {
    url = "github:Benexl/lib-x";
    inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };
}

• For system-wide installation (in configuration.nix):

  environment.systemPackages = [ inputs.lib-x.packages."${system}".default ];

• For user-level installation (via Home Manager in home.nix):

  home.packages = [ inputs.lib-x.packages."${system}".default ];

Usage

You can opt to either use it via interactive menus or command-line shortcuts for scripting and keybinding.

lib-x [OPTIONS]
lib-x completions [--fish | --bash | --zsh | --help]

Quick Start

To launch the interactive terminal interface with your default settings, run:

lib-x

---

Command‑Line Options

Search & Sort

• -s, --search <term> : Prompt for (or immediately execute) a book search.
• --search-title <term> : Search for a book by exact title (literal match, not regex).
• -S, --sort-by <field> : Sort the books by a specific field (e.g., author, size, timestamp). Append _asc for ascending order (default is descending).
• -r, --no-of-random-books <num> : Display a specific number of random books from your library.

Direct Shortcuts (Skip main menus)

All these options can be paired with --cmd-exit (-ce) so that backing out of the menu exits the CLI entirely.

• --reading-list : Open your actively reading list.
• --recent : Show recently opened books.
• --paused : Open paused books.
• --rereading : Open books marked for re-reading.
• --planning : Open planned/to-read books.
• --completed : Open completed books.
• --docs : Open your documents list.
• --dropped : Open dropped/abandoned books.
• --all : Browse your entire Calibre library directly.
• --random : Browse random books directly.
• --misc : Open the miscellaneous menu (Sync, Add books, FTS).

Book Action Shortcuts (Skip the media action menu)

Can be paired with --book-skip (-bs) to auto-select the first result, and --book-exit (-be) to exit immediately after the action.

• --read : Open the selected book in your preferred reader.
• --edit-metadata : Start editing the metadata for a book.
• --remove-book : Delete a book from the library.
• --viewer : Open in the Calibre GUI ebook-viewer.
• --convert : Convert the book to another format.
• --edit-book : Open in the Calibre eBook Editor.
• --polish : Run ebook-polish on the selected book.
• --show-metadata : View the raw metadata (using ebook-meta).
• --shell : Open an interactive sub-shell pre-loaded with the selected book's state variables.
• --shell-exec <code> : Execute a command in a sub-shell pre-loaded with the selected book's state variables (non-interactive, great for scripting & keybindings).

Direct List Management (Skip the media action + list menus)

These shortcuts add the selected book directly to a specific list, bypassing the "Manage My Lists" submenu.

• --add-to-reading : Add the selected book to your Reading list.
• --add-to-paused : Add the selected book to your Paused list.
• --add-to-planning : Add the selected book to your Planning list.
• --add-to-rereading : Add the selected book to your Re-reading list.
• --add-to-docs : Add the selected book to your Docs list.
• --add-to-completed : Add the selected book to your Completed list.
• --add-to-dropped : Add the selected book to your Dropped list.
• --remove-from-lists : Remove the selected book from all your lists.

UI & Process Control

• -l, --launcher <fzf|rofi|gum> : Override the default menu launcher.
• --preview : Enable the preview window (metadata).
• --no-preview : Disable the preview window.
• --preview-images : Enable the image preview (book covers).
• --no-preview-images : Disable the image preview.
• -d, --disown-reading-process : Detach the reading process from the terminal (default).
• -D, --no-disown-reading-process : Keep the reading process attached to the terminal session.
• --private : Do not update the recent history list when opening a book.
• --manage-my-lists : Open the list management submenu for the selected book.

Rofi specific

Note: You can find preconfigured rofi themes in the GitHub repo to elevate the desktop app experience!

• --rofi-theme-main <path>
• --rofi-theme-preview <path>
• --rofi-theme-prompt <path>
• --rofi-theme-confirm <path>
• --rofi-theme-pager <path>

Others

• -x, --extension <ext> : Load a specific extension file.
• -xargs, --extension-arguments <args> : Pass arguments to a loaded extension.
• -e, --edit-config : Open the lib-x configuration file in your $EDITOR.
• -U, --update : Check for and apply the latest script update from GitHub.
• -E, --generate-desktop-entry : Print a .desktop application entry to stdout.
• -v, --version : Print version information and exit.
• -h, --help : Show the help message and exit.
• --config-write : Write the current runtime config to the config file.

