The LinuxServer.io team brings you another container release featuring:

• regular and timely application updates
• easy user mappings (PGID, PUID)
• custom base image with s6 overlay
• weekly base OS updates with common layers across the entire LinuxServer.io ecosystem to minimise space usage, down time and bandwidth
• regular security updates

Find us at:

• Blog - all the things you can do with our containers including How-To guides, opinions and much more!
• Discord - realtime support / chat with the community and the team.
• Discourse - post on our community forum.
• GitHub - view the source for all of our repositories.
• Open Collective - please consider helping us by either donating or contributing to our budget

linuxserver/calibre

Calibre is a powerful and easy to use e-book manager. Users say it's outstanding and a must-have. It'll allow you to do nearly everything and it takes things a step beyond normal e-book software. It's also completely free and open source and great for both casual users and computer experts.

Supported Architectures

We utilise the docker manifest for multi-platform awareness. More information is available from docker here and our announcement here.

Simply pulling lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest should retrieve the correct image for your arch, but you can also pull specific arch images via tags.

The architectures supported by this image are:

Architecture	Available	Tag
x86-64	✅	amd64-<version tag>
arm64	✅	arm64v8-<version tag>

Version Tags

This image provides various versions that are available via tags. Please read the descriptions carefully and exercise caution when using unstable or development tags.

Tag	Available	Description
latest	✅	Latest Calibre releases
v4	✅	Calibre v4 releases (x86_64 only)

Application Setup

The application can be accessed at:

• https://yourhost:8181/

In the wizard, make sure to select the default library location /config/Calibre Library as the path for books. We will not provide support if you use a different path.

Calibre's built-in webserver is not enabled by default. If you wish to use it, please enable it in Calibre Preferences under Sharing over the net. Make sure to leave the port setting as 8081 and check the box to start it automatically.

Strict reverse proxies

This image uses a self-signed certificate by default. This naturally means the scheme is https. If you are using a reverse proxy which validates certificates, you need to disable this check for the container.

This container is based on Docker Baseimage Selkies, which streams a desktop or single application to your web browser. Only the essentials are covered below, the full platform documentation lives at docs.linuxserver.io/selkies.

Start Minimal

Most support issues we see stem from large run configurations assembled from years of forum posts. These containers are designed to work with almost nothing. Start with the minimal command below, confirm it works, then add your options (volumes, env vars, GPU flags) one at a time:

docker run --rm -it \
  --shm-size=1gb \
  -p 8181:8181 \
  lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest bash

Open https://localhost:8181 (note the https) and accept the self signed certificate warning. The trailing bash gives you a shell inside the container, ctrl+d exits and cleans everything up. If a bigger setup misbehaves, return to this command to isolate the problem, see the Quickstart and Troubleshooting guides.

GPU Acceleration

A GPU is optional, the CPU pipeline is fast enough for smooth sessions on modest hardware. When a GPU is mounted into the container it is automatically detected and configured for zero copy rendering and encoding, set AUTO_GPU=false to disable this behavior.

Intel / AMD (open source drivers), one flag is all it takes:

docker run --rm -it \
  --shm-size=1gb \
  -p 8181:8181 \
  --device /dev/dri \
  lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest bash

Compose examples, multi GPU selection (DRINODE/DRI_NODE), Unraid notes, and a step by step debugging loop are in the GPU Acceleration guide.

Security

Warning

This container provides privileged access to the host system. Do not expose it to the Internet unless you have secured it properly.

HTTPS is required. Modern browser features used for video and audio (WebCodecs) only work in a secure context. Port 8181 serves HTTPS directly, the HTTP port exists only to sit behind a reverse proxy.

By default there is no authentication. Setting the CUSTOM_USER and PASSWORD environment variables enables HTTP basic auth, which is suitable only for a trusted local network. For internet exposure, place the container behind a reverse proxy with robust authentication, such as SWAG. Keep in mind the web interface includes a terminal with passwordless sudo, anyone who can reach the GUI can gain root inside the container.

Authentication options, sharing link behavior, container isolation, and the lockdown variables for kiosk style deployments are covered in Security and Hardening.

