bookreader-tui

A terminal EPUB reader and personal library, built with Textual.

pipx install bookreader-tui && bookreader path/to/book.epub

What you get

• Distraction-free reader, scroll or two-page mode, TOC sidebar.
• Persistent position per book — picks up exactly where you left off.
• SQLite library with collections, ratings, bookmarks, reading-time stats.
• Wishlist (phantom) books — track titles before you have the file.
• Inline image rendering in kitty / iTerm2 / WezTerm / sixel terminals via textual-image — auto-detected.
• Three built-in themes (dark, light, sepia).
• Pure Python, fully local — your library lives in ~/.local/share/bookreader/.

Why bookreader-tui?

• vs Calibre — no Qt, no GUI process; lives where the rest of your terminal workflow already is.
• vs epy — full library: collections, ratings, wishlist, reading-time stats, bookmarks with notes.
• vs mdcat / piping to a pager — proper EPUB rendering (chapters, TOC, two-page mode, inline images), not a flat text dump.
• vs reading on your phone — keyboard-driven, themed, scriptable; position keyed by EPUB identifier so the same book at a different path resumes in the same place.

Get going

• Install — pipx, uv tool, or pip-in-venv.
• Quick start — open your first book in 30 seconds.
• Terminal images — compatibility matrix + setup.
• Configuration — env vars and XDG paths.
• Troubleshooting — common fixes.