ABS-DA — ABS Desktop App

An unofficial Windows desktop app for Audiobookshelf.

It runs your server's official Audiobookshelf web app — player, e-book reader and every admin tool (users, libraries, scanning, metadata editing, uploads, backups, logs, stats…) — in a proper Windows app, with desktop extras on top: system tray, themes, bookshelf art, saved login, media keys and more.

ABS-DA is a community project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Audiobookshelf project. All the credit for Audiobookshelf itself goes to advplyr and the Audiobookshelf contributors. Please report ABS-DA problems here, not to the Audiobookshelf issue tracker.

Download

Get the latest version from the Releases page:

File	What it is
ABS-DA-Setup-<version>.exe	Installer: Start Menu + desktop shortcuts, uninstaller, no admin rights needed
ABS-DA-Portable-<version>.exe	Single file, no install — settings are kept in an abs-da-data folder next to it
ABS-DA-Folder-<version>.zip	Folder version, no install: unzip it into a folder of its own and run ABS Desktop App.exe. Runs fully from that folder (starts faster than the single file, nothing unpacked to Temp); settings in abs-da-data next to it

Single file or folder? The single-file portable unpacks itself into your Temp folder each time it starts (that's how a one-file app works; it tidies up old copies by itself). The folder version skips that: everything stays in the folder you unzipped it to. Both update with one click.

Using the portable? Give it a folder of its own first, for example C:\Tools\ABS-DA or Documents\ABS-DA, put the .exe in it and start it from there. The app keeps its settings and login in an abs-da-data folder next to the .exe, so this keeps everything together and easy to move or delete. Avoid running it straight from Downloads or the Desktop, and avoid synced (OneDrive/Dropbox) or read-only folders.

Shortcuts: use App → Create Desktop Shortcut, or pin it to the taskbar. One-click updates put the new version in place of the old file, so shortcuts keep working. (The first update renames ABS-DA-Portable-<version>.exe to plain ABS-DA-Portable.exe once, and moves the app's own desktop shortcut along; a name you gave the file yourself is kept.)

Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" the first time, because the app isn't code-signed. Click More info → Run anyway.

Start it, enter your server address (for example http://192.168.1.10:13378 or https://abs.example.com) and sign in. Works on your home network and remotely (domain, dynamic DNS, reverse proxy, VPN).

Requires an Audiobookshelf server (tested with v2.36 and v2.37) and Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit).

Features

Everything from the official web app: audiobooks, podcasts, e-books (EPUB, PDF, CBZ/CBR…), collections, playlists, series, stats, and — for admin accounts — all the server settings.

