CALIBREDB(1)

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

🌸 calibredb — the calibre command line bestie 💖

okay so real talk: this is the calibredb manual page, from the calibre fam. It's giving "I run your entire library from the terminal" energy and honestly? Iconic. 👑

✨ NAME ✨

calibredb

calibredb command [options] [arguments]

calibredb is the command line interface to the calibre database. It has several sub-commands, and bestie, we are documenting all of them below. No skips. 💅

calibredb can be used to manipulate either a calibre database specified by path, or a calibre Content server running either on the local machine or over the internet. You can start a calibre Content server using either the calibre-server program, or in the main calibre program click Connect/share → Start Content server. Since calibredb can make changes to your calibre libraries, you must setup authentication on the server first. There are two ways to do that:

  • If you plan to connect only to a server running on the same computer, you can simply use the --enable-local-write option of the Content server, to allow any program, including calibredb, running on the local computer to make changes to your calibre data. When running the server from the main calibre program, this option is in Preferences → Sharing over the net → Advanced. Be careful though, because some browsers, primarily Firefox, allow arbitrary websites to also access local servers. If you use Firefox, it is better to setup username and password, as described below. Local Network Access restriction has still not been implemented as of Firefox v149. 😭
  • If you want to enable access over the internet, then you should setup user accounts on the server and use the --username and --password options to calibredb to give it access. You can setup user authentication for calibre-server by using the --enable-auth option and using --manage-users to create the user accounts. If you are running the server from the main calibre program, use Preferences → Sharing over the net → Require username/password.

To connect to a running Content server, pass the URL of the server to the --with-library option, see the documentation of that option for details and examples. 🫶

the table of contents, aka the vibe check:

  • Global Options
  • list
  • add
    • Adding From Folders
  • remove
  • add_format
  • remove_format
  • show_metadata
  • set_metadata
  • export
  • catalog
    • Epub Options
  • saved_searches
  • add_custom_column
  • custom_columns
  • remove_custom_column
  • set_custom
  • restore_database
  • check_library
  • list_categories
  • backup_metadata
  • clone
  • embed_metadata
  • search
  • fts_index
  • fts_search

🌈 GLOBAL OPTIONS 🌈

these ones work everywhere, periodt.

  • --help, -h — show this help message and exit ✨
  • --library-path, --with-library — Path to the calibre library. Default is to use the path stored in the settings. You can also connect to a calibre Content server to perform actions on remote libraries. To do so use a URL of the form: <http://hostname:port/#library_id> for example, <http://localhost:8080/#mylibrary>. library_id is the library id of the library you want to connect to on the Content server. You can use the special library_id value of - to get a list of library ids available on the server. For details on how to setup access via a Content server, see <https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/generated/en/calibredb.html>. 🌐
  • --password — Password for connecting to a calibre Content server. To read the password from standard input, use the special value: <stdin>. To read the password from a file, use: <f:/path/to/file> (i.e. <f: followed by the full path to the file and a trailing >). The angle brackets in the above are required, remember to escape them or use quotes for your shell. 🔐
  • --timeout — The timeout, in seconds, when connecting to a calibre library over the network. The default is two minutes.
  • --username — Username for connecting to a calibre Content server
  • --version — show program's version number and exit

📚 LIST 📚

calibredb list [options]

List the books available in the calibre database. 🦋

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --ascending — Sort results in ascending order ⬆️
  • --fields, -f — The fields to display when listing books in the database. Should be a comma separated list of fields. Available fields: author_sort, authors, comments, cover, formats, identifiers, isbn, languages, last_modified, pubdate, publisher, rating, series, series_index, size, tags, template, timestamp, title, uuid Default: title,authors. The special field "all" can be used to select all fields. In addition to the builtin fields above, custom fields are also available as *field_name, for example, for a custom field #rating, use the name: *rating
  • --for-machine — Generate output in JSON format, which is more suitable for machine parsing. Causes the line width and separator options to be ignored. 🤖
  • --limit — The maximum number of results to display. Default: all
  • --line-width, -w — The maximum width of a single line in the output. Defaults to detecting screen size.
  • --prefix — The prefix for all file paths. Default is the absolute path to the library folder.
  • --search, -s — Filter the results by the search query. For the format of the search query, please see the search related documentation in the User Manual. Default is to do no filtering.
  • --separator — The string used to separate fields. Default is a space.
  • --sort-by — The field by which to sort the results. You can specify multiple fields by separating them with commas. Available fields: author_sort, authors, comments, cover, formats, identifiers, isbn, languages, last_modified, pubdate, publisher, rating, series, series_index, size, tags, template, timestamp, title, uuid Default: id. In addition to the builtin fields above, custom fields are also available as *field_name, for example, for a custom field #rating, use the name: *rating
  • --template — The template to run if "template" is in the field list. Note that templates are ignored while connecting to a calibre server. Default: None
  • --template_file, -t — Path to a file containing the template to run if "template" is in the field list. Default: None
  • --template_heading — Heading for the template column. Default: template. This option is ignored if the option --for-machine is set

🎀 ADD 🎀

calibredb add [options] file1 file2 file3 ...

