ABS Butler
A butler for your Audiobookshelf library. Set it up once and it keeps the library's metadata correct and consistent.
Free · open source · MIT licence
What it does
ABS Butler runs beside your Audiobookshelf server. It discovers what is missing from your library and fills it in, and it normalises what is already there — titles, authors, narrators, series names — so the same book is described the same way wherever it appears.
Audit
Finds problems across the whole library: missing metadata, inconsistent names, books whose files are listed twice.
Fill in and normalise metadata
Looks books up in several sources — Audible, Audnexus, AudioSilo Meta, Open Library, Google Books and Apple Books — and lets them vote field by field.
Organise files
Enforces a consistent folder naming scheme on disk, when it shares the library with Audiobookshelf and you have allowed it to.
Age bands and content flags
Tags books so a library can be filtered by what is appropriate for whom — useful for a server shared with a family.
Safe by default
- Every operation is a dry run unless you say otherwise, and a dry run's findings can be applied book by book from the web interface.
- Changing files, rewriting metadata and repairing tracks are each switched off after a fresh install, and each has its own switch.
- Runs can be undone, and every run keeps a full log.
- Setup is protected by a one-time code and failed sign-ins are throttled, so a butler on a home network cannot be taken over by the first visitor.
Install
Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows as a Snap, a Docker container, or from source. The Docker installer finds Audiobookshelf on the same machine and fills in the settings for you:
docker run --rm -it -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v "${PWD}:/install" ghcr.io/cwpetrich/abs-butler-installer
Or as a Snap:
sudo snap install abs-butler
Then open the web interface on port 13380. Full instructions, including Windows and building from source, are in the README.
Price
Free, and open source under the MIT licence. There is nothing to buy.
Support
Bug reports and feature requests go to GitHub issues, where everyone can see and follow them. For anything else, email support@sidequestered.com.
ABS Butler curates a library, which Audiobook Co-op deliberately never does — the two are designed to be used together.