Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/ajslater/codex

Codex is a web based comic archive browser and reader
https://github.com/ajslater/codex

Last synced: 25 days ago
JSON representation

Codex is a web based comic archive browser and reader

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
# Codex



A comic archive browser and reader.






## ✨ Features



- Codex is a web server.

- GPLv3 Licenced.

- Full text search of metadata and bookmarks.

- Filter and sort on all comic metadata and unread status per user.

- Browse a tree of Publishers, Imprints, Series, Volumes, or your own folder

  hierarchy, or by tagged Story Arc.

- Read comics in a variety of aspect ratios and directions that fit your screen.

- Watches the filesystem and automatically imports new or changed comics.

- Anonymous browsing and reading or reigistered users only, to your preference.

- Per user bookmarking & settings, even before you make an account.

- Private Libraries accessible only to certain groups of users.

- Reads CBZ, CBR, CBT, and PDF formatted comics.

- Syndication with OPDS 1 & 2, streaming, search and authentication.

- Add custom covers to Folders, Publishers, Imprints, Series, and Story Arcs.

- Runs in 1GB of RAM, faster with more.



### Examples



- _Filter by_ Story Arc and Unread, _Order by_ Publish Date to create an event

  reading list.

- _Filter by_ Unread and _Order by_ Added Time to see your latest unread comics.

- _Search by_ your favorite character to find their appearances across different

  comics.



## πŸ‘€ Demonstration



You may browse a [live demo server](https://demo.codex-reader.app/) to get a

feel for Codex.



## πŸ“œ News



Codex has a NEWS file to summarize changes that affect

users.



## πŸ“¦ Installation



### Install & Run with Docker



Run the official [Docker Image](https://hub.docker.com/r/ajslater/codex).

Instructions for running the docker image are on the Docker Hub README. This is

the recommended way to run Codex.



You'll then want to read the [Administration](#administration) section of this

document.



### Install & Run on HomeAssistant server



If you have a [HomeAssistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/) server, Codex can

be installed with the following steps :



- Add the `https://github.com/alexbelgium/hassio-addons` repository by

  [clicking here](https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/supervisor_add_addon_repository/?repository_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Falexbelgium%2Fhassio-addons)

- Install the addon :

  [click here to automatically open the addon store, then install the addon](https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/supervisor)

- Customize addon options, then then start the add-on.



### Install & Run as a Native Application



You can also run Codex as a natively installed python application with pip.



#### Binary Dependencies



You'll need to install the appropriate system dependencies for your platform

before installing Codex.



##### Linux Dependencies



###### Debian Dependencies



...and Ubuntu, Mint, MX, Window Subsystem for Linux, and others.



```sh

apt install build-essential libimagequant0 libjpeg-turbo8 libopenjp2-7 libssl libyaml-0-2 libtiff6 libwebp7 python3-dev python3-pip mupdf sqlite3 unrar zlib1g

```



Versions of packages like libjpeg, libssl, libtiff may differ between flavors

and versions of your distribution. If the package versions listed in the example

above are not available, try searching for ones that are with `apt-cache` or

`aptitude`.



```sh

apt-cache search libjpeg-turbo

```



###### Alpine Dependencies



```sh

apk add bsd-compat-headers build-base jpeg-dev libffi-dev libwebp openssl-dev sqlite yaml-dev zlib-dev

```



##### Install unrar Runtime Dependency on non-debian Linux



Codex requires unrar to read CBR formatted comic archives. Unrar is often not

packaged for Linux, but here are some instructions:

[How to install unrar in Linux](https://www.unixtutorial.org/how-to-install-unrar-in-linux/)



Unrar as packaged for Alpine Linux v3.14 seems to work on Alpine v3.15+



##### macOS Dependencies



Using [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/):



```sh

brew install jpeg libffi libyaml libzip openssl python sqlite unrar webp

```



##### Windows Dependencies



Windows users are encouraged to use Docker to run Codex, but it will also run

natively on the Windows Subsystem for Linux.



Installation instructions are in the Native Windows

Dependencies Installation Document.



#### Run Codex Natively



Once you have installed codex, the codex binary should be on your path. To start

codex, run:



```sh

codex

```



### Use Codex



Once installed and running you may navigate to 



## πŸ‘‘ Administration



### Navigate to the Admin Panel



- Click the hamburger menu ☰ to open the browser settings drawer.