Add the specified files as books to the database. You can also specify folders, see the folder related options below. 🍓

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --authors, -a — Set the authors of the added book(s)
  • --automerge, -m — If books with similar titles and authors are found, merge the incoming formats (files) automatically into existing book records. A value of "ignore" means duplicate formats are discarded. A value of "overwrite" means duplicate formats in the library are overwritten with the newly added files. A value of "new_record" means duplicate formats are placed into a new book record.
  • --cover, -c — Path to the cover to use for the added book
  • --duplicates, -d — Add books to database even if they already exist. Comparison is done based on book titles and authors. Note that the --automerge option takes precedence.
  • --empty, -e — Add an empty book (a book with no formats) 💀
  • --identifier, -I — Set the identifiers for this book, e.g. -I asin:XXX -I isbn:YYY
  • --isbn, -i — Set the ISBN of the added book(s)
  • --languages, -l — A comma separated list of languages (best to use ISO639 language codes, though some language names may also be recognized)
  • --series, -s — Set the series of the added book(s)
  • --series-index, -S — Set the series number of the added book(s)
  • --tags, -T — Set the tags of the added book(s)
  • --title, -t — Set the title of the added book(s)

📁 Adding From Folders 📁

Options to control the adding of books from folders. By default only files that have extensions of known e-book file types are added.

  • --add — A filename (glob) pattern, files matching this pattern will be added when scanning folders for files, even if they are not of a known e-book file type. Can be specified multiple times for multiple patterns.
  • --ignore — A filename (glob) pattern, files matching this pattern will be ignored when scanning folders for files. Can be specified multiple times for multiple patterns. For example: *.pdf will ignore all PDF files
  • --one-book-per-directory, -1 — Assume that each folder has only a single logical book and that all files in it are different e-book formats of that book
  • --recurse, -r — Process folders recursively

🗑️ REMOVE 🗑️

calibredb remove ids

Remove the books identified by ids from the database. ids should be a comma separated list of id numbers (you can get id numbers by using the search command). For example, 23,34,57-85 (when specifying a range, the last number in the range is not included). 🙈

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --permanent — Do not use the Recycle Bin
ngl, --permanent is giving "no takebacks". Be sure bestie. 😭

💅 ADD_FORMAT 💅

calibredb add_format [options] id ebook_file

Add the e-book in ebook_file to the available formats for the logical book identified by id. You can get id by using the search command. If the format already exists, it is replaced, unless the do not replace option is specified. ✨

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --as-extra-data-file — Add the file as an extra data file to the book, not an ebook format
  • --dont-replace — Do not replace the format if it already exists

🎀 REMOVE_FORMAT 🎀

calibredb remove_format [options] id fmt

okay so this one is the "actually, we don't need that file" command 💅 It rips the format fmt right out of the logical book identified by id. Where do you get id from, you ask? The search command, bestie, it's always the search command. And fmt is a file extension — like LRF or TXT or EPUB ✨

And if the logical book doesn't even have fmt available? Literally nothing happens. Do nothing. No error, no drama, no crying. 🫶

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

🔍 SHOW_METADATA 🔍

calibredb show_metadata [options] id

Show me the metadata, show me the receipts 👑 This prints out all the metadata that's chillin' in the calibre database for the book identified by id. And id is an id number from the search command — yes, the same one, it's iconic like that.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --as-opf — print the metadata in OPF form (XML). it's giving structured, it's giving machine-readable 🌈

✍️ SET_METADATA ✍️

calibredb set_metadata [options] book_id [/path/to/metadata.opf]

Bestie, this is the glow-up command 💖 It sets the metadata stored in the calibre database for the book identified by book_id, pulling from the OPF file metadata.opf. And book_id is a book id number from the search command (you know the drill at this point).

