OPDS catalogs
Books from Komga, Kavita, Calibre-Web or any OPDS server, and their files, in your notes and your reader.
OPDS is the standard way a library server lists its books for reading apps. Turn it on in Settings → Library Hub → Providers, give it your server's catalog address, and its books join your notes. Their files open in the reader.
What it brings#
- Notes for the books on the server. A book you also have in Calibre joins that note (matched by ISBN, then title and author); one only the server has gets its own note (turn that off with Notes for books only another provider has).
- Details: the author, the series and its number where the server says them, the language, publisher and date where it gives them, and an ISBN when the catalog lists one.
- Files in the reader. This book: Read opens an EPUB, AZW3, MOBI or PDF the catalog offers, with your place remembered.
It is read-only, and OPDS carries no reading activity: it never changes anything on the server.
Connect#
Choose Connect… on the OPDS tile and fill in:
| Server | Catalog address | Login |
|---|---|---|
| Komga | http://your-server:25600/opds/v1.2/catalog | your Komga user and password |
| Kavita | the OPDS URL from your user settings (it has a key in it, like http://your-server:5000/api/opds/<key>) | none: the key is in the address |
| Calibre-Web | http://your-server:8083/opds | your Calibre-Web user and password |
The address is kept in Obsidian's keychain, because some servers put a key in it. The password is too.
How it reads a catalog#
It starts at the address, follows the catalog's menus and its next pages, and collects every entry that offers a file, once each. A big catalog takes a while: it stops after 2,000 requests and the sync says so. To read only part of a server, give the address of that part (Komga: …/opds/v1.2/books/latest, for example).
Komga and Kavita decorate their titles (Komga: Salt Cycle 1: The Salt Keeper; Kavita: ⭘ The Salt Keeper - The Salt Keeper). Library Hub undoes both, and takes a series and number from Komga's. Another server's titles are used as they are. These two were checked against running servers; Calibre-Web was not, so if its titles or details come out wrong, tell me what its catalog looks like.
Try it without your own server#
scripts/opds-test-servers.sh starts a throwaway Komga and Kavita in Docker with two invented books each and prints the addresses and logins to paste in; scripts/opds-test-servers.sh stop removes them.
What it sends#
Requests go only to the server you name, with your login or key. Nothing from your vault is sent.