Language Support - Internationalization

To launch the session in a different language, set the LC_ALL environment variable, e.g. -e LC_ALL=zh_CN.UTF-8 (Chinese), ja_JP.UTF-8 (Japanese), ko_KR.UTF-8 (Korean), ar_AE.UTF-8 (Arabic), ru_RU.UTF-8 (Russian), es_MX.UTF-8 (Spanish Latin America), de_DE.UTF-8 (German), fr_FR.UTF-8 (French), nl_NL.UTF-8 (Dutch), it_IT.UTF-8 (Italian).

Beyond Running the App

This image inherits every capability of the Selkies platform, all documented in depth on the docs site:

• Configuration Reference - every environment variable: ports, subfolder reverse proxy, custom dashboards, watermarking, and the full set of SELKIES_* stream, feature, and UI settings with their |locked syntax.
• Using the Web Client - file transfer, clipboard sync, audio and microphone, up to four gamepads, session sharing, and mobile touch support.
• Installing Applications - persistent user installed apps with proot-apps (proot-apps install filezilla) or native packages at boot with Docker mods.
• Docker in Docker and host Docker control - run --privileged for an isolated DinD setup, or mount /var/run/docker.sock to manage the host.
• Reverse Proxy - proxying websockets and subfolders correctly.
• SealSkin - turnkey multi user VDI orchestration with browser extension and mobile apps, this image is fully compatible.
• Pelorus - expose the session to AI agents via a computer use API and accessibility stack.

Usage

To help you get started creating a container from this image you can either use docker-compose or the docker cli.

Note

Unless a parameter is flagged as 'optional', it is mandatory and a value must be provided.

docker-compose (recommended, click here for more info)

---
services:
  calibre:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest
    container_name: calibre
    security_opt:
      - seccomp:unconfined #optional
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
      - PASSWORD= #optional
      - CLI_ARGS= #optional
    volumes:
      - /path/to/calibre/config:/config
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
      - 8181:8181
      - 8081:8081
    shm_size: "1gb"
    restart: unless-stopped

docker cli (click here for more info)

docker run -d \
  --name=calibre \
  --security-opt seccomp=unconfined `#optional` \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -e TZ=Etc/UTC \
  -e PASSWORD= `#optional` \
  -e CLI_ARGS= `#optional` \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 8181:8181 \
  -p 8081:8081 \
  -v /path/to/calibre/config:/config \
  --shm-size="1gb" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest

Parameters

Containers are configured using parameters passed at runtime (such as those above). These parameters are separated by a colon and indicate <external>:<internal> respectively. For example, -p 8080:80 would expose port 80 from inside the container to be accessible from the host's IP on port 8080 outside the container.

Parameter	Function
-p 8080:8080	Calibre desktop gui (only for reverse proxy access).
-p 8181:8181	Calibre desktop gui HTTPS.
-p 8081:8081	Calibre webserver gui (needs to be enabled in gui settings first).
-e PUID=1000	for UserID - see below for explanation
-e PGID=1000	for GroupID - see below for explanation
-e TZ=Etc/UTC	specify a timezone to use, see this list.
-e PASSWORD=	Optionally set a password for the gui.
-e CLI_ARGS=	Optionally pass cli start arguments to calibre.
-v /config	Where calibre should store its database and library.
--shm-size=	Recommended for all desktop images.
--security-opt seccomp=unconfined	For Docker Engine only, many modern gui apps need this to function as syscalls are unkown to Docker.

Environment variables from files (Docker secrets)

You can set any environment variable from a file by using a special prepend FILE__.

As an example:

-e FILE__MYVAR=/run/secrets/mysecretvariable

Will set the environment variable MYVAR based on the contents of the /run/secrets/mysecretvariable file.

Umask for running applications

For all of our images we provide the ability to override the default umask settings for services started within the containers using the optional -e UMASK=022 setting. Keep in mind umask is not chmod it subtracts from permissions based on it's value it does not add. Please read up here before asking for support.

User / Group Identifiers

When using volumes (-v flags), permissions issues can arise between the host OS and the container, we avoid this issue by allowing you to specify the user PUID and group PGID.

Ensure any volume directories on the host are owned by the same user you specify and any permissions issues will vanish like magic.

In this instance PUID=1000 and PGID=1000, to find yours use id your_user as below:

id your_user

Example output:

uid=1000(your_user) gid=1000(your_user) groups=1000(your_user)

Docker Mods

We publish various Docker Mods to enable additional functionality within the containers. The list of Mods available for this image (if any) as well as universal mods that can be applied to any one of our images can be accessed via the dynamic badges above.

