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Longboxes

Longboxes

A self-hosted comic library that reads your collection by story — not by file.
Quick start Read on GitHub

What it is

Longboxes scans the comic archives on your disk, matches each one to its ComicVine entry, and then builds a library around the story. Issues join their volume. Volumes join their story arc. Characters and creators get their own pages with everything you own. Crossover events thread across series. The graph that ComicVine has always exposed, made walkable on your own server.

It runs as a Docker compose stack. Your files stay on your disk. No telemetry, no account required, no cloud round-trip.

Read by story

Story arcs as first-class navigation. A crossover event walks cleanly from one series into the next; characters get their own pages with every issue they appear in.

ComicVine-aware

Volume-first matching with ComicInfo.xml fast paths. Confident matches go straight to your library; ambiguous ones land in a review queue you confirm in batches.

Built-in reader

Browser-based page-by-page reader. Per-volume reading direction (manga toggle). Per-user resume position. Continue reading shelf on the home page.

Yours

GPL-3.0, self-hosted, zero telemetry. Files stay on your disk; your library data stays on your server.

Get started

The fastest path:

  1. Quick start — docker compose up, point at your library folder, set a ComicVine API key, open the URL.
  2. Install — the same thing with the explanations for when something looks unfamiliar.
  3. First scan — what to expect when Longboxes meets your library for the first time.

If you’d rather understand the model first:

  • How matching works — why Longboxes matches volumes before issues, what the review queue actually contains, and how to handle books ComicVine doesn’t catalogue.
  • Reading comics — the browser reader, manga mode, progress tracking, incognito reading.

Stuck on something? Troubleshooting & FAQ.

Status

Longboxes is pre-1.0 and self-hosted. The matcher, scanner, library browse, review queue, web reader, and admin tools are all built and running. Future work — metadata sync back to your archives, AI-assisted classification, cover-art matching — is captured in the project’s design notes on GitHub.