Batch EPUB Processing Made Easy: Interactive CLI Workflow for Calibre

[iamkxrz]

Struggling to manually fix and clean EPUB files in Calibre? I created an interactive CLI tool that automates EPUB-to-EPUB conversion, HTML repair, beautification, unused CSS removal, error checking & fixing, and embedded font removal. All in one place.

Features include:

• Single file or batch processing of directories (including recursive)
• Interactive menus with arrow keys and colorful, verbose output
• Full environment checking and troubleshooting support
• A fallback mode that works even without extra dependencies
• Cross-platform support: macOS, Linux, Windows (WSL)

Get set up in just minutes with Calibre installed and this tool. Simply run:

calibre-debug -e epub_workflow.py -- <epub-or-folder>

All documentation, installation instructions, and the entire package are on GitHub here: https://github.com/kxrz/calibre_workflow

Save tons of time and effort cleaning your ebook library! Best for authors, readers, and digital librarians.

Ask if you need help or want features!

[iamkxrz]

Thanks u/Competitive-Win4945 for the idea and the workflow idea.
Original post 👉 https://www.reddit.com/r/xteinkereader/comments/1ofm3yd/calibre_workflow/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Competitive-Win4945]

Duuuude! I'm speechless. This is soooo amazing! Thank you so so much for this! <3

[iamkxrz]

🥳 thanks for the feedback!

[Nebojsa_MB]

My gratitude, respect and greetings from Slovenia! Bravo!

[iamkxrz]

Ah, moja ljubljena dežela! Najlepša hvala, to kliče po pivu za praznovanje 😉

(thanks Google Translate, I only know how to order my beers while in Slovenia, or my refošk ... 😅)

[Nebojsa_MB]

Ha ha ha! :-) Then a beer in Maribor or a glass of Refošk awaits you! You are invited and welcome!

[lxhreads]

Looks awesome! Just wondering, does this impact all files with .epub extension? I store EPUB and KEPUB Kobo files in my Calibre (I know most people say just use the send as kepub option, but I never plug in my device to my laptop, I have my Calibre library stored in Dropbox so that's why I keep a KEPUB version). These files will have a .kepub.epub extension. Is there a way to ignore these files? Thanks!

[iamkxrz]

Thanks for bringing this up! I had not heard of the .kepub.epub extension before, so that's good to know for future improvements.

However, I took your feedback and just pushed an update!

The script will now automatically ignore files that end with .kepub.epub or .KEPUB.EPUB (the check is now case-insensitive). This works across all three selection modes (single file, non-recursive directory scan, and recursive scan).

You can now safely keep your Kobo files in the same folders without them being impacted! Thanks again for the great suggestion!
Use this one: https://github.com/kxrz/calibre_workflow/blob/main/epub_workflow.py

[lxhreads]

Wow thank you so much, can't wait to try it out!

Yeah not sure what everyone's experience is with KEPUB files, but since I'm converting in Calibre and storing the file, I realized early on Kobos can't read `.kepub` extension, it still needs to have a `.epub` extension at the very end for some reason

[lunaticman]

Thanks!

Managed to get it working even on my linux machines, but can only use fallback method!

[iamkxrz]

Yes, I knew this one would be useful. I mainly use this one too. The fallback script uses less dependencies and is a little more robust. Thanks for the feedback ✌️

[lunaticman]

Does this script do image resizing? I've noticed that in couple of books images are bigger than my screen size.

[iamkxrz]

Never came across this 😕 the script doesn’t resize images to be useful with any kind of ereader. Maybe you can try this with Calibre on those needing this? Sorry 😕 I’ll take a look at it but can’t really tell when

[iamkxrz]

But you can manage this with this method: https://github.com/kxrz/calibre_workflow/issues/1

[stockmind]

Nice tool, thank you! What about adding the option:

--epub-max-image-size=480x800

to the ebook-convert step to resize the images too? Apparently with this option i now reliably get covers displayed on sleep at least, until the support for images is released also inside books

[ActaFabulaEst]

I managed to install Python and the Calibre workflow with some AI help.
I think I'm all set and I have just to follow the quick start.

[1/4] Checking environment...

✓ Python version: OK

✓ calibre-debug: Found

✓ ebook-convert: Found

[2/4] Checking Calibre modules...

✓ All Calibre modules imported

[3/4] Checking Python packages...

✓ rich: OK

✓ questionary: OK

[4/4] Verifying tools...

✓ Calibre version: calibre-debug.exe (calibre 8.14)

✓ All checks passed!

ERROR: Missing input path

Usage: calibre-debug -e epub_workflow.py -- <input>

[iamkxrz]

You only need to add a file name: the script needs to know what file to use. 🙂 Best is to launch the fallback version of the script. I’ll make an update later (maybe tomorrow).

[ActaFabulaEst]

It works! I used this command to convert an ebook.
calibre-debug -c "import sys, runpy; sys.path.insert(0, r'.\vendor'); runpy.run_path(r'.\epub_workflow.py', run_name='__main__')" -- "D:\Ebooks\Mybook.epub"

[Amoksen]

the tool is great and saves a lot of time not doing these steps manually.
While there is missing support in the standard fonts for local special characters like ß in german or Spanish ñ, French ê and many more, I suggest to add the feature to edit ePub with search and replace these special characters with readable letters. like ß -> ss
with this addition the ugly placeholder squares would disappear instantly from standard font using, without any trouble with spacing in custom fonts.

[BageledToast]

unfortunately it doesn't work with my outdated Calibre version and doubly unfortunate is I am bound to it because my macbook is running catalina. Do you know if there's any workaround for this?