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ChekChek Docs

Quick start

In this tutorial, we run Chek server on your computer, add a folder of comics to it, and read that folder in the Chek app. It takes about ten minutes.

This setup is for trying Chek on your home network. Before other people use your server over the internet, follow Install the server and Serve Chek over HTTPS.

You need Docker and a folder of books or comics.

Start the server

Section titled “Start the server”

First, start the server. Replace /path/to/comics with your folder.

Terminal window
docker run -d --name chek -p 8080:8080 \
  -v chek-data:/data \
  -v /path/to/comics:/library:ro \
  ghcr.io/readchek/chek:latest

The chek-data volume holds the database and the covers. The second -v mounts your folder at /library. The :ro makes it read-only, so the server can’t change your files.

Now check that the server answers:

Terminal window
curl localhost:8080/health

You should see this:

{"status":"ok"}

If curl can’t connect, run docker logs chek to see why the server stopped.

Create the admin account

Section titled “Create the admin account”

A new server has no accounts. When it starts, it writes a one-time setup token to its log. Only a person who can read the log can create the first account.

Find the token in the log:

Terminal window
docker logs chek

Next, send the token with the name and password of the admin account. Replace the two values in angle brackets.

Terminal window
curl -X POST localhost:8080/api/v1/setup \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"setupToken": "<token from the log>", "name": "admin", "password": "<a long password>"}'

The response is a JSON object with a token field. Save the token in a shell variable, because the next steps use it:

Terminal window
TOKEN=<the token from the response>

Add your folder

Section titled “Add your folder”

Now add the folder as a library. Use the path inside the container, /library, not the path on your computer.

Terminal window
curl -X POST localhost:8080/api/v1/libraries \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name": "Comics", "path": "/library"}'

The server starts to scan the folder at once. A large folder takes some minutes. To see how far the scan is, list the libraries:

Terminal window
curl localhost:8080/api/v1/libraries -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Each library in the response has a scan field with the state of its scan.

Read in the app

Section titled “Read in the app”

Finally, open the Chek app on a device on the same network. Add a server with your computer’s address and port, such as 192.168.1.20:8080, and sign in as admin. Your comics appear in the app.

The app uses plain HTTP only for addresses on your local network. For any other address, the server needs HTTPS.

You can also read from an OPDS 2 reader, such as Thorium or KOReader. Add http://<your computer>:8080/opds/v2/catalog as a catalog, and sign in with the same name and password.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”