Self-Host Your Own Book Search Engine with Bookologia

Tools & Scripts
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Short Introduction

Bookologia is a self-hosted, open-source book search engine designed to help users find, index, and recommend PDF/EPUB books from public sources. It stores metadata locally, allows optional scraping, and includes a recommendation system—all deployable via Docker or manual setup.

Simplified One-Line Flowchart

Download Docker Images ➔ Run Flask Web App + ElasticSearch ➔ Browse & Search Millions of Books

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Easy Step-by-Step Method

Step 1: Access the Project and Dataset

Step 2: Use Pre-Built Docker Images

Step 3: Manual Setup (Optional)

  • Clone the repo and load the metadata JSON into your own ElasticSearch instance.
  • Set up the Flask app manually using Python + Tailwind CSS + JS.
  • Data is also compatible with a custom scraper if you want to index more books.

Step 4: Launch and Use

  • Docker containers include all setup to instantly get started.
  • The site offers collections, recommendations based on user behavior, and advanced book lookups.

Step 5: For ARM64/Raspberry Pi Users

  • The current image is x86 only. To build for ARM64, use:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 .

Ref: Multi-platform | Docker Docs

Quick Tips

  • Want OCR or excerpts? This feature is not yet available, but the dev is open to adding it.
  • Ideal for technical, business, and educational book references.
  • Compatible with external tools like Paperless-ng if you want full document management.

Important Notes

  • The project is focused on usability and data delivery, not perfect code quality.
  • Some users noted issues like hard-coded secrets and unoptimized JavaScript; use in a secure environment.
  • The book links in the HuggingFace dataset are not permanent—you may need to regenerate or scrape fresh links.
  • Contributions are welcome; the project is evolving.
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While Bookologia offers a solid self-hosted book search with Docker and Flask, a simpler, more lightweight approach using pure HTML + JavaScript can deliver fast, client-side search without complex backend setup. This method is easier to customize, more secure, and instantly deployable on any static hosting. If you prefer minimal dependencies and quick results, exploring a JS-based search solution could be a better fit than running full ElasticSearch and Flask stacks.

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