djyde/dalibre

What it is

Dalibre is a desktop library for e-books that works directly on an existing calibre library rather than importing it into a new format. It is written in Go using MyGo's native UI, so it runs as a single binary without a webview or cgo.

It covers the everyday library tasks: browsing and searching books, viewing cover thumbnails, editing metadata, and getting books from sources such as Project Gutenberg, Google Books and NeoDB. Sources are plugins, and an MCP server exposes the library to agents like Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor for searching, editing metadata and adding books.

The point is compatibility. New libraries use calibre's metadata.db schema (user_version 28), Dalibre registers the SQL functions calibre's triggers call, and it follows calibre's folder and file naming so titles and authors move correctly. Edits write metadata.opf and mark books in metadata_dirtied for calibre to refresh.

Getting started

The README documents a development workflow. Builds are made with MyGo:

go tool mygo dev ./cmd/dalibre        # run with live reload
go run ./cmd/seed "testdata/Sample Library"   # create a sample library

The app opens the last library used, then the one calibre itself uses. To point it at a specific library, set DALIBRE_LIBRARY; on PowerShell use $env:DALIBRE_LIBRARY="C:\path\to\Library". Tests run with go test ./..., and a release build (exe plus installer in cmd/dalibre/build) is produced with go tool mygo build ./cmd/dalibre.

For end users, the project site is the entry point; the README describes the release process but not a manual install flow.

Constraints

• The app is built around calibre library formats; non-calibre libraries are not the target.
• Writes depend on calibre's metadata.db schema (user_version 28) and its SQL trigger functions, so compatibility is tied to that schema version.
• Dalibre updates itself from this repository's GitHub releases, which are signed with an update key; installed apps only accept updates signed by that key.
• Removed books go to the system Recycle Bin rather than being deleted outright.
• The repository declares no license. Bundled components carry their own terms: the calibre metadata SQL is GPL-3.0, fonts are SIL OFL, icons are ISC and colors are MIT.

HotRepo's take

Dalibre appeared on HotRepo's new-project list on 2026-11-09, recording 11 stars gained in the roughly one-hour window from 12:15 to 13:15 UTC and reaching 114 stars at the 13:15 sample, with 5 forks. That is a single short observation, so it shows early attention rather than an established trend. What stands out technically is the approach: rather than a calibre clone with its own store, it writes into calibre's schema and directory conventions directly, and adds plugin and MCP surfaces on top. Whether that holds up depends on schema-version compatibility in real libraries.

Project source and documentation