- Log in as the 'admin' user. The default administrator password is also

  'admin'.

- Navigate to the Admin Panel by clicking on its link in the browser settings

  drawer after you have logged in.



### Change the Admin password



The first thing you should do is log in as the admin user and change the admin

password.



- Navigate to the Admin Panel as described above.

- Select the Users tab.

- Change the admin user's password using the small lock button.

- You may also change the admin user's name with the edit button.

- You may create other users and grant them admin privileges by making them

  staff.



### Add Comic Libraries



The second thing you will want to do is log in as an Administrator and add one

or more comic libraries.



- Navigate to the Admin Panel as described above.

- Select the Libraries tab in the Admin Panel

- Add a Library with the "+ LIBRARY" button in the upper left.



### Reset the admin password



If you forget all your superuser passwords, you may restore the original default

admin account by running codex with the `CODEX_RESET_ADMIN` environment variable

set.



```sh

CODEX_RESET_ADMIN=1 codex

```



or, if using Docker:



```sh

docker run -e CODEX_RESET_ADMIN=1 -v host-parent-dir/config:/config ajslater/codex

```



### Private Libraries



In the Admin Panel you may configure private libraries that are only accessible

to specific groups.



A library with _no_ groups is accessible to every user including anonymous

users.



A library with _any_ groups is accessible only to users who are in those groups.



Use the Groups admin panel to create groups and the Users admin panel to add and

remove users to groups.



#### Include and Exclude Groups



Codex can make groups for libraries that exclude groups of users or exclude

everyone and include only certain groups of users.



### PDF Metadata



Codex reads PDF metadata from the filename, PDF metadata fields and also many

formats of common complex comic metadata if they are embedded in the PDF

`keywords` field.



If you decide to include PDFs in your comic library, I recommend taking time to

rename your files so Codex can find some metadata. Codex recognizes several file

naming schemes. This one has good results:



`{series} v{volume} #{issue} {title} ({year}) {ignored}.pdf`



Complex comic metadata, such as ComicInfo.xml, can be also be embedded in the

keywords field by using the [comicbox](https://github.com/ajslater/comicbox)

command line tool. Codex will read this data because it relies on comicbox

internally. Not many people use comicbox or embedded metadata in PDFs in this

fashion, so you likely won't find it unless you've added it yourself.



### πŸ—οΈ API with Key Access



Codex has a limited number of API endpoints available with API Key Access. The

API Key is available on the admin/stats tab.



## πŸŽ›οΈ Configuration



### Config Dir



The default config directory is `config/` directly under the working directory

you run codex from. You may specify an alternate config directory with the

environment variable `CODEX_CONFIG_DIR`.



The config directory contains a file named `hypercorn.toml` where you can

specify ports and bind addresses. If no `hypercorn.toml` is present Codex copies

a default one to that directory on startup.



The default values for the config options are:



```toml

bind = ["0.0.0.0:9810"]

quick_bind = ["0.0.0.0:9810"]

root_path = "/codex"

```



The config directory also holds the main sqlite database, the Whoosh search

index, a Django cache and comic book cover thumbnails.



### Environment Variables



#### General



- `TIMEZONE` or `TZ` will explicitly set the timezone in long format (e.g.

  `"America/Los Angeles"`). This is useful inside Docker because codex cannot

  automatically detect the host machine's timezone.

- `CODEX_CONFIG_DIR` will set the path to codex config directory. Defaults to

  `$CWD/config`

- `CODEX_RESET_ADMIN=1` will reset the admin user and its password to defaults

  when codex starts.

- `CODEX_FIX_FOREIGN_KEYS=1` will check for and try to repair illegal foreign

  keys on startup.

- `CODEX_INTEGRITY_CHECK=1` will perform database integrity check on startup.

- `CODEX_FTS_INTEGRITY_CHECK=1` will perform an integrity check on the full text

  search index.

- `CODEX_FTS_REBUILD=1` will rebuild the full text search index.

- `DEBUG_TRANSFORM` will show verbose information about how the comicbox library

  reads all archive metadata sources and transforms it into a the comicbox

  schema.



#### Logging



- `LOGLEVEL` will change how verbose codex's logging is. Valid values are

  `ERROR`, `WARNING`, `INFO`, `DEBUG`. The default is `INFO`.

