CALIBRE(1)

📦
version 9.14.0 · 8 versions
, in arch rolling, nixos 26.05, ubuntu stonking

🦋 CALIBRE(1) — the calibre glow-up guide ✨

okay bestie, pull up a chair, we're talking about calibre — yes, the calibre calibre, the main character of e-book management. This is the manual page for it, the whole thing, and I'm gonna walk you through every single crumb. no cap. 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

calibre - calibre

literally that's it. that's the name. iconic of it to just say its own name twice, we love a confident queen. 👑

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

calibre [options] [path_to_ebook or calibre url ...]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what does this actually do. okay so: it launches the main calibre Graphical User Interface, and if you want, it can also add the e-book sitting at path_to_ebook to the database. two birds, one slay. 🐦🐦

but wait, there's more. you can also hand it calibre URLs to do a bunch of different stuff, not just adding books. like, whole other actions. for example:

calibre://view-book/test_library/1842/epub

that one will open the book with id 1842 in the EPUB format, from the library "test_library", in the calibre E-book viewer. and bestie, listen — library names are just the folder names of the libraries, except spaces get replaced by underscores. it's giving filename energy. 🦋

a full description of all the various URL based actions lives in the User Manual, so go read that if you want the deep lore.

⚠️ and this part is IMPORTANT, so pay attention: whenever you pass arguments to calibre that have spaces in them, you gotta enclose those arguments in quotation marks. for example: "/some path/with spaces". no quotes = chaos. quotes = peace. 🫶

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --detach — detaches from the controlling terminal, if there even is one. Linux only, so don't come for me on other platforms. 🐧
  • --help, -h — show this help message and exit. the classic. the little "wait what was I doing" button.
  • --ignore-plugins — ignore custom plugins. super useful if you installed a plugin and now calibre refuses to start because of it. we've all been there bestie, no shame. 🙈
  • --no-update-check — do not check for updates. live in the moment. ✨
  • --shutdown-running-calibre, -s — cause a running calibre instance, if any, to be shutdown. ⚠️ note that if there are running jobs, they will be silently aborted, so use with care. like, care care. not the fake kind. 💀
  • --start-in-tray — start minimized to system tray. small and humble. tiny crown, big power. 👑
  • --verbose, -v — Ignored, do not use. Present only for legacy reasons. it's a ghost, a relic, a retired diva. do not use her. 💀
  • --version — show program's version number and exit. quick lil flex. ⭐
  • --with-library — use the library located at the specified path. point her where to go. 📚

🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Kovid Goyal

Kovid Goyal

okay that's the whole page, you're officially educated, go launch something gorgeous. 🧚 this was version 9.14.0, dated August 28, 2026, and yes I'm telling you that on the way out because that's the footer and I'm nothing if not thorough. mwah. 🍓💖

📦 where this page comes from