Audiobookshelf

What is Audiobookshelf ?

Audiobookshelf is a self-hosted audiobook and podcast server.

Audiobookshelf Features

• Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
• Stream all audio formats on the fly
• Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
• Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
• Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
• Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
• Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
• Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
• Progressive Web App (PWA)
• Chromecast support on the web app and android app
• Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
• Chapter editor and chapter lookup (using Audnexus API)
• Merge your audio files into a single m4b
• Embed metadata and cover image into your audio files (using Tone)
• Basic ebook support and ereader
  • Epub, pdf, cbr, cbz
  • Send ebook to device (i.e. Kindle)
• Open RSS feeds for podcasts and audiobooks

Is there a feature you are looking for? Suggest it

Join us on Discord or Matrix

Android App (beta)

Try it out on the Google Play Store

iOS App (beta)

Beta is currently full. Apple has a hard limit of 10k beta testers. Updates will be posted in Discord/Matrix.

Using Test Flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/wiic7QIW (beta is full)

Build your own tools & clients

Check out the API documentation

Organizing your audiobooks

Directory structure and folder names are important to Audiobookshelf!

See documentation for supported directory structure, folder naming conventions, and audio file metadata usage.

Install Audiobookshelf

See install docs

Reverse Proxy Set Up

Important! Audiobookshelf requires a websocket connection.

Note: Subfolder paths (e.g. /audiobooks) are not supported yet. See issue

NGINX Proxy Manager

Toggle websockets support.

NGINX Reverse Proxy

Add this to the site config file on your nginx server after you have changed the relevant parts in the <> brackets, and inserted your certificate paths.

server
{
        listen 443 ssl;
        server_name <sub>.<domain>.<tld>;

        access_log /var/log/nginx/audiobookshelf.access.log;
        error_log /var/log/nginx/audiobookshelf.error.log;

        ssl_certificate      /path/to/certificate;
        ssl_certificate_key  /path/to/key;

        location / {
                     proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For    $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                     proxy_set_header  X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                     proxy_set_header  Host              $host;
                     proxy_set_header Upgrade            $http_upgrade;
                     proxy_set_header Connection         "upgrade";

                     proxy_http_version                  1.1;

                     proxy_pass                          http://<URL_to_forward_to>;
                     proxy_redirect                      http:// https://;
                   }
}

Apache Reverse Proxy

Add this to the site config file on your Apache server after you have changed the relevant parts in the <> brackets, and inserted your certificate paths.

For this to work you must enable at least the following mods using a2enmod:

• ssl
• proxy
• proxy_http
• proxy_balancer
• proxy_wstunnel
• rewrite

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName <sub>.<domain>.<tld>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:<audiobookshelf_port>/
    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} upgrade [NC]
    RewriteRule ^/?(.*) "ws://localhost:<audiobookshelf_port>/$1" [P,L]

    # unless you're doing something special this should be generated by a
    # tool like certbot by let's encrypt
    SSLCertificateFile /path/to/cert/file
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/key/file
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

Some SSL certificates like those signed by Let’s Encrypt require ACME validation. To allow Let’s Encrypt to write and confirm the ACME challenge, edit your VirtualHost definition to prevent proxying traffic that queries /.well-known and instead serve that directly:

<VirtualHost *:443>
    # ...

    # create the directory structure  /.well-known/acme-challenges
    # within DocumentRoot and give the HTTP user recursive write
    # access to it.
    DocumentRoot /path/to/local/directory

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass /.well-known !
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:<audiobookshelf_port>/

    # ...
</VirtualHost>

SWAG Reverse Proxy

See LinuxServer.io config sample

Synology NAS Reverse Proxy Setup (DSM 7+/Quickconnect)

1. Open Control Panel

   • Navigate to Login Portal > Advanced.

2. General Tab

   • Click Reverse Proxy > Create.

   Setting	Value
   Reverse Proxy Name	audiobookshelf

3. Source Configuration

   Setting	Value
   Protocol	HTTPS
   Hostname	<sub>.<quickconnectdomain>.synology.me
   Port	443
   Access Control Profile	Leave as is

   • Example Hostname: audiobookshelf.mydomain.synology.me

4. Destination Configuration

   Setting	Value
   Protocol	HTTP
   Hostname	Your NAS IP
   Port	13378

5. Custom Header Tab

   • Go to Create > Websocket.
   • Configure Headers (leave as is):

   Header Name	Value
   Upgrade	$http_upgrade
   Connection	$connection_upgrade

6. Advanced Settings Tab

   • Leave as is.

Traefik Reverse Proxy

Middleware relating to CORS will cause the app to report Unknown Error when logging in. To prevent this don’t apply any of the following headers to the router for this site:

• accessControlAllowMethods
• accessControlAllowOriginList
• accessControlMaxAge

From @Dondochaka and @BeastleeUK

Example Caddyfile - Caddy Reverse Proxy

subdomain.domain.com {
        encode gzip zstd
        reverse_proxy <LOCAL_IP>:<PORT>
}

HAProxy

Below is a generic HAProxy config, using audiobookshelf.YOUR_DOMAIN.COM.

To use http2, ssl is needed.

global
    # ... (your global settings go here)

defaults
    mode http
    # ... (your default settings go here)

frontend my_frontend
    # Bind to port 443, enable SSL, and specify the certificate list file
    bind :443 name :443 ssl crt-list /path/to/cert.crt_list alpn h2,http/1.1
    mode http

    # Define an ACL for subdomains starting with "audiobookshelf"
    acl is_audiobookshelf hdr_beg(host) -i audiobookshelf

    # Use the ACL to route traffic to audiobookshelf_backend if the condition is met,
    # otherwise, use the default_backend
    use_backend audiobookshelf_backend if is_audiobookshelf
    default_backend default_backend

backend audiobookshelf_backend
    mode http
    # ... (backend settings for audiobookshelf go here)

    # Define the server for the audiobookshelf backend
    server audiobookshelf_server 127.0.0.99:13378

backend default_backend
    mode http
    # ... (default backend settings go here)

    # Define the server for the default backend
    server default_server 127.0.0.123:8081

pfSense and HAProxy

For pfSense the inputs are graphical, and Health checking is enabled.

Frontend, Default backend, access control lists and actions

Access Control lists

Actions

The condition acl names needs to match the name above audiobookshelf.

Backend

The Name needs to match the Parameters above audiobookshelf.

Server list:

Health checking:

Health checking is enabled by default. Http check method of OPTIONS is not supported on Audiobookshelf. If Health check fails, data will not be forwared. Need to do one of following:

• To disable: Change Health check method to none.
• To make Health checking function: Change Http check method to HEAD or GET.