- `CODEX_LOG_DIR` sets a custom directory for saving logfiles. Defaults to

  `$CODEX_CONFIG_DIR/logs`

- `CODEX_LOG_TO_FILE=0` will not log to files.

- `CODEX_LOG_TO_CONSOLE=0` will not log to the console.



#### Throttling



Codex contains some experimental throttling controls. The value supplied to

these variables will be interpreted as the maximum number of allowed requests

per minute. For example, the following settings would limit each described group

to 2 queries per second.



- `CODEX_THROTTLE_ANON=30` Anonymous users

- `CODEX_THROTTLE_USER=30` Authenticated users

- `CODEX_THROTTLE_OPDS=30` The OPDS v1 & v2 APIs (Panels uses this for search)

- `CODEX_THROTTLE_OPENSEARCH=30` The OPDS v1 Opensearch API



### Reverse Proxy



[nginx](https://nginx.org/) is often used as a TLS terminator and subpath proxy.



Here's an example nginx config with a subpath named '/codex'.



```nginx

# HTTP

proxy_set_header   Host $http_host;

proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;

proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;

proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

proxy_set_header   X-Scheme $scheme;

# Websockets

proxy_http_version 1.1;

proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;



proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade" location /codex {

  proxy_pass       http://codex:9810;

  # Codex reads http basic authentication.

  # If the nginx credentials are different than codex credentials use this line to

  #   not forward the authorization.

  proxy_set_header Authorization "";

}

```



Specify a reverse proxy sub path (if you have one) in `config/hypercorn.toml`



```toml

root_path = "/codex"

```



#### Nginx Reverse Proxy 502 when container refreshes



Nginx requires a special trick to refresh dns when linked Docker containers

recreate. See this

[nginx with dynamix upstreams](https://tenzer.dk/nginx-with-dynamic-upstreams/)

article.



### Restricted Memory Environments



Codex can run with as little as 1GB available RAM. Large batch jobs –like

importing and indexing tens of thousands of comics at once– will run faster the

more memory is available to Codex. The biggest gains in speed happen when you

increase memory up to about 6GB. Codex batch jobs do get faster the more memory

it has above 6GB, but with diminishing returns.



If you must run Codex in an admin restricted memory environment you might want

to temporarily give Codex a lot of memory to run a very large import job and

then restrict it for normal operation.



## πŸ“– Use



### πŸ‘€ Sessions & Accounts



Once your administrator has added some comic libraries, you may browse and read

comics. Codex will remember your preferences, bookmarks and progress in the

browser session. Codex destroys anonymous sessions and bookmarks after 60 days.

To preserve these settings across browsers and after sessions expire, you may

register an account with a username and password. You will have to contact your

administrator to reset your password if you forget it.



### α―€ OPDS



Codex supports OPDS syndication and OPDS streaming. You may find the OPDS url in

the side drawer. It should take the form:



`http(s)://host.tld(:9810)(/root_path)/opds/v1.2/`



or



`http(s)://host.tld(:9810)(/root_path)/opds/v2.0/`



OPDS 2.0 support is experimental and not widely or well supported by clients.

OPDS 2.0 book readers exist, but I am not yet aware of an OPDS 2.0 comic reader.



#### Clients



- iOS has [Panels](https://panels.app/), [PocketBooks](https://pocketbook.ch/),

  [KYBook 3](http://kybook-reader.com/), and

  [Chunky Comic Reader](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chunky-comic-reader/id663567628)

- Android has

  [Moon+](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flyersoft.moonreader)

  and

  [Librera](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foobnix.pdf.reader)



Kybook 3 does not seem to support http basic authentication, so Cbbodex users

are not supported.



#### HTTP Basic Authentication



If you wish to access OPDS as your Codex User. You will have to add your

username and password to the URL. Some OPDS clients do not asssist you with

authentication. In that case the OPDS url will look like:



`http(s)://username:[email protected](:9810)(/root_path)/opds/v1.2/`



#### Supported OPDS Specifications



##### OPDS v1



- [OPDS 1.2](https://specs.opds.io/opds-1.2.html)

- [OPDS-PSE 1.2](https://github.com/anansi-project/opds-pse/blob/master/v1.2.md)

- [OPDS Authentication 1.0](https://drafts.opds.io/authentication-for-opds-1.0.html)

- [OpenSearch 1.1](https://github.com/dewitt/opensearch)



##### OPDS v2



- [OPDS 2.0 (draft)](https://drafts.opds.io/opds-2.0.html)

- [OPDS 2.0 Progression (proposal)](https://github.com/opds-community/drafts/discussions/67)



## 🩺 Troubleshooting



### πŸ“’ Logs



Codex collects its logs in the `config/logs` directory. Take a look to see what

th e server is doing.



