this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025
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It looks like a massive update. Here are some excerpts, with more changes listed in the link above. I'm especially excited about the companion app:

"Calibre-Web Automated is extremely lucky and privileged to have such a large and vibrant community of people who support, enjoy and contribute to the project. The bulk of the new features and bugfixes this update brings were created by the best and brightest of our community and I want to celebrate that and their work here in the hope that our community only continues to grow!" - CrocodileStick

Major Changes πŸš€

NEW: Split Library Support πŸ’ž

  • As promised, all CWA features are now fully compatible with Calibre-Web's Split Library Functionality
  • This enables users to store their Calibre Library in a a separate location to their metadata.db file
  • To configure this, in the Admin Panel, navigate to Edit Calibre Database Configuration -> Separate Book Files from Library
    • The use of Network Shares (especially NFS) with this functionality is discouraged as they sometimes don't play well with CW & CWA's SQLite3 heavy stack. Many users use network shares without issues but there aren't enough resources to support those who can't get it working on their own

NEW: Hardcover API Integration πŸ’œπŸ“–

  • Hardcover is now officially not only available as a Metadata Provider, but using Hardcover's API, Kobo Shelves & Read Progress can now also be synced to a user's Hardcover account!

  • Current workflow is scraping a book by title, you can then use the resulting hardcover-id identifier to search for editions of that book, by searching "hardcover-id:". Edition results are filtered to exclude Audiobooks editions, and sorted by ebook then physical book.

  • If a shelf in CWA is selected for Kobo sync, when a book with id and edition identifiers is added to the shelf, it will also be added to Hardcovers want to read list. As the book is read on the Kobo device progress is synced to Hardcover as well when pushed to CWA.

  • To use Hardcover as a Metadata Provider, simply provided a Hardcover API Token in your docker-compose under the HARDCOVER_TOKEN Environment Variable

    • To enable Kobo sync, a Hardcover API Token must be provided for each user in each user's respective Profile Page
  • Thanks to demitrix! <3

NEW: Greatly Improved Metadata Selection UI 🎨

  • Demitrix was really on a roll the last couple of months and also contributed some really cool functionality to the Metadata Selection UI

CWA New Metadata Fetch UI - V3.1.0

  • Much more Elegant & Readable UI, both on Mobile & on Desktop

    • Improved CSS for the Fetch Metadata interfaceβ€”making it easier and clearer for you to review and select metadata sources.
  • Individually Selectable Elements

    • Say goodbye to having to having all of your book's metadata overwritten simply becuasse you wanted a better looking cover!
    • As of V3.1.0, all metadata elements can be individually updated from multiple sources instead of the only option being to take everything for a single source!
  • Visual Quality Comparison Between the Cover Your Book Already Those Available from Metadata Providers

    • Looking for a specific cover but not sure if the image file is low quality or not? As of V3.1.0, the resolution of cover images is now displayed on the bottom right corner of the preview, the background of which is colour-coded to indicate whether the available cover is of greater, lower or equal quality to the one already attached to the ebook!
  • Thanks to demitrix for their contributions to this! <3

NEW: KoReader Sync Functionality! πŸ“šπŸ—˜

  • CWA now includes built-in KOReader syncing functionality, providing a modern alternative to traditional KOReader sync servers!
  • Universal KOReader Syncer: Works across all KOReader-compatible devices, storing sync data in a readable format for future CWA features
  • Modern Authentication: Uses RFC 7617 compliant header-based authentication instead of legacy MD5 hashing for enhanced security
  • CWA Integration: Leverages your existing CWA user accounts and permissions - no additional server setup required
  • Easy Installation: Plugin and setup instructions are available directly from your CWA instance at /kosync
  • Provided by sirwolfgang! <3

NEW: Support for the Latest Versions of Calibre, even on devices with older Kernels! πŸ†•πŸŽ‰

  • ABI tag from the extracted libQt6* files removed to allow them to be used with older kernels
  • Adds binutils to install strip for calibre-included Dockerfile. strip libQt6*.so files of the ABI tag so that they can work with older kernels (harmless for newer kernels). These libraries appear to still contain fallbacks for any missing syscalls that calibre might use. add .gitattributes to enforce LF checkout on .sh files (useful for those who build on windows)
  • Thanks to these changes, CWA now has much greater compatibility with a much wider range of devices & is able to keep up to date with the latest Calibre Releases! πŸŽ‰
  • Provided by FennyFatal <3

NEW: Calibre Plugin Support (WIP) πŸ”Œ

  • Users can now install Calibre plugins such as DeDRM
  • The feature is still a work in progress but users with existing Calibre instances can simply bind their existing Calibre plugins folder to /config/.config/calibre/plugins in their docker-compose file

NEW: Bulk Add Books to Shelves πŸ“šπŸ“šπŸ“š

Contributed by netvyper, you can now select multiple books from the book list page and add them to a shelf in one go!

  • New "Add to Shelf" button in bulk actions on the book list.
  • Modal dialog lets you pick your shelf.
  • Backend checks for permissions, duplicates, and provides clear success/error feedback.

NEW: Better Docs Cometh - The Birth of the CWA Wiki πŸ“œ

  • The documentation for CWA while for many enough, could really be better in helping as many users find the answers and information they need as quickly as possible
  • Therefore We have started work on the CWA Wiki to strive towards this goal!
  • While still very much a work in progress, submissions for pages, edits ect. are open to the community so if you stumble across something that seems wrong, missing or outdated, please jump in and change it if you can or let us know if you're not sure :)

Affliated Projects πŸ‘¬

  • In the spirit of community, I also wanted to give a shout out to some really great affiliate projects made by members of our community!
  • As well as being featured here in the release, affiliated projects will now also be prominently feature on the CWA GitHub page to drive as much traffic & enthusiasm to them as possible
  • If you've had an idea for a companion project for CWA, or want to get involved in helping improve CWA and/or it's affiliated projects, please just do so! We're all open-source here so you don't need anyone's permission, just go for it! :)

Calibre-Web Companion

  • Built with Flutter and using Material You, Calibre Web Companion is an unofficial companion application for Calibre Web & Calibre Web Automated that allows you to browse your book collection and download books directly on your device, providing a much more modern, mobile-friendly UX than either service can currently provide on its own

Calibre Web Companion Preview


Calibre-Web Automated Book Downloader

  • An intuitive web interface for searching and requesting book downloads, designed to work seamlessly with Calibre-Web-Automated. This project streamlines the process of downloading books and preparing them for integration into your Calibre library

Supporting the Project ❀️

If you are in a position to, donations no matter how small are really appreciated & really help to keep the project going. Currently all money that has been and will be received is going towards a Kobo device so I can finally help out with the development & testing of CWA's KoSync & Kobo specific features :)

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[–] higgsboson@piefed.social 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Okay, but... wtf does it do?

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 7 points 15 hours ago

It's an ebook library