---

Environment Variables

Almost all CLI options can be permanently set in ~/.config/lib-x/config or overridden using environment variables.

• LIB_X_LAUNCHER (e.g., fzf, rofi, gum)
• LIB_X_CALIBRE_LIBRARY_PATH (e.g., $HOME/Documents/Calibre Library)
• LIB_X_PREVIEW_ENABLE (true or false)
• LIB_X_PREVIEW_IMAGES_ENABLE (true or false)
• LIB_X_PREVIEW_IMAGES_RENDERER (chafa, icat, imgcat)
• LIB_X_FILE_EXPLORER (fzf, yazi)
• LIB_X_SORT_BY (e.g., author, size_asc, pubdate)
• LIB_X_FILTER_DROPPED (true or false — hides dropped books from all menus)
• LIB_X_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE (true or false)
• LIB_X_READER (e.g., epub:zathura,pdf:evince)
• LIB_X_PREFERRED_BOOK_FMT (e.g., epub, pdf)

---

Scripting & Keybindings

lib-x is designed to be composable from the terminal, which makes it a great fit for shell scripts, window-manager keybindings, and extending its own fzf interface.

Drop into a stateful sub-shell

Selecting Shell from the Book Actions menu (or using --shell) drops you into a sub-shell pre-loaded with everything about the currently selected book:

lib-x --shell

Inside that shell (and via --shell-exec), these variables are exported:

• STATE_CURRENT_BOOK - Raw JSON payload (UUIDs, authors, formats, tags)
• STATE_CURRENT_BOOK_TITLE - Title of the selected book
• STATE_CURRENT_CATEGORY - Current category filter (if any)
• STATE_CURRENT_BOOKS - Path to the current book list file
• STATE_CURRENT - Current state depth level
• CALIBRE_DB_JSON_FILE - Path to the cached database
• CALIBRE_CATEGORIES_TSV_FILE - Path to the cached categories file
• CLI_CURRENT_STATE_DIR - Path to the current state directory
• CLI_NAME - The CLI name (lib-x)

You can pipe the book JSON through jq to run custom scripts, raw Calibre commands, or manipulate book files without leaving lib-x:

lib-x --shell-exec 'jq -r .title "$STATE_CURRENT_BOOK"'

Headless chaining for scripts & keybindings

By combining the menu-skip flags with a direct action you can trigger book actions non-interactively — no TUI required:

• --cmd-exit (-ce) : exit after the shortcut menu command-line options
• --book-skip (-bs) : skip item selection and auto-pick the first result
• --book-exit (-be) : exit immediately after the action

For example, to read the first book matching a search without ever seeing a menu:

lib-x --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --read --search-title "Dune"

You can also chain via --shell-exec to run arbitrary code for the matched book, or use --search-title to target a specific title in one shot.

Built-in fzf keybindings

When using the fzf launcher, lib-x ships sensible keybindings inside its default CONFIG_FZF_OPTS so you can act on a book directly from the results list:

Keybind	Action	Command used
alt-v	Read	… --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --read --search-title
alt-e	Edit Metadata	… --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --edit-metadata --search-title
alt-m	Manage My Lists	… --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --manage-my-lists --search-title
alt-r	Remove Book	… --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --remove-book --search-title
ctrl-/	Toggle preview	toggle-preview
ctrl-space	Toggle wrap	toggle-wrap+toggle-preview-wrap

Each keybind parses the hovered book's title and re-invokes lib-x with LIB_X_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE=false and the chained flags above, e.g. the read binding expands to:

LIB_X_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE=false lib-x --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit \
  --read --search-title "<hovered book title>"

Because CONFIG_FZF_OPTS is fully exposed in the generated config file (edit it with lib-x --edit-config), you can extend those binds or add your own. Append a --bind inside CONFIG_FZF_OPTS that calls $CLI_PATH the same way — for example, running --shell-exec on the hovered book:

--bind='alt-s:execute(LIB_X_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE=false $CLI_PATH --cmd-exit --book-skip --book-exit --shell-exec "echo read: $STATE_CURRENT_BOOK_TITLE" --search-title "$(printf {} | sed -e "s/^[0-9][0-9]* //g" -e "s/^.*\.env|[0-9][0-9]* //g")")'

(Add that line inside the existing CONFIG_FZF_OPTS="..." block in your config file, before the closing quote.)

