The setup I will present has gone through many iterations and changes. The main application has changed so many times that it would seem ridiculous. Testing has included Calibre-Web, Kavita, Koodo Reader, and OPDShelf. There are a few other apps in between that weren’t able to spin up even locally or with more than half of the capabilities I was looking for.

What I Use

My setup is fairly straightforward with only a handful of applications needed to get it working. It is deployed on a 1 CPU / 1 GB RAM server that is also running other setups. The only part of the setup that I would not classify as simple is the integration of Caddy to handle basic authentication for OPDS feed traffic.

I hit a really long, summer long if you count it, slump in creativity and inspiration to write. I have wanted to write about digital resource preservation, literacy, and how to increase access to books online, but I will just share a nice deployment that anyone with interest can maintain themselves.

I first started learning about e-libraries and ebooks when I decided that instead of reading 1-2 books per year, that I would push myself to read 12-24 books. As of this month August 2025, I’ve only read 8 books, so I’ll probably barely reach that goal. I have been doing the bulk of this reading either on an e-reader or on my phone. I hate reading on my phone, but more often or not for a lot of these platforms, reading on your phone, a bulky computer, or specifically their device that you will have to purchase out of pocket are the only options.