Support Info

• Shell access whilst the container is running:

  docker exec -it calibre /bin/bash

• To monitor the logs of the container in realtime:

  docker logs -f calibre

• Container version number:

  docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' calibre

• Image version number:

  docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest

Updating Info

Most of our images are static, versioned, and require an image update and container recreation to update the app inside. With some exceptions (noted in the relevant readme.md), we do not recommend or support updating apps inside the container. Please consult the Application Setup section above to see if it is recommended for the image.

Below are the instructions for updating containers:

Via Docker Compose

• Update images:

  • All images:

    docker-compose pull

  • Single image:

    docker-compose pull calibre

• Update containers:

  • All containers:

    docker-compose up -d

  • Single container:

    docker-compose up -d calibre

• You can also remove the old dangling images:

  docker image prune

Via Docker Run

• Update the image:

  docker pull lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest

• Stop the running container:

  docker stop calibre

• Delete the container:

  docker rm calibre

• Recreate a new container with the same docker run parameters as instructed above (if mapped correctly to a host folder, your /config folder and settings will be preserved)

• You can also remove the old dangling images:

  docker image prune

Image Update Notifications - Diun (Docker Image Update Notifier)

Tip

We recommend Diun for update notifications. Other tools that automatically update containers unattended are not recommended or supported.

Building locally

If you want to make local modifications to these images for development purposes or just to customize the logic:

git clone https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-calibre.git
cd docker-calibre
docker build \
  --no-cache \
  --pull \
  -t lscr.io/linuxserver/calibre:latest .

The ARM variants can be built on x86_64 hardware and vice versa using lscr.io/linuxserver/qemu-static

docker run --rm --privileged lscr.io/linuxserver/qemu-static --reset

Once registered you can define the dockerfile to use with -f Dockerfile.aarch64.

Versions

• 19.04.26: - Rebase to resolute.
• 03.04.26: - Make Wayland default disable with PIXELFLUX_WAYLAND=false.
• 28.12.25: - Add Wayland init logic.
• 26.07.25: - Rebase to selkies. Breaking Change: HTTPS is now required. Either use a reverse proxy with SSL cert or direct connect to port 8181 with HTTPS.
• 19.08.24: - Rebase to noble.
• 10.02.24: - Update Readme with new env vars and ingest proper PWA icon.
• 31.01.24: - Fix fullscreen on start.
• 17.11.23: - Install libxcb-cursor0 for v7 support.
• 18.03.23: - Rebase to KasmVNC base image.
• 19.10.22: - Set the window title to Calibre. Remove websocat as it is now handled properly in the baseimage.
• 18.10.22: - Deprecate Arch branch.
• 07.10.22: - Start calibre window maximized.
• 16.09.22: - Rebase to jammy.
• 24.07.22: - Add arm64 build for master branch.
• 11.07.22: - Update dependencies for Calibre 6.
• 28.05.22: - Rebase to focal.
• 31.03.22: - Fix umask.
• 28.02.22: - Add speech support to bionic image.
• 05.01.22: - Add arch branch for arm platforms.
• 20.04.21: - Fix the HOME folder.
• 19.04.21: - Add libnss3 back in. Make sure Calibre can access environment variables.
• 18.04.21: - Start calibre on container start rather than gui connect.
• 15.04.21: - Rebase to rdesktop-web baseimage. Deprecate GUAC_USER and GUAC_PASS env vars. Existing users can set the new var PASSWORD for the user abc.
• 25.09.20: - Switch to python3, add various new dependencies for calibre 5.0.
• 10.05.19: - Add new env var CLI_ARGS to pass start arguments to calibre.
• 18.03.19: - Let Calibre access environment variables, add optional umask setting.
• 23.10.19: - Remove reccomended deps and zenity for character compatibility.
• 18.10.19: - Add python-xdg.
• 08.10.19: - Add fonts-wqy-microhei ttf-wqy-zenhei fcitx-rime dependency to resolve issue with Chinese encoding.
• 04.10.19: - Add libxkbcommon-x11-0 dependency to resolve issue with Calibre 4.
• 08.08.19: - Add zenity for international character support in dialog boxes.
• 12.07.19: - Download binary from calibre website instead of github.
• 29.04.19: - Initial release.