BookWyrm

Description

BookWyrm is a self-hosted social reading platform where users can share books, post reviews, follow each other, and join federated conversations across the Fediverse. It is a community-driven alternative to proprietary platforms like Goodreads. Readers can catalog their library, track reading progress, and discover new books through friends and federated timelines.

Overview

BookWyrm provides a federated social network for books built on ActivityPub. Each instance can be private, invitation-only, or open for public registration. Users can import/export book lists, interact with others across the Fediverse, and maintain their own curated reading environment. As an admin, you can configure moderation tools, content rules, and federation policies to suit your community.

Cosmos

The diagram places BookWyrm in the Infinito.Nexus cosmos: the components it deploys (capabilities), the central services it consumes (dependencies), and its outward reach (federation and bridged external networks).

flowchart LR
    subgraph deps [Dependencies]
        dep_svc_bkp_volume_2_local["svc-bkp-volume-2-local 💻"]
        dep_svc_db_postgres["svc-db-postgres 🐳🐝"]
        dep_svc_db_redis["svc-db-redis 🐳🐝"]
        dep_svc_net_tor["svc-net-tor 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_dashboard["web-app-dashboard 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_keycloak["web-app-keycloak 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_matomo["web-app-matomo 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_prometheus["web-app-prometheus 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_seaweedfs["web-app-seaweedfs 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_stalwart["web-app-stalwart 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_svc_css["web-svc-css 💻"]
        dep_web_svc_logout["web-svc-logout 🐳🐝"]
    end
    subgraph role [web-app-bookwyrm 🐳🐝]
        svc_sso["sso"]
        svc_logout["logout"]
        svc_dashboard["dashboard"]
        svc_matomo["matomo"]
        svc_email["email"]
        svc_postgres["postgres"]
        svc_redis["redis"]
        svc_bookwyrm["bookwyrm"]
        svc_migrate["migrate"]
        svc_worker["worker"]
        svc_minio["minio ❌"]
        svc_seaweedfs["seaweedfs"]
        svc_css["css"]
        svc_prometheus["prometheus"]
        svc_tor["tor"]
        svc_container_backup["container_backup"]
    end
    dep_svc_bkp_volume_2_local -. "0..1" .-> svc_container_backup
    dep_svc_db_postgres -. "0..1" .-> svc_postgres
    dep_svc_db_redis -. "0..1" .-> svc_redis
    dep_svc_net_tor -. "0..1" .-> svc_tor
    dep_web_app_dashboard -. "0..1" .-> svc_dashboard
    dep_web_app_keycloak -. "0..1" .-> svc_sso
    dep_web_app_matomo -. "0..1" .-> svc_matomo
    dep_web_app_prometheus -. "0..1" .-> svc_prometheus
    dep_web_app_seaweedfs -. "0..1" .-> svc_seaweedfs
    dep_web_app_stalwart -. "0..1" .-> svc_email
    dep_web_svc_css -. "0..1" .-> svc_css
    dep_web_svc_logout -. "0..1" .-> svc_logout

Solid 1:1 edges are fixed relationships; dashed 0..1 edges are conditional (enabled only in matching deployments); red 0..0 edges are turned off in this role. Node markers show the role's deploy modes (💻 host, 🐳 compose, 🐝 swarm); ❌ marks a service that is explicitly turned off, and ⚙️ an Ansible role dependency declared in meta/main.yml.

Features

Federated Social Network: Connects with other BookWyrm instances and ActivityPub platforms.
Book Cataloging: Add, search, and organize books; import/export libraries.
Reading Status & Reviews: Mark books as “to read,” “reading,” or “finished,” and publish reviews or quotes.
Timelines & Interaction: Follow other readers, comment on reviews, and engage in federated discussions.
Privacy & Moderation: Fine-grained controls for content visibility, moderation, and federation settings.
Community Building: Host a private club, classroom library, or large public community for readers.
Optional SSO Integration: Can work with OIDC for unified login across platforms.

Quick Setup

Development

Clone, set up the workstation, and deploy BookWyrm onto the local stack:

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
make onboard
make compose-deploy mode=reinstall apps=web-app-bookwyrm full_cycle=false

Production

Run the published image to provision the inventory and deploy BookWyrm to a managed server (the mounted volume persists the inventory):

APP=web-app-bookwyrm
HOST=<your-server>
DOMAIN=<your-domain>
TLS_MODE=self_signed
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="<your-ssh-public-key>"

docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$PWD/inventories:/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories" \
  -e APP="$APP" -e HOST="$HOST" -e DOMAIN="$DOMAIN" -e TLS_MODE="$TLS_MODE" -e SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
  ghcr.io/infinito-nexus/core/debian bash -c '
    INVENTORY=/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories/production
    infinito administration inventory provision "$INVENTORY" \
      --inventory-file "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --host "$HOST" \
      --include "$APP" \
      --vars "{\"TLS_MODE\": \"$TLS_MODE\", \"DOMAIN_PRIMARY\": \"$DOMAIN\", \"users\": {\"administrator\": {\"authorized_keys\": [\"$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY\"]}}}" &&
    infinito administration deploy dedicated "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --password-file "$INVENTORY/.password" \
      --diff -vv'

Further Resources

Persona contract opt-outs

Both authenticated Playwright personas are blocked. BookWyrm's logout control is an icon-only avatar dropdown with no accessible name, so the shared in-app-logout helper cannot locate it; the trusted-header login itself works.

The administrator persona is additionally blocked because this role never creates a BookWyrm staff account. files/sso/header_auth.py provisions proxied identities with create_user(...) and no is_staff flag, and no task promotes an existing account, so the administrator arrives as an ordinary member with no admin surface to exercise.

Credits

Implemented by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Part of the Infinito.Nexus Project and maintained by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Licensed under the Infinito.Nexus Community License (Non-Commercial).