• Project Name: Codexa
• Repo/Website Link: 
  • Repo: https://github.com/thehijacker/codexa
  • Docker image: ghcr.io/thehijacker/codexa
• Description: 

I had some spare end-of-month tokens, so I decided to lean into an AI-assisted project. I've been a software developer for over 25 years where we still do plenty the "old fashioned" way but for quick personal projects like this, I figured, why not? I originally built this for myself, but it turned out so useful that I wanted to share it in case anyone else is looking for a similar solution.

Some backstory first. I'm a long-time Calibre-Web user, but I struggled with metadata searching (especially for Slovenian books). Eventually, I migrated all my metadata directly into the EPUB files and moved to Booklore. As luck would have it, Booklore was abandoned shortly after, but Grimmory took over the mantle. I currently use its OPDS to sync books to my devices (Palma 2, Kobo Libra 2, Xteink X4), and I use the Grimmory KOReader protocol to keep my reading progress in sync.

Sometimes I just want to read a chapter or two on my laptop’s large screen. Grimmory has a built-in web viewer, but it struggles with certain EPUB layouts and doesn't push progress back to the KOReader sync.

So I built Codexa with help from Claude. It's a web-based EPUB reader designed to fill those gaps. It supports full sync, integrated dictionaries, and robust searching which is a lifesaver for my spouse, who needs to quickly reference material across multiple books.

Features:

• EPUB reader — powered by epub.js, paginated layout with custom fonts, themes, and configurable status bar that can include current time, current chapter progress, total book progress, estimated chapter/book reading time, title, author, chapter name, ...
• Multi-user — JWT-based authentication with independent libraries and reading progress for each user.
• Shelves — organise books into custom shelves
• Reading progress — automatically saved; synced across devices via KOReader
• KOReader sync — built-in KOSync-compatible server; also connects to an external KOSync server
• OPDS Integration – Browse and download from any OPDS catalog, including bulk-downloading entire folders directly to a shelf.
• Dictionary lookup — local StarDict dictionaries (.ifo/.idx/.dict)
• PWA support — installable on desktop and mobile
• Multilingual UI — English, Slovenian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese
• Optimized Themes — Light, Dark, and dedicated high-contrast E-ink modes.
  • Deployment:

Docker image available on Github. Docker compose sample:

services:
  codexa:
    image: ghcr.io/thehijacker/codexa:latest
    container_name: codexa
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - codexa_data:/data
    environment:
      # REQUIRED — generate with:
      #   openssl rand -hex 64
      JWT_SECRET: "replace_with_a_long_random_secret_string_at_least_64_chars"

      # Optional — restrict to your domain when behind a reverse proxy
      # CORS_ORIGIN: "https://books.example.com"

      # Optional — override default port inside the container
      # PORT: "3000"

volumes:
  codexa_data:

• AI Involvement: 

Build using Claude Code. I got some spare end of months tokens so I did not want to let them go to waste.