OperaLibre

A private, self-hosted audiobook server with web, iPhone, Android, and macOS apps. Point it at a folder of audiobook files and stream them to any of your devices, with per-reader accounts, synced progress, and offline downloads.

The backend is a Rust axum server that exposes a documented HTTP API; the included React web app is the reference frontend, and other web, mobile, or desktop clients can build against the same server.

Features

• Your files, your library. Scans a folder of .mp3, .m4b, .m4a, .mp4, .aac, .flac, .ogg, .opus, .wav, and .aiff files with rich tag, chapter, and cover-art extraction.
• A full player. Seekable streaming, playback speed, sleep timer, 15/30-second skips, and OS-level media controls.
• Per-reader accounts. Each reader gets their own progress, listening stats, reading log, and a durable completion history that survives a book being deleted or replaced.
• Read along. Open an EPUB, PDF, text, or HTML companion in a full-window reader with playback controls. EPUBs support chapter sync; an aligned map and the server's follow-along experiment enable sentence seeking, highlighting, and automatic page turns. The optional generator creates those maps locally. Audible picture PDFs are told apart from the book and shown as extras.
• Offline listening. The native Android and iPhone apps download books for playback without a connection.
• CarPlay. The iPhone app browses your shelf, downloads, and books in progress on the car screen and plays them there, from a library snapshot that works with the phone locked and the server out of reach.
• Audible import. Optional Libation integration lets administrators connect Audible accounts, browse purchases, and download titles straight into the library — with a per-reader approval workflow. See Libation / Audible Import.
• Libro.fm import. Connect your Libro.fm account, browse purchases, and import selected audiobooks directly into the server. A watched-folder option is also available. See Libro.fm Import.
• Jellyfin support. The apps can also connect to a Jellyfin server for audiobook browsing, streaming, and resume sync.
• Third-party client access. A subset of the Audiobookshelf API supports BookPlayer browsing and download contracts; an OPDS catalog provides individual audio downloads. Compatibility and progress sync depend on the client; see Client compatibility.
• Book identity across editions. Different rips, editions, and ISBNs of the same book are linked as one work, so reading history follows the reader across copies.
• Try it instantly. A self-contained on-device demo works without a server, account, or network connection.

Install

On macOS and Linux, one command downloads the newest release for your computer, verifies its published SHA-256 digest, sets up your audiobook folder, and starts the server:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DonovanMontoya/OperaLibre/main/script/install.sh | sh

It asks where to install, which audiobook folder to use, whether other devices on your home network may connect, and whether to set up the optional Audible import — which can install Libation into the OperaLibre folder for you. On Linux, it also offers to install Libation's ICU system dependency with administrator access when needed. Run the same command later to update an existing installation in place; your accounts, progress, audiobooks, and settings are kept. To skip the questions, add | sh -s -- --yes, and see --help for the other options.

The main package stays small. Owners who want experimental follow-along sync generation can install its separate, verified runtime later from Administration → Experiments; normal playback and chapter sync remain available with it disabled. Disabling the experiment keeps existing sync maps but pauses sentence following until it is enabled again.

For a headless machine, --server-only installs the server without the bundled web app and writes background start/stop helper scripts beside it.

Windows and manual installs use the release packages below.

Download

Grab a release from the GitHub releases page. Builds are provided for Windows x64, Linux x64/ARM64, and Intel and Apple Silicon Macs:

• Combined packages — the easiest option: a background launcher starts the server and opens the web app.
• Server packages — native binaries for headless or separate deployments.
• Frontend package — static web files for an existing OperaLibre or Jellyfin server.

Combined installations notify administrators about new versions, and owners can install verified updates from the app. For step-by-step setup, see Install a Release, then Using OperaLibre for phones, reader accounts, uploads, readalong, and Audible imports.

An iPhone TestFlight build is also available: https://testflight.apple.com/join/x69Ffa33

Build and run from source

You need Node.js 22.12+, Rust, and an audiobook folder. On macOS, run xcode-select --install once if needed.

npm ci
cp server.config.example server.config
# edit server.config: set library_root to your audiobook folder
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173, create the first administrator account, and pick a book. For a single-address home setup and keeping the server running after a restart, see Deployment.

Native apps

Each app packages the same React frontend. Leave VITE_API_BASE unset when building native apps, then choose the reachable server address in the app after launch:

• Android (Capacitor, Android 7+): npm run build:android produces a debug APK; open in Android Studio with npm run android:open -w @operalibre/web for signing and devices.
• iPhone and iPad (Capacitor, iOS 15+): npm run build:ios produces a simulator build; open in Xcode with npm run ios:open -w @operalibre/web for signing and physical devices. Background spoken-audio playback and CarPlay are configured; CarPlay on a device needs Apple to grant the com.apple.developer.carplay-audio entitlement for the App ID (see Using OperaLibre).
• macOS (AppKit/WebKit host): ./script/build_and_run.sh builds and launches dist/OperaLibre.app.

The mobile apps support plain HTTP for local-network and private-overlay servers (including Tailscale 100.x addresses); use HTTPS for public remote servers.

Custom frontends

The server owns scanning, authentication, metadata, cover art, readalong files, progress sync, downloads, and byte-range streaming — frontends can treat it as a standalone media server. Authenticate with POST /api/auth/login, send the session token as a bearer header for JSON requests, and append the scoped media token to media URLs. See docs/api.md for the endpoint list and conventions.

Documentation

• Install a Release — plain-language installation guide
• Using OperaLibre — phones, readers, uploads, readalong, Jellyfin, Audible
• iOS Release Changelog — iPhone and iPad release history, starting with 1.1.0 (0)
• Configuration — every server.config option
• Library Layout — how folders, files, and companions are organized
• Users — accounts, sessions, and administration
• Libation / Audible Import — optional Audible integration setup
• Libro.fm Import — server imports and native device downloads
• Deployment — running it long-term
• API Reference — for building custom clients
• Client compatibility — third-party client coverage and limitations
• Troubleshooting

Development

For repeatable web, server, and native iOS checks and before/after measurements, see the performance test suite. Run npm run test:perf for the portable suite or npm run test:perf:all on a Mac with Xcode and an iOS Simulator runtime.

This project uses Jujutsu (jj) for version control:

jj git clone https://github.com/DonovanMontoya/OperaLibre.git

The server lives in apps/server (Rust/axum) and the frontend in apps/web (React/Vite). After changing the frontend, run npm run sync:android or npm run sync:ios before rebuilding the native apps.

License

Source-available for personal and noncommercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Commercial use, resale, paid hosting, or inclusion in a paid product requires a separate commercial license from the copyright holder.