Wanna get a quick feel for what OPF format even looks like? Just use the --as-opf switch on the show_metadata command and stare at it. Also — plot twist — you can set the metadata of individual fields with the --field option instead. And if you use --field, there is no need to specify an OPF file at all. Slay, less work. ✨

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --field, -f — the field to set. Format is field_name:value, for example: --field tags:tag1,tag2. Use --list-fields to get a list of all field names. You can specify this option multiple times to set multiple fields. Note: for languages you must use the ISO639 language codes (e.g. en for English, fr for French and so on). For identifiers, the syntax is --field identifiers:isbn:XXXX,doi:YYYYY. For boolean (yes/no) fields use true and false or yes and no. 🦋
  • --list-fields, -l — list the metadata field names that can be used with the --field option. your cheat sheet, your bestie, your little legend 📋

📤 EXPORT 📤

calibredb export [options] ids

Time to move the books OUT, bestie, we're packing up and going to the filesystem 🧳 Export the books specified by ids (a comma separated list) out onto your disk. The export operation saves all formats of the book, its cover and metadata (in an OPF file). Any extra data files associated with the book are also saved. And yes, you can get id numbers from the search command. 💅

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --all — export all books in database, ignoring the list of ids. no cap, everything comes with us 👑
  • --dont-asciiize — have calibre convert all non English characters into English equivalents for the file names. This is useful if saving to a legacy filesystem without full support for Unicode filenames. Specifying this switch will turn this behavior off. 🥲
  • --dont-save-cover — normally, calibre will save the cover in a separate file along with the actual e-book files. Specifying this switch will turn this behavior off.
  • --dont-save-extra-files — save any data files associated with the book when saving the book. Specifying this switch will turn this behavior off.
  • --dont-update-metadata — normally, calibre will update the metadata in the saved files from what is in the calibre library. Makes saving to disk slower. Specifying this switch will turn this behavior off. (yes it makes it slower and no we are not apologizing 😭)
  • --dont-write-opf — normally, calibre will write the metadata into a separate OPF file along with the actual e-book files. Specifying this switch will turn this behavior off.
  • --formats — comma separated list of formats to save for each book. By default all available formats are saved. 🌈
  • --progress — report progress. it's telling you how it's going, we love an updates girlie ✨
  • --replace-whitespace — replace whitespace with underscores.
  • --single-dir — export all books into a single folder.
  • --template — the template to control the filename and folder structure of the saved files. Default is "{author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors}" which will save books into a per-author subfolder with filenames containing title and author. Available controls are: {author_sort, authors, id, isbn, languages, last_modified, pages, pubdate, publisher, rating, series, series_index, tags, timestamp, title} 🎀
  • --timefmt — the format in which to display dates. %d - day, %b - month, %m - month number, %Y - year. Default is: %b, %Y
  • --to-dir — export books to the specified folder. Default is .
  • --to-lowercase — convert paths to lowercase.

🗂️ CATALOG 🗂️

calibredb catalog /path/to/destination.(csv|epub|mobi|xml...) [options]

Export a catalog in the format specified by the path/to/destination extension. The options control how entries are displayed in the generated catalog output. 👀

Heads up though: different catalog formats support different sets of options. To see the different options, specify the name of the output file and then the --help option. iykyk 💅

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --ids, -i — comma-separated list of database IDs to catalog. If declared, --search is ignored. Default: all
  • --search, -s — filter the results by the search query. For the format of the search query, please see the search-related documentation in the User Manual. Default: no filtering
  • --verbose, -v — show detailed output information. Useful for debugging 🐛

🦋 Epub Options 🦋

  • --catalog-title — title of generated catalog used as title in metadata. Default: 'My Books' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --cross-reference-authors — create cross-references in Authors section for books with multiple authors. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --debug-pipeline — save the output from different stages of the conversion pipeline to the specified folder. Useful if you are unsure at which stage of the conversion process a bug is occurring. Default: 'None' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --exclude-genre — regex describing tags to exclude as genres. Default: '[.+]|^+$' excludes bracketed tags, e.g. '[Project Gutenberg]', and '+', the default tag for read books. Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --exclusion-rules — specifies the rules used to exclude books from the generated catalog. The model for an exclusion rule is either ('<rule name>','Tags','<comma-separated list of tags>') or ('<rule name>','<custom column>','<pattern>'). For example: (('Archived books','#status','Archived'),) will exclude a book with a value of 'Archived' in the custom column 'status'. When multiple rules are defined, all rules will be applied. Default: "(('Catalogs','Tags','Catalog'),)" Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-authors — include 'Authors' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-descriptions — include 'Descriptions' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-genres — include 'Genres' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-recently-added — include 'Recently Added' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-series — include 'Series' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --generate-titles — include 'Titles' section in catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --genre-source-field — source field for 'Genres' section. Default: 'Tags' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --header-note-source-field — custom field containing note text to insert in Description header. Default: '' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --merge-comments-rule — #<custom field>:[before|after]:[True|False] specifying: <custom field> Custom field containing notes to merge with comments; [before|after] Placement of notes with respect to comments; [True|False] - A horizontal rule is inserted between notes and comments. Default: '::' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --output-profile — specifies the output profile. In some cases, an output profile is required to optimize the catalog for the device. For example, 'kindle' or 'kindle_dx' creates a structured Table of Contents with Sections and Articles. Default: 'None' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --prefix-rules — specifies the rules used to include prefixes indicating read books, wishlist items and other user-specified prefixes. The model for a prefix rule is ('<rule name>','<source field>','<pattern>','<prefix>'). When multiple rules are defined, the first matching rule will be used. Default: "(('Read books','tags','+','✓'),('Wishlist item','tags','Wishlist','×'))" Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --preset — use a named preset created with the GUI catalog builder. A preset specifies all settings for building a catalog. Default: 'None' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --thumb-width — size hint (in inches) for book covers in catalog. Range: 1.0 - 2.0 Default: '1.0' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats
  • --use-existing-cover — replace existing cover when generating the catalog. Default: 'False' Applies to: AZW3, EPUB, MOBI output formats

