📚 Book Downloader

calibre-web-automated-book-downloader

A unified web interface for searching and downloading books from multiple sources — all in one place. Works out of the box with popular web sources, no configuration required. Add metadata providers, additional release sources, and download clients to create a single hub for building your digital library.

Fully standalone — no external dependencies required. Works great alongside library tools like Calibre-Web-Automated or Booklore for automatic import.

✨ Features

• One-Stop Interface - A clean, modern UI to search, browse, and download from multiple sources in one place
• Real-Time Progress - Unified download queue with live status updates across all sources
• Two Search Modes:
  • Direct Download - Search and download from popular web sources
  • Universal Mode - Search metadata providers (Hardcover, Open Library) for richer book discovery and multi-source downloads (additional sources in development - coming soon!)
• Format Support - EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, DJVU, CBZ, CBR and more
• Cloudflare Bypass - Built-in bypasser for reliable access to protected sources
• PWA Support - Install as a mobile app for quick access
• Docker Deployment - Up and running in minutes

🖼️ Screenshots

Home screen

Search results

Multi-source downloads

Download queue

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose

Installation

1. Download the docker-compose file:

   curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/calibrain/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader/main/docker-compose.yml
   

2. Start the service:

   docker compose up -d
   

3. Open http://localhost:8084

That's it! Configure settings through the web interface as needed.

Volume Setup

volumes:
  - /your/config/path:/config             # Config, database, and artwork cache directory
  - /your/download/path:/cwa-book-ingest  # Downloaded books

Tip

: Point the download volume to your CWA or Booklore ingest folder for automatic import.

Note

: CIFS shares require nobrl mount option to avoid database lock errors.

⚙️ Configuration

Search Modes

Direct Download Mode (default)

• Works out of the box, no setup required
• Searches a huge library of books directly
• Returns downloadable releases immediately

Universal Mode

• Cleaner search results via metadata providers (Hardcover, Open Library)
• Aggregates releases from multiple configured sources
• Requires manual setup (API keys, additional sources)

Set the mode via Settings or SEARCH_MODE environment variable.

Environment Variables

Environment variables work for initial setup and Docker deployments. They serve as defaults that can be overridden in the web interface.

Variable	Description	Default
FLASK_PORT	Web interface port	8084
INGEST_DIR	Book download directory	/cwa-book-ingest
TZ	Container timezone	UTC
UID / GID	Runtime user/group ID	1000 / 100
SEARCH_MODE	direct or universal	direct

Some of the additional options available in Settings:

• AA Donator Key - Use your paid account to skip Cloudflare challenges entirely and use faster, direct downloads
• Preferred source - Enable/disable and reorder available web sources for downloads
• Library Link - Add a link to your Calibre-Web or Booklore instance in the UI header
• Content Folders - Route fiction, non-fiction, comics, etc. to separate directories
• Network Resilience - Auto DNS rotation and mirror fallback when sources are unreachable. Custom proxy support (SOCK5 + HTTP/S), Tor routing.
• Format & Language - Filter downloads by preferred formats, languages and sorting order
• Metadata Providers - Configure API keys for Hardcover, Open Library, etc.

🐳 Docker Variants

Standard

docker compose up -d

Tor Variant

Routes all traffic through Tor for enhanced privacy:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/calibrain/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader/main/docker-compose.tor.yml
docker compose -f docker-compose.tor.yml up -d

Notes:

• Requires NET_ADMIN and NET_RAW capabilities
• Timezone is auto-detected from Tor exit node
• Custom DNS/proxy settings are ignored

External Cloudflare Resolver

Use FlareSolverr or ByParr instead of the built-in bypasser:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/calibrain/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader/main/docker-compose.extbp.yml
docker compose -f docker-compose.extbp.yml up -d

Configure the resolver URL in Settings under the Cloudflare tab.

When to use external vs internal bypasser:

• External is useful if you already run FlareSolverr for other services (saves resources) or if you rarely need bypassing
• Internal (default) is faster and more reliable for most users - it's optimized specifically for this application

🔐 Authentication

Authentication is optional but recommended for shared or exposed instances. Enable in Settings.

Alternative: If you're running Calibre-Web, you can reuse its user database by mounting it:

volumes:
  - /path/to/calibre-web/app.db:/auth/app.db:ro

Health Monitoring

The application exposes a health endpoint at /api/status. Add a health check to your compose:

healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "curl", "-sf", "http://localhost:8084/api/status"]
  interval: 30s
  timeout: 30s
  retries: 3

Logging

Logs are available via:

• docker logs <container-name>
• /var/log/cwa-book-downloader/ inside the container (when ENABLE_LOGGING=true)

Log level is configurable via Settings or LOG_LEVEL environment variable.

Development

# Frontend development
make install     # Install dependencies
make dev         # Start Vite dev server (localhost:5173)
make build       # Production build
make typecheck   # TypeScript checks

# Backend (Docker)
make up          # Start backend via docker-compose.dev.yml
make down        # Stop services
make refresh     # Rebuild and restart
make restart     # Restart container

The frontend dev server proxies to the backend on port 8084.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Web Interface                          │
│                 (React + TypeScript + Vite)                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                      Flask Backend                          │
│                   (REST API + WebSocket)                    │
├───────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────────┤
│ Metadata Providers│   Download Queue    │  Cloudflare       │
│                   │   & Orchestrator    │  Bypass           │
├───────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ • Hardcover       │ • Task scheduling   │ • Internal        │
│ • Open Library    │ • Progress tracking │ • External        │
│                   │ • Retry logic       │   (FlareSolverr)  │
├───────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────┤
│                     Release Sources                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Direct Download (Anna's Archive → Libgen → Welib)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     Network Layer                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Auto DNS rotation  • Mirror failover  • Resume support    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The backend uses a plugin architecture. Metadata providers and release sources register via decorators and are automatically discovered.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please file issues or submit pull requests on GitHub.

Note

: Additional release sources and download clients are under active development. Want to add support for your favorite source? Check out the plugin architecture above and submit a PR!

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

⚠️ Disclaimers

Copyright Notice

This tool can access various sources including those that might contain copyrighted material. Users are responsible for:

• Ensuring they have the right to download requested materials
• Respecting copyright laws and intellectual property rights
• Using the tool in compliance with their local regulations

Library Integration

Downloads are written atomically (via intermediate .crdownload files) to prevent partial files from being ingested. However, if your library tool (CWA, Booklore, Calibre) is actively scanning or importing, there's a small chance of race conditions. If you experience database errors or import failures, try pausing your library's auto-import during bulk downloads.

Support

For issues or questions, please file an issue on GitHub.