Tip: any custom bind that should not touch search history can prefix the command with LIB_X_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE=false, exactly as the built-ins do.

---

Examples & Workflows

Hello world (Save config)

# always put --config-write at the end to save the runtime config
LIB_X_PREVIEW_IMAGES_RENDERER=icat lib-x --preview --preview-images --config-write

Desktop App Launcher

Launch lib-x as a graphical application using Rofi (great with keybindings!).

lib-x --launcher rofi --preview --preview-images --disown-reading-process

Custom Book Reader Mapping

You want EPUBs to open in zathura and PDFs to open in evince. Set this in your config or env:

LIB_X_READER="epub:zathura,pdf:evince" lib-x --read

Jump straight to your current reads

lib-x --reading-list --cmd-exit

Find a specific author and exit menu on back

lib-x -s "Isaac Asimov" --cmd-exit

Create a desktop entry

lib-x -E > ~/.local/share/applications/lib-x.desktop

Shell completions (Fish)

lib-x completions --fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/lib-x.fish

Configuration

By default, the main configuration file is located at:

~/.config/lib-x/config

(Note: It respects the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable if set).

You can open it directly using the CLI:

lib-x --edit-config

---

Configuration Variables

Display & Interface

Variable	Default	Description
CONFIG_LAUNCHER	fzf	The menu launcher tool to use. Options: fzf, rofi, gum.
CONFIG_COLORS_ENABLE	true	Enable or disable ANSI true-color (24-bit) formatting in the UI.
CONFIG_EDITOR	vi (or $EDITOR)	Text editor used for editing config files, histories, and metadata.
CONFIG_NOTIFICATION_DURATION	3	Duration (in seconds) for desktop/CLI notifications to remain visible.
CONFIG_TERMINAL_EXEC	auto-detected	The terminal emulator used to launch external interactive shell tools.
CONFIG_FILTER_DROPPED	true	Automatically hide books in the "Dropped" list from all menus.

Previews

Variable	Default	Description
CONFIG_PREVIEW_ENABLE	false	Enable or disable the preview window (metadata descriptions).
CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_ENABLE	false	Enable rendering book covers in the preview window.
CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_RENDERER	chafa	Tool used to render images in the terminal. Options: chafa, icat, imgcat.
CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_CHAFA_ARGS	""	Pass custom arguments to chafa.
CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_ICAT_ARGS	""	Pass custom arguments to icat / kitty +kitten icat.
CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_IMGCAT_ARGS	""	Pass custom arguments to imgcat.

Calibre & Book Management

Variable	Default	Description
CONFIG_CALIBRE_LIBRARY_PATH	~/Calibre Library	Absolute path to your Calibre library database directory.
CONFIG_FILE_EXPLORER	fzf	File chooser used when adding books to the library. Options: fzf, yazi.
CONFIG_READER	""	Mapping of ext:command (e.g. epub:zathura). Falls back to OS default if empty.
CONFIG_PREFERRED_BOOK_FMT	""	Preferred format (e.g. epub, pdf) used directly when reading. If unset and the book has multiple formats, a format picker is shown.
CONFIG_READING_PROCESS_DISOWN	true	Detach reader process from terminal so lib-x can be closed without killing app.
CONFIG_SORT_BY	""	Default sort field (e.g. author, size_asc, pubdate).
CONFIG_RANDOM_BOOKS_LIMIT	30	Number of books to return when selecting "Random".