💾 SAVED_SEARCHES 💾

calibredb saved_searches [options] (list|add|remove)

Manage the saved searches stored in this database, bestie 🫶 So organized of you. And heads up: if you try to add a query with a name that already exists, it will be replaced. Gone. Swapped out. No warning, just vibes. 💀

Syntax for adding:

calibredb saved_searches add search_name search_expression

Syntax for removing:

calibredb saved_searches remove search_name

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

🌸 ADD_CUSTOM_COLUMN 🌸

calibredb add_custom_column [options] label name datatype

okay so you want a whole new custom column?? iconic, let's build her 💅

label is the machine friendly name of the column — so like, no spaces, no colons, she's a strict queen. name is the human friendly name (the cute one you actually show people). And datatype has to be one of exactly these: bool, comments, composite, datetime, enumeration, float, int, rating, series, text.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces" ✨

  • --display — A dictionary of options to customize how the data in this column will be interpreted. This is a JSON string. For enumeration columns, use --display"{\ "enum_values\ ":[\ "val1\ ", \ "val2\ "]}". There are many options that can go into the display variable. The options by column type are: composite: composite_template, composite_sort, make_category, contains_html, use_decorations; datetime: date_format; enumeration: enum_values, enum_colors, use_decorations; int, float: number_format; text: is_names, use_decorations. The best way to find legal combinations is to create a custom column of the appropriate type in the GUI then look at the backup OPF for a book (ensure that a new OPF has been created since the column was added). You will see the JSON for the "display" for the new column in the OPF. 👀
  • --is-multiple — This column stores tag like data (i.e. multiple comma separated values). Only applies if datatype is text.

🎀 CUSTOM_COLUMNS 🎀

calibredb custom_columns [options]

List available custom columns. Shows column labels and ids — like a little roster of all your custom babies 🫶

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --details, -d — Show details for each column.

💅 REMOVE_CUSTOM_COLUMN 💅

calibredb remove_custom_column [options] label

Remove the custom column identified by label. You can see available columns with the custom_columns command. (she's gone, bestie, no cap 😭)

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --force, -f — Do not ask for confirmation

✨ SET_CUSTOM ✨

calibredb set_custom [options] column id value

Set the value of a custom column for the book identified by id. You can get a list of ids using the search command. You can get a list of custom column names using the custom_columns command.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --append, -a — If the column stores multiple values, append the specified values to the existing ones, instead of replacing them.

💖 RESTORE_DATABASE 💖

calibredb restore_database [options]

Restore this database from the metadata stored in OPF files in each folder of the calibre library. This is useful if your metadata.db file has been corrupted. healing era fr fr 🩹

WARNING: This command completely regenerates your database. You will lose all saved searches, user categories, plugboards, stored per-book conversion settings, and custom recipes. Restored metadata will only be as accurate as what is found in the OPF files. 💀 like, be so serious before you run this.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --really-do-it, -r — Really do the recovery. The command will not run unless this option is specified.

🦋 CHECK_LIBRARY 🦋

calibredb check_library [options]

Perform some checks on the filesystem representing a library. Reports are invalid_titles, extra_titles, invalid_authors, extra_authors, missing_formats, extra_formats, extra_files, missing_covers, extra_covers, malformed_formats, malformed_paths, failed_folders.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --csv, -c — Output in CSV
  • --ignore_extensions, -e — Comma-separated list of extensions to ignore. Default: all
  • --ignore_names, -n — Comma-separated list of names to ignore. Default: all
  • --report, -r — Comma-separated list of reports. Default: all
  • --vacuum-fts-db — Vacuum the full text search database. This can be very slow and memory intensive, depending on the size of the database.

