LazyLibrarian

LazyLibrarian is a SickBeard, CouchPotato, Headphones-like application for ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines.

Overview

LazyLibrarian uses a combination of Goodreads, Librarything, and optionally GoogleBooks as sources for author and book metadata. In QuickBox Pro, it is installed per user, runs as a systemd service, and is exposed through the nginx reverse proxy.

Key features

Per-user service

Runs as a user-scoped systemd unit (lazylibrarian@username).

Reverse-proxy path

Default access path is /username/lazylibrarian via nginx.

User-scoped config

Configuration lives at /home/username/.config/LazyLibrarian/config.ini.

Basic auth in nginx

The nginx template enables auth_basic with /etc/htpasswd.d/htpasswd.username.

When to use it

Use LazyLibrarian when

Manage ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines with metadata lookups.
Run LazyLibrarian as a per-user service with user-scoped settings.

You want to

Install with qb install lazylibrarian -u username.
Access it through the nginx path /username/lazylibrarian.

Installation

Install from the Dashboard

Open App Dashboard → Package Management (/dashboard?mode=packages), find LazyLibrarian in the catalog (browse Media Management or search), and click Install. The dashboard streams the install log live and LazyLibrarian appears in your Application Control panel when it finishes. Reinstall and Remove are in the same Package Management panel. To update, use the amber Update badge on the LazyLibrarian row in the App Dashboard.

What you see and can manage is gated by your account: admins manage any user’s apps; regular users manage their own. See App Management for the full flow.

Install from the CLI (automation)

The CLI runs the same install and is suited to automation and scripting:

bash

qb install lazylibrarian -u username
qb reinstall lazylibrarian -u username
qb update lazylibrarian -u username
qb remove lazylibrarian -u username

Full flag reference: CLI Reference.

Access and authentication

URL / route

LazyLibrarian is proxied through nginx at the per-user path:

/username/lazylibrarian

The service listens on the user port set during install (default is 5299) and the proxy forwards to:

http://127.0.0.1:port/username/lazylibrarian/

Credentials / tokens

If you generate an API key in LazyLibrarian, QuickBox reads it from:

/home/username/.config/LazyLibrarian/config.ini (look for api_key =)

Security notes

The nginx template enables HTTP basic auth for LazyLibrarian using:

/etc/htpasswd.d/htpasswd.username

Configuration and files

LazyLibrarian stores user configuration and logs under the user home directory.

LazyLibrarian user files

/home/username

.config/

LazyLibrarian/

config.ini

Main LazyLibrarian configuration

Logs/

Application logs

tmp/

TMPDIR for LazyLibrarian (/home/username/tmp/LazyLibrarian)

Additional system locations used by QuickBox:

/opt/username/LazyLibrarian (application files)
/opt/username/lib/python/LazyLibrarian (Python venv)
/etc/nginx/software/username.lazylibrarian.conf (path-based proxy)
/etc/systemd/system/lazylibrarian@username.service

Common tasks

bash

# Start or restart LazyLibrarian for a user
systemctl start lazylibrarian@username
systemctl restart lazylibrarian@username
 
# Stop LazyLibrarian for a user
systemctl stop lazylibrarian@username

Best practices

Do

Use the nginx path /username/lazylibrarian so the app matches the configured http_root.
Keep the user config at /home/username/.config/LazyLibrarian/config.ini so dashboard tools can read the API key.

Don't

Don’t enable both nginx auth and LazyLibrarian browser auth at the same time; the install notes warn they can conflict.
Don’t change the nginx proxy path without updating http_root in config.ini.

Troubleshooting

App loads but assets fail or redirect loops

Warning

The nginx proxy expects LazyLibrarian to run under /username/lazylibrarian. Confirm http_root in /home/username/.config/LazyLibrarian/config.ini matches the proxy path.

API key shows as not generated

Info

QuickBox reads the API key from /home/username/.config/LazyLibrarian/config.ini using the api_key = line. Generate the key in LazyLibrarian and re-check the file.

Service not responding

Caution

Verify the user service is running: systemctl status lazylibrarian@username. The unit starts /opt/username/LazyLibrarian/LazyLibrarian.py with the per-user config and port.