You can change how much codex logs by setting the `LOGLEVEL` environment

variable. By default this level is `INFO`. To see more verbose messages, run

codex like:



```sh

LOGLEVEL=DEBUG codex

```



### Watching Filesystem Events with Docker



Codex tries to watch for filesystem events to instantly update your comic

libraries when they change on disk. But these native filesystem events are not

translated between macOS & Windows Docker hosts and the Docker Linux container.

If you find that your installation is not updating to filesystem changes

instantly, you might try enabling polling for the affected libraries and

decreasing the `poll_every` value in the Admin console to a frequency that suits

you.



### Emergency Database Repair



If the database becomes corrupt, Codex includes a facility to rebuild the

database. Place a file named `rebuild_db` in your Codex config directory like

so:



```sh

touch config/rebuild_db

```



Shut down and restart Codex.



The next time Codex starts it will back up the existing database and try to

rebuild it. The database lives in the config directory as the file

`config/db.sqlite3`. If this procedure goes kablooey, you may recover the

original database at `config/backups/codex.sqlite3.before-rebuild`. Codex will

remove the `rebuild_db` file.



### Warnings to Ignore



#### StreamingHttpResponse Iterator Warning



```pycon

packages/django/http/response.py:517: Warning: StreamingHttpResponse must consume synchronous iterators in order to serve them asynchronously. Use an asynchronous iterator instead.

```



This is a known warning and does not represent anything bad happening. It's an

artifact of the Django framework slowly supporting asynchronous server endpoints

and unfortunately isn't practical to remove yet.



## πŸ“šAlternatives



- [Kavita](https://www.kavitareader.com/) has light metadata filtering/editing,

  supports comics, eBooks, and features for manga.

- [Komga](https://komga.org/) has light metadata editing.

- [Ubooquity](https://vaemendis.net/ubooquity/) reads both comics and eBooks.

- [Mylar](https://github.com/mylar3/mylar3) is the best comic book manager which

  also has a built in reader.

- [Comictagger](https://github.com/comictagger/comictagger) is a comic metadata

  editor. It comes with a powerful command line and desktop GUI.



## 🀝 Contributing



### πŸ› Bug Reports



Issues and feature requests are best filed on the

[Github issue tracker](https://github.com/ajslater/codex/issues).



### 🚫 Out of Scope



- I have no intention of making this an eBook reader.

- I think metadata editing would be better placed in a comic manager than a

  reader.



### πŸ›  Develop



Codex is a Django Python webserver with a VueJS front end.



`/codex/codex/` is the main django app which provides the webserver and

database.



`/codex/frontend/` is where the vuejs frontend lives.



Most of Codex development is now controlled through the Makefile. Type `make`

for a list of commands.



## πŸ’¬ Support



By the generosity of the good people of

[Mylar](https://github.com/mylar3/mylar3), I and other Codex users answer

questions on the [Mylar Discord](https://discord.gg/6UG94R7E8T). Please use the

`#codex-support` channel to ask for help with Codex.



## πŸ”— Links



- [Docker Image](https://hub.docker.com/r/ajslater/codex)

- [PyPi Package](https://pypi.org/project/codex/)

- [GitHub Project](https://github.com/ajslater/codex/)



## πŸ™πŸ» Special Thanks



- Thanks to [AurΓ©lien Mazurie](https://pypi.org/user/ajmazurie/) for allowing me

  to use the PyPi name 'codex'.

- To [ProfessionalTart](https://github.com/professionaltart) for providing

  native Windows installation instructions.

- Thanks to the good people of

  [#mylar](https://github.com/mylar3/mylar3#live-support--conversation) for

  continuous feedback and comic ecosystem education.



## 😊 Enjoy



![These simple people have managed to tap into the spiritual forces that mystics and yogis spend literal lifetimes seeking. I feel... ...I feel...](strange.jpg)