History & Caching

Variable	Default	Description
CONFIG_SEARCH_HISTORY_ENABLE	true	Save local search history to track and quickly recall past queries (shared across search and FTS).
CONFIG_RECENT_BOOKS_UPDATE	true	Automatically log opened books to the "Recent" list.
CONFIG_RECENT_BOOKS_LIMIT	30	Number of books to keep in the recent history list.
CONFIG_CACHE_RETENTION_DAYS	7	Auto-clean stale preview images and shell scripts older than this duration.

Fzf, Gum, and Rofi

(Note: Advanced Fzf and Gum styling parameters are also exposed in the config file. See the generated config file for full default strings).

Variable	Default	Description
CONFIG_FZF_HEADER	(logo)	Custom ASCII logo displayed at the top of the fzf menu.
CONFIG_FZF_OPTS	(see config)	Fine‑tune fzf layout, colors, and bindings. Defaults to "Tokyo Night".
CONFIG_GUM_CONFIRM_OPTS	(see config)	Custom gum confirm styling options (foregrounds, colors).
CONFIG_GUM_FILTER_OPTS	(see config)	Custom gum filter styling options (prompt, indicator, match highlighting).
CONFIG_GUM_INPUT_OPTS	(see config)	Custom gum input styling options (prompt, cursor, placeholder).
CONFIG_GUM_PAGER_OPTS	(see config)	Custom gum pager styling options (line numbers, match highlighting).
CONFIG_GUM_SPIN_OPTS	(see config)	Custom gum spin styling options (spinner type, title).
CONFIG_ROFI_THEME_MAIN	""	Path to a custom Rofi .rasi theme for the main menu.
CONFIG_ROFI_THEME_PREVIEW	""	Path to a custom Rofi .rasi theme for the preview menu.
CONFIG_ROFI_THEME_PROMPT	""	Path to a custom Rofi .rasi theme for prompt dialogs.
CONFIG_ROFI_THEME_CONFIRM	""	Path to a custom Rofi .rasi theme for confirmation dialogs.
CONFIG_ROFI_THEME_PAGER	""	Path to a custom Rofi .rasi theme for the pager.

Full Text Search

lib-x integrates with Calibre's Full Text Search (FTS) engine, allowing you to search inside the actual content of your books — not just titles, authors, or tags.

Accessing FTS

Navigate to Miscellaneous > Full Text Search from the main menu, or use the Miscellaneous > Manage FTS Index submenu to control the index.

FTS Index Management

Before using FTS, you need to enable and build the index. From the Manage FTS Index submenu, you can:

Action	Description
Show Indexing Status	View the current state of the FTS index.
Enable FTS Indexing	Enable the FTS index for your library.
Disable FTS Indexing	Disable the FTS index.
Re-index Library	Start re-indexing the library in the background.
Re-index Library (wait)	Re-index and block until the process completes.

Searching

Once the index is enabled, select Full Text Search from the Miscellaneous menu. You will be prompted to enter a search query. Results are presented in the same book explorer UI as all other searches.

FTS queries support Calibre's full text search syntax. See the Calibre manual for details on query syntax.

Note: FTS indexing is resource-intensive for large libraries. It is recommended to index in the background and only re-index after adding or modifying a significant number of books.

Extensions

lib-x supports extensions to add languages, themes, or override functionality. Extensions are standard shell scripts loaded from ~/.config/lib-x/extensions/.

• Languages: Add localizations by editing langs/default.lang (e.g., swap out TXT_MENU_MAIN_SEARCH="Search" to your native language).
• Themes: Tweak terminal colors by editing themes/default.theme (defines $THEME_HEADER_COLOR, $THEME_FZF_ICON_COLOR_PRIMARY, etc.).
• Autoloading: Add any custom .sh script names to CONFIG_AUTOLOADED_EXTENSIONS="custom.sh" to have them sourced at runtime.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Reporting Bugs

lib-x is a wrapper around the powerful calibredb command-line utility. Before opening an issue, check if the underlying issue is Calibre related:

• Database syncing / Book adding fails: Ensure calibredb works directly from your terminal.
• Metadata parsing or navigation logic fails: This is handled by lib-x. Please open an issue!

