Grimmory Self Hosted Library

Grimmory Self-Hosted Library Manager

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Grimmory is a self-hosted application (successor to BookLore) for managing your entire book collection. It supports EPUBs, PDFs, MOBIs, AZW/AZW3, and comics (CBZ/CBR/CB7), with a built-in browser reader, annotations, Kobo/OPDS sync, KOReader progress sync, metadata enrichment, and multi-user support.

Installation

Requirements

• Docker and Docker Compose

Step 1: Create .env

# Application
APP_USER_ID=1000
APP_GROUP_ID=1000
TZ=Etc/UTC

# Database
DATABASE_URL=jdbc:mariadb://mariadb:3306/grimmory
DB_USER=grimmory
DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}

# Storage: LOCAL (default) or NETWORK
DISK_TYPE=LOCAL

# MariaDB
DB_USER_ID=1000
DB_GROUP_ID=1000
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
MYSQL_DATABASE=grimmory

Step 2: Create docker-compose.yml

services:
  grimmory:
    image: grimmory/grimmory:latest
    # Alternative registry: ghcr.io/grimmory-tools/grimmory:latest
    container_name: grimmory
    environment:
      - USER_ID=${APP_USER_ID}
      - GROUP_ID=${APP_GROUP_ID}
      - TZ=${TZ}
      - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
      - DATABASE_USERNAME=${DB_USER}
      - DATABASE_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - DISK_TYPE=${DISK_TYPE}
    depends_on:
      mariadb:
        condition: service_healthy
    ports:
      - "6060:6060"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
      - ./books:/books
      - ./bookdrop:/bookdrop
    healthcheck:
      test: wget -q -O - http://localhost:6060/api/v1/healthcheck
      interval: 60s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 60s
      timeout: 10s
    restart: unless-stopped

  mariadb:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/mariadb:11.4.5
    container_name: mariadb
    environment:
      - PUID=${DB_USER_ID}
      - PGID=${DB_GROUP_ID}
      - TZ=${TZ}
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=${MYSQL_DATABASE}
      - MYSQL_USER=${DB_USER}
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - ./mariadb/config:/config
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mariadb-admin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 10

Step 3: Launch

docker compose up -d

# View logs
docker compose logs -f grimmory

# Check health
curl http://localhost:6060/api/v1/healthcheck

Open http://localhost:6060 and create your admin account.

Volume Layout

./data/          # App data, thumbnails, user config
./books/         # Your book files (mounted at /books)
./bookdrop/      # Drop-zone for auto-import (mounted at /bookdrop)
./mariadb/       # MariaDB data

Environment Variables Reference

Supported Book Formats

BookDrop (Auto-Import)

Drop files into ./bookdrop/ on your host. Grimmory watches the folder, extracts metadata from Google Books and Open Library, and queues books for review.

./bookdrop/
  my-novel.epub        ← dropped here
  another-book.pdf     ← dropped here

Flow:

1. Watch — Grimmory monitors /bookdrop continuously
2. Detect — New files are picked up and parsed
3. Enrich — Metadata fetched from Google Books / Open Library
4. Import — Review in UI, adjust if needed, confirm import

Volume mapping required in docker-compose.yml:

volumes:
  - ./bookdrop:/bookdrop

Network Storage Mode

For NFS, SMB, or other network-mounted filesystems, set DISK_TYPE=NETWORK. This disables destructive UI operations (delete, move, rename) to protect shared mounts while keeping reading, metadata, and sync fully functional.

# .env
DISK_TYPE=NETWORK

Java Backend — Key Patterns

Grimmory is a Java application (Spring Boot + MariaDB). When contributing or extending:

Project Structure (typical Spring Boot layout)

src/main/java/
  com/grimmory/
    config/          # Spring configuration classes
    controller/      # REST API controllers
    service/         # Business logic
    repository/      # JPA repositories
    model/           # JPA entities
    dto/             # Data transfer objects

REST API — Base Path

All endpoints are under /api/v1/:

# Health check
GET http://localhost:6060/api/v1/healthcheck

# Books
GET http://localhost:6060/api/v1/books
GET http://localhost:6060/api/v1/books/{id}
POST http://localhost:6060/api/v1/books
PUT http://localhost:6060/api/v1/books/{id}
DELETE http://localhost:6060/api/v1/books/{id}

# Shelves
GET http://localhost:6060/api/v1/shelves
POST http://localhost:6060/api/v1/shelves

# OPDS catalog (for compatible reader apps)
GET http://localhost:6060/opds

Example: Querying the API with Java (OkHttp)

import okhttp3.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class GrimmoryClient {

    private final OkHttpClient http = new OkHttpClient();
    private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
    private final String baseUrl;
    private final String token;

    public GrimmoryClient(String baseUrl, String token) {
        this.baseUrl = baseUrl;
        this.token = token;
    }

    public String getBooks() throws Exception {
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url(baseUrl + "/api/v1/books")
            .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + token)
            .build();

        try (Response response = http.newCall(request).execute()) {
            return response.body().string();
        }
    }
}

Example: Spring Boot Controller Pattern

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/v1/books")
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class BookController {

    private final BookService bookService;

    @GetMapping
    public ResponseEntity<Page<BookDto>> getAllBooks(
            @RequestParam(defaultValue = "0") int page,
            @RequestParam(defaultValue = "20") int size,
            @RequestParam(required = false) String search) {
        return ResponseEntity.ok(bookService.findAll(page, size, search));
    }

    @GetMapping("/{id}")
    public ResponseEntity<BookDto> getBook(@PathVariable Long id) {
        return ResponseEntity.ok(bookService.findById(id));
    }

    @PostMapping
    public ResponseEntity<BookDto> createBook(@RequestBody @Valid CreateBookRequest request) {
        return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED)
                .body(bookService.create(request));
    }

    @PutMapping("/{id}/metadata")
    public ResponseEntity<BookDto> updateMetadata(
            @PathVariable Long id,
            @RequestBody @Valid UpdateMetadataRequest request) {
        return ResponseEntity.ok(bookService.updateMetadata(id, request));
    }
}

Example: JPA Entity Pattern

@Entity
@Table(name = "books")
@Data
@Builder
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
public class Book {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;

    @Column(nullable = false)
    private String title;

    private String author;
    private String isbn;
    private String format;  // EPUB, PDF, CBZ, etc.

    @Column(name = "file_path")
    private String filePath;

    @Column(name = "cover_path")
    private String coverPath;

    @Column(name = "reading_progress")
    private Double readingProgress;

    @ManyToMany
    @JoinTable(
        name = "book_shelf",
        joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "book_id"),
        inverseJoinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "shelf_id")
    )