Dalibre

A calm, fast desktop library for e-books that reads and writes calibre libraries. Written in Go with MyGo's native UI: no webview, no cgo, one binary.

Design: Figma — Dalibre

Develop

go tool mygo dev ./cmd/dalibre        # run with live reload
go test ./...                         # unit + view tests (no window needed)
go run ./cmd/seed "testdata/Sample Library"   # a sample library to play with

Point the app at a library with DALIBRE_LIBRARY (PowerShell: $env:DALIBRE_LIBRARY="C:\path\to\Library"); otherwise it opens the last one used, then the one calibre itself uses.

View tests can save screenshots: DALIBRE_SHOTS=<folder> go test ./internal/app.

Build a release (exe + installer in cmd/dalibre/build):

go tool mygo build ./cmd/dalibre

Release

Dalibre updates itself from this repository's GitHub releases. Releases are signed with the update key of go tool mygo keygen, which is the MYGO_UPDATER_PRIVATE_KEY secret of the repository; keep a copy in a password manager, as installed apps only accept updates it signs.

1. Bump version in cmd/dalibre/mygo.json, and add its ## <version> section to CHANGELOG.md: the update window shows it.
2. Commit, then tag and push: git tag v0.2.0 && git push origin v0.2.0.
3. The Release workflow builds every platform into a draft release. Publish the draft, and installed apps update to it.

The workflow signs the macOS app with the Developer ID and notarizes it, from the MACOS_CERTIFICATE and MACOS_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD secrets, and an App Store Connect API key in APPLE_API_KEY, APPLE_API_KEY_ID and APPLE_API_ISSUER (see the top of the workflow). mygo.json leaves signing out, so local builds are signed ad hoc.

Layout

cmd/
  dalibre/            the app: main.go, mygo.json, resources/icon.png
  seed/               creates a sample calibre library for development
  dalibre-plugin/     CLI for plugin authors (npm: dalibre-plugin): init, check, dev, docs, pack, install
plugins/
  gutenberg/          Project Gutenberg, built into the app (dalibre.gutenberg)
  googlebooks/        Google Books metadata lookup, built into the app (dalibre.googlebooks)
  neodb/              NeoDB metadata lookup, built into the app (dalibre.neodb)
sdk/                  for plugin authors: dalibre.d.ts, plugin.schema.json, template
internal/
  calibre/            calibre library access: schema, SQL functions its
                      triggers need, naming rules, CRUD, OPF
  ebookmeta/          title/authors/cover from EPUB, MOBI/AZW3 and file names
  catalog/            search, filters, sorting and sidebar counts (no UI)
  plugin/             plugins: manifest, sandboxed JS runtime, consent, packages
  mcp/                the MCP server: tools, call log, stdio bridge
  settings/           user settings persisted as JSON
  thumbs/             on-disk cover thumbnails
  app/                state, actions and views of the window
    theme/            design tokens (Radix Colors, spacing, radii) and fonts
    icons/            Lucide icons
    widgets/          the Figma library's components

Plugins

Get books (in the sidebar) searches and browses book sources and adds what you pick to your library. Project Gutenberg is built in; anyone can add a source as a plugin: a plugin.json and a JavaScript file, run sandboxed inside Dalibre. See Writing Dalibre plugins, also in the CLI (npx dalibre-plugin@latest docs), and the design.

MCP

Your own agents (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor…) can use the open library over MCP: search it, edit metadata, add books, and convert formats with their own tools. See Using Dalibre with your agents and the design.

Compatibility with calibre

• New libraries use calibre's own metadata.db schema (user_version 28).
• Dalibre registers the SQL functions calibre's triggers call (title_sort, uuid4, …), so writes behave as calibre's do.
• Book folders and files follow calibre's naming (Author/Title (id)/Title - Author.ext, transliterated to ASCII), and move when the title or first author changes.
• Edits write metadata.opf and mark the book in metadata_dirtied, so calibre refreshes it next time.
• Removed books go to the system Recycle Bin.

Licenses

internal/calibre/metadata_sqlite.sql comes from calibre (GPL-3.0). Fonts (Inter, Geist Mono) are under the SIL Open Font License; icons are Lucide (ISC); colors are Radix Colors (MIT).