Self-hosted audiobook-and-ebook server with native Kobo e-reader sync

other real project ••• trending

Audiobookshelf users who keep audiobooks and ebooks in one library want their ebooks to sync wirelessly to Kobo e-readers the way Calibre-Web already does, without cables or running a second server. The top Audiobookshelf request, labeled by maintainers as a possible plugin, asks for exactly this. The opportunity is a Kobo-sync bridge for Audiobookshelf, or a unified server that finally covers audiobooks plus ebooks plus native e-reader sync in one place.

builder note

Do not fork Audiobookshelf. The cleanest build is a sidecar that speaks Kobo's sync API and reads an existing Audiobookshelf library, since the issue is literally tagged 'possible plugin' and Calibre-Web already proved the sync protocol is reverse-engineerable.

landscape (4 existing solutions)

BookLore 2.0 now covers both audiobooks and Kobo sync, partially closing this gap. The persisting opportunity is in the Audiobookshelf ecosystem specifically: its mobile apps (Prologue, ShelfPlayer) and plugin community are more mature than BookLore's, so users already invested in that stack still have no native Kobo sync path. The opportunity may be an Audiobookshelf-specific bridge rather than a new unified server from scratch.

BookLore BookLore 2.0 added full audiobook support and bidirectional Kobo e-reader sync, covering the unified-server + Kobo-sync combination this signal describes. The gap versus this signal is primarily ecosystem maturity (Audiobookshelf has a larger plugin/app ecosystem, including Prologue and ShelfPlayer), and BookLore's Kobo sync implementation differs from Calibre-Web's battle-tested OPDS-based approach — builders should assess whether BookLore's sync is feature-complete before treating this as a fully open space.

Audiobookshelf The best self-hosted home for both audiobooks and ebooks, but it has no Kobo sync, so ebooks must move over a cable or through OPDS and email workarounds rather than syncing automatically.

Calibre-Web Has real built-in Kobo sync (chosen shelves become Kobo collections, with automatic kepub conversion), but it only handles ebooks, not audiobooks, so users who want both end up running two separate servers.

Kobo native sync Wireless sync works only from the Kobo store, Dropbox, or an OverDrive library, never from your own self-hosted collection, which is the whole reason people self-host their books.

sources (1)

other https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/3504 "a non-cable way to sync their books to their readers" 2024-10-12

self-hostedebookskoboaudiobookshelfsync