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Dev tools · January 14, 2024

Citadel – a Calibre-compatible eBook management app

Hey folks! This winter I've been building Citadel to scratch my itch of managing ebooks without using Calibre. Calibre is incredibly powerful, but it's slow and awkward to use. I dreamed of writing a native app (and originally tried this in Swift), but ran into issues building the UI. Plus, whatever I built would only work on macOS. I started writing Citadel using Tauri (Svelte on the frontend + Rust on the backend) to have a cross-platform desktop app. Plus, Citadel supports running in a headless / webbrowser mode. You can self-host a Citadel server that manages your library, and…

Citadel – a Calibre-compatible eBook management app launched on January 14, 2024 with 338 votes, #97 of 4,437 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 2 years on.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 2% of January 2024

In plain words

Citadel is a cross-platform eBook management application designed as a faster, simpler alternative to Calibre. Built with Tauri for desktop use and compatible with Calibre libraries, it offers both a native interface and a web-based mode for self-hosted server management accessible from anywhere. The tool is aimed at eBook enthusiasts seeking more streamlined library management than existing solutions provide.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Manage your ebook library without frustrations. Calibre compatible. - everydaythingssoftware/citadel

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hey folks! This winter I've been building Citadel to scratch my itch of managing ebooks without using Calibre. Calibre is incredibly powerful, but it's slow and awkward to use. I dreamed of writing a native app (and originally tried this in Swift), but ran into issues building the UI. Plus, whatever I built would…

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