Where is my Calibre Database located?

By default, lib-x looks in ~/Calibre Library. If your library is elsewhere, change the CONFIG_CALIBRE_LIBRARY_PATH variable in your config file (via lib-x -e). The script specifically looks for the metadata.db file in this directory to track modifications.

How do I read EPUBs or PDFs in specific apps?

By default, lib-x uses your OS's default file opener (xdg-open, open, etc.). If you want to enforce specific readers, use the CONFIG_READER variable formatted as extension:command,extension2:command2.

Example: CONFIG_READER="epub:zathura,pdf:evince,mobi:foliate"

Why are my book covers (image previews) not showing up?

Image previews require a few components to work together:

1. Ensure you have enabled them in your config: CONFIG_PREVIEW_ENABLE=true and CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_ENABLE=true.
2. Ensure you have a supported image renderer installed (e.g., chafa, icat, or imgcat).
3. Set the correct renderer in your config: CONFIG_PREVIEW_IMAGES_RENDERER="chafa".
4. Ensure your terminal emulator actually supports image rendering. If it doesn't, chafa is highly recommended as it falls back to excellent ASCII/block character rendering.

What is the `--shell` action in the Book Actions menu?

Selecting Shell from a book's action menu drops you into a subshell pre-loaded with all the data about that book.

Variables exported include:

• STATE_CURRENT_BOOK_TITLE - Title of the selected book
• STATE_CURRENT_BOOK - Raw JSON payload containing UUIDs, authors, formats, tags
• STATE_CURRENT_BOOKS - Path to the current book list file
• STATE_CURRENT_CATEGORY - Current category filter (if any)
• STATE_CURRENT - Current state depth level
• CALIBRE_DB_JSON_FILE - Path to the cached database
• CALIBRE_CATEGORIES_TSV_FILE - Path to the cached categories file
• CLI_CURRENT_STATE_DIR - Path to the current state directory
• CLI_NAME - The CLI name (lib-x)

This is incredibly powerful if you want to run custom scripts, write raw Calibre commands, or manipulate the book file manually without leaving lib-x. Use jq to parse the $STATE_CURRENT_BOOK payload.

How does "Add Books from Folder" work with Yazi?

If you have yazi installed and set CONFIG_FILE_EXPLORER="yazi", selecting "Add Books From Folder" (in the Miscellaneous menu) will launch yazi. Navigate to the directory you want to import, press ENTER, and lib-x will automatically pass that directory to calibredb add along with any custom options you specify in the subsequent prompt.

How do I customize the Nerd Font icons?

All icons are defined in the language variables (TXT_ICON_MENU_MAIN_SEARCH, TXT_ICON_MENU_BOOK_ACTIONS_READ, etc.). If you don't like them or your terminal doesn't support Nerd Fonts, create a custom .lang extension in ~/.config/lib-x/extensions/langs/ and override these variables with empty strings or standard ASCII characters. Load it via CONFIG_AUTOLOADED_EXTENSIONS.

Does lib-x work with Flatpak Calibre?

Yes. lib-x automatically detects Flatpak Calibre installations (the com.calibre_ebook.calibre Flatpak package). When detected, all Calibre commands (calibredb, ebook-viewer, ebook-convert, etc.) are executed through flatpak run transparently. No manual configuration is required.

How does Full Text Search (FTS) work?

FTS uses Calibre's built-in full text search engine to index the content of your books. You must first enable and build the index from Miscellaneous > Manage FTS Index. Once indexed, you can search inside book contents from Miscellaneous > Full Text Search. The index is stored by Calibre alongside your library database. Note that indexing can be resource-intensive for large libraries.

How do I prevent dropped books from showing in menus?

By default, lib-x automatically hides books in your "Dropped" list from all menus. This is controlled by the CONFIG_FILTER_DROPPED variable (default: true). To show dropped books in all menus, set CONFIG_FILTER_DROPPED=false in your config file.

Contribution

Pull requests are highly welcome! :)

Supporting the Project

If you enjoy using lib-x and want to support its ongoing development, consider leaving a Star on GitHub!