🌈 LIST_CATEGORIES 🌈

calibredb list_categories [options]

Produce a report of the category information in the database. The information is the equivalent of what is shown in the Tag browser. it's giving tag browser but make it terminal 📋

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --categories, -r — Comma-separated list of category lookup names. Default: all
  • --csv, -c — Output in CSV
  • --dialect — The type of CSV file to produce. Choices: excel, excel-tab, unix
  • --item_count, -i — Output only the number of items in a category instead of the counts per item within the category
  • --width, -w — The maximum width of a single line in the output. Defaults to detecting screen size.

🧚 BACKUP_METADATA 🧚

calibredb backup_metadata [options]

Backup the metadata stored in the database into individual OPF files in each books folder. This normally happens automatically, but you can run this command to force re-generation of the OPF files, with the --all option.

Note that there is normally no need to do this, as the OPF files are backed up automatically, every time metadata is changed. lowkey it's already handled 😌

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --all — Normally, this command only operates on books that have out of date OPF files. This option makes it operate on all books.

👑 CLONE 👑

calibredb clone path/to/new/library

Create a clone of the current library. This creates a new, empty library that has all the same custom columns, Virtual libraries and other settings as the current library. twin where have you been 💞

The cloned library will contain no books. If you want to create a full duplicate, including all books, then simply use your filesystem tools to copy the library folder.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

🔥 EMBED_METADATA 🔥

calibredb embed_metadata [options] book_id

Update the metadata in the actual book files stored in the calibre library from the metadata in the calibre database. Normally, metadata is updated only when exporting files from calibre, this command is useful if you want the files to be updated in place. Note that different file formats support different amounts of metadata. You can use the special value 'all' for book_id to update metadata in all books. You can also specify many book ids separated by spaces and id ranges separated by hyphens. For example: calibredb embed_metadata 1 2 10-15 23 ✨

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --only-formats, -f — Only update metadata in files of the specified format. Specify it multiple times for multiple formats. By default, all formats are updated.
calibredb search [options] search expression

Search the library for the specified search term, returning a comma separated list of book ids matching the search expression. The output format is useful to feed into other commands that accept a list of ids as input. pipeline queen behavior 🎀

The search expression can be anything from calibre's powerful search query language, for example:

calibredb search author:asimov 'title:"i robot"'

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --limit, -l — The maximum number of results to return. Default is all results.

📚 FTS_INDEX 📚

calibredb fts_index [options] enable/disable/status/reindex

Control the Full text search indexing process.

  • enable — Turns on FTS indexing for this library
  • disable — Turns off FTS indexing for this library
  • status — Shows the current indexing status
  • reindex — Can be used to re-index either particular books or the entire library. To re-index particular books specify the book ids as additional arguments after the reindex command. If no book ids are specified the entire library is re-indexed.

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --indexing-speed — The speed of indexing. Use fast for fast indexing using all your computers resources and slow for less resource intensive indexing. Note that the speed is reset to slow after every invocation.
  • --wait-for-completion — Wait till all books are indexed, showing indexing progress periodically
calibredb fts_search [options] search expression

Do a full text search on the entire library or a subset of it. main character search energy tbh ⭐

Whenever you pass arguments to calibredb that have spaces in them, enclose the arguments in quotation marks. For example: "/some path/with spaces"

  • --do-not-match-on-related-words — Only match on exact words not related words. So correction will not match correcting.
  • --include-snippets — Include snippets of the text surrounding each match. Note that this makes searching much slower.
  • --indexing-threshold — How much of the library must be indexed before searching is allowed, as a percentage. Defaults to 90
  • --match-end-marker — The marker used to indicate the end of a matched word inside a snippet
  • --match-start-marker — The marker used to indicate the start of a matched word inside a snippet
  • --output-format — The format to output the search results in. Either "text" for plain text or "json" for JSON output.
  • --restrict-to — Restrict the searched books, either using a search expression or ids. For example: ids:1,2,3 to restrict by ids or search:tag:foo to restrict to books having the tag foo.

🌸 Author 🌸

Kovid Goyal — the actual legend, the moment, the blueprint 👑

Kovid Goyal

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🫶 you just read CALIBREDB(1) from version 9.14.0, dated August 28, 2026 — slay, go forth and manage your library like the icon you are 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from