Set up a Calibre eBook Server on Debian 10

Published on December 3, 2020•Updated on November 21, 2023

Calibre is a popular free, open-source eBook management software. Calibre offers a local client but also provides a server for access on other devices. This tutorial explains how to create a Calibre eBook server on a Vultr Debian 10 cloud server instance. A cloud server instance is sometimes called a Virtual Private Server or VPS.

Prerequisites

Deploy a new Vultr Debian 10 cloud server instance.
Follow the best practices guide for Debian to update the server.
Create a sudo user named calibre. Use the calibre user for the rest of the steps in this tutorial.

1. Install Calibre

Install Calibre with the following command:

$ sudo apt install calibre

2. Create a Library

Make a folder for the new Calibre library in the home directory.

$ cd ~
$ mkdir calibre

3. Add Books to the Library

Download Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from Project Gutenberg.

$ wget "http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1112.kindle.noimages" -O book.mobi

Add it to the Calibre library.

$ calibredb add book.mobi --with-library calibre

4. List the Library's Contents

Get a list of all the books in the library.

$ calibredb list --with-library calibre
id title                           authors             
1 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

5. Remove Books from the Library

calibredb requires the ID number to remove a book. For example, to remove book ID 1:

$ calibredb remove 1 --with-library calibre

To add the book again:

$ calibredb add book.mobi --with-library calibre

6. Run the Calibre Server

Start the server. Your IP address is different than the example shown.

 $ calibre-server calibre
 calibre server listening on 0.0.0.0:8080
 OPDS feeds advertised via BonJour at: 192.0.2.123 port: 8080

In your web browser, navigate to the server at the IP address and port reported by calibre-server. For example:
```
 http://192.0.2.123:8080
```
Select "calibre" as the library, and the server displays a list of books.
From the terminal, press Ctrl-C to exit the server.

7. Create the Calibre Startup Service

Create a systemd service for Calibre, so that it can automatically start.

Use nano to create a new service file.

 $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/calibre-server.service

Add the following contents to the calibre-server.service.

 [Unit]
 Description=Calibre Server
 After=network.target

 [Service]
 Type=simple
 User=calibre
 Group=calibre
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server  --enable-local-write /home/calibre/calibre

 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start the service and enable it to run when the server boots.

 $ sudo systemctl enable calibre-server
 $ sudo systemctl start calibre-server

8. Add Authentication

Add authentication to prevent unauthorized access to the eBook library.

Stop the server.
```
 $ sudo systemctl stop calibre-server
```
Run the user management script:
```
 $ calibre-server --manage-users
```
Follow the prompts to make a new user named calibreuser and choose a secure password. Verify you see the confirmation message:
```
 User calibreuser added successfully!
```

Edit the Calibre service file to enable authentication.

 $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/calibre-server.service

Replace this line:

 ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server  --enable-local-write /home/calibre/calibre

With:

 ExecStart=/usr/bin/calibre-server --enable-auth --enable-local-write /home/calibre/calibre

Reload the service files with systemd and restart the service.

 $ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
 $ sudo systemctl start calibre-server

Authentication is now required to access the server.

Conclusion

This completes the Calibre eBook server installation on a Vultr Debian 10 cloud server instance. Use the Calibre companion apps for Android or iOS to access the server.