Desktop extras

• Custom title bar with App · Edit · View · Navigate · Help menus, coloured to match the theme
• Remembers your server, window size and position; the login page shows which server you're on
• Remember me on the login page: your login is saved encrypted with Windows (DPAPI) and you're signed back in automatically. App → Forget Saved Login removes it.
• Keeps playing in the system tray when you minimise the window (✕ quits; App → Keep running in tray when closed makes ✕ hide it to the tray too). Click the tray icon to show or hide the window; right-click it for what's playing, Play/Pause, skip back/forward, previous/next chapter and a sleep timer (also for a book playing in the offline library)
• Start with Windows (in the tray)
• Keyboard media keys and the Windows media controls show the book and cover
• All libraries on one Home page (library picker → All libraries): continue listening, continue series, recently added per library (one card per series) and listen again, flat or on bookshelves
• Offline listening: a download button next to Play (and Download series on series pages) keeps books on your PC. The Offline library (App → Offline) plays them without the server — chapters, speed, sleep timer — and sends your listening back when the server is reachable again. Download queue with cancel, optional removal of finished books' offline copies, and the offline library opens by itself when the server can't be reached
• TV mode (View → TV mode or F10): a full-screen layout for the couch with a Plex-style side menu, used with an Xbox or PlayStation controller, a TV remote's arrow keys or the keyboard. Home rows, every library (books, series, collections, authors), book pages, search with an on-screen keyboard, and a big Now Playing screen (chapter and book progress, chapters, ±jump, speed, sleep timer). While a book plays, a dim, moving screen saver comes on after 30 s without a press, and after 5 min when nothing plays (both adjustable). It plays through the web app's own player, so progress syncs as usual. Podcasts show their episodes; the right stick changes the volume. Playlists (side menu) play all or from any line; Bookmarks (Now Playing, the book page) play from a bookmark, add one where you are, or remove one. View → TV mode → Start in TV mode opens it every time the app starts. ⚙ Settings inside TV mode (also the Start / Options button) has TV mode's own settings — Start in TV mode, both screen savers, locks for the chapter and jump buttons against stray presses — and every switch and choice of the App and View menus. A new version shows there too: a notice at the top and an ⬆ Update item in the side menu (Install now with the controller)
• Settings → Desktop App: every ABS-DA option (App and View menus) as switches and lists, at the top of the web app's Settings
• 7 colour themes (Audiobookshelf, Midnight, OLED Black, Forest, Mocha, Amethyst, High contrast) plus Windows contrast colours — they recolour the whole app, live. Pick them from the paintbrush button in the top bar (with small previews) or from View → Theme. Buttons, switches, pop-up notifications and the Stats chart and listening calendar follow the theme too
• 11 mood themes — Dungeon, Fireside Tavern, Starship, Neon Nights, Deep Sea, Haunted Manor, Wizard's Library, Rainy Day, Summer Woods, Autumn Woods, Snowy Night — each with its own scenery, bookshelf, title bar, menus, player bar and heading font, a gentle light layer (torches, embers, stars, fog, rain, snow…) and optional mood sounds: real recordings (crackling fire, rain on glass, cave drips, a starship's hum…), all public domain (CC0) from Freesound — see sounds/CREDITS.txt — playing while a book plays or while you browse. Animations are light on your PC and pause while you use other windows. Mood themes are an extra: tick Show mood themes (paintbrush panel, View → Theme or Settings) to see them
• View → Notifications: how long pop-up notifications stay (3 s / 5 s / 10 s / until closed), where they appear, pause while hovering, theme or original colours
• Settings, Upload and Account open as an overlay over the app (close with ✕, Esc or a click outside), so the page you're on and what's playing stay put
• Speaks your language: menus, tray and dialogs follow the language you use in Audiobookshelf (or View → Language) — all 33 languages Audiobookshelf has. Fixes welcome: edit locales/<code>.json
• 17 bookshelf arts: woods, stone, materials and scenes (starry night, aurora, ocean), all drawn in code
• Text size (Small → Largest) in the paintbrush panel or View → Text size; Ctrl +/-/0 and Ctrl+mouse wheel work too, and your size is remembered
• Mouse back/forward buttons, Alt+← / Alt+→, F5 reload, F11 fullscreen
• Links to other websites open in your normal browser
• Single sign-on (OpenID: Authentik, Keycloak, Authelia…) — the login provider's page opens inside the app and brings you back signed in
• Friendly "can't reach your server" screen, and a check that the address really is Audiobookshelf
• Only one copy runs at a time
• One-click updates: when a new version is out, an Update button appears in the title bar; Install now downloads it, checks it against the fingerprint GitHub publishes, installs it and restarts — for both the installer and the portable version. Nothing installs without your click
• Troubleshooting: repairs a page that loaded without its styles by itself, and empties old web files when the server was updated; App → Clear Cache and Restart… and Help → Copy Diagnostics (for bug reports); the portable tells you if its folder isn't writable; App → Use hardware acceleration can be turned off if pages draw strangely
• Works with Windows contrast themes without breaking sliders or the e-book reader colours
• Works around Audiobookshelf bug #4818 (volume slider opening behind the e-book reader)

Themes and bookshelves

Click the paintbrush next to your stats icon for a panel with small previews of every theme and bookshelf (or use View → Theme / View → Bookshelf). They change live, no reload.

Midnight + Starry night	Amethyst + Aurora	Forest + Light oak

One-click updates

When a new version is out, an Update button appears in the title bar:

Click it, then Install now. ABS-DA downloads the new version, checks it against the fingerprint GitHub publishes, installs it and restarts, keeping your settings and login. This works for both the installer and the portable version.

Privacy

This program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it. ABS-DA connects to the Audiobookshelf server you enter, and — to tell you about new versions — asks GitHub for the latest ABS-DA release (no personal data is sent; turn it off with App → Check for updates automatically). No analytics, no telemetry, no accounts. Settings live in %APPDATA%\ABS Desktop App (or abs-da-data next to the portable exe). Your server's own privacy rules are set by whoever runs it.

Code signing policy

Release files are built from this repository's source by GitHub Actions (build workflow). Releases are not code-signed yet; we're applying for free code signing from the SignPath Foundation. Once approved: Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.

Team roles:

• Committers and reviewers: Farathim89
• Approvers: Farathim89

Build from source

Needs Node.js (LTS).

npm install
npm start

Build the installer, the portable exe and the folder-version zip into dist\:

npm run dist

If the build fails with "Cannot create symbolic link: A required privilege is not held", run build.cmd as administrator once (it caches the signing toolkit); after that normal builds work.

Source files

• main.js — window, title bar menus, themes, tray, shortcuts, navigation, settings
• preload.js — the bridge between the pages and the app: connect screen, Remember me, mouse side buttons, the Settings overlay and its Desktop App page, the paintbrush (Looks) panel, mood sound button, offline and TV mode messages
• server.js — checks a server address and finds its web app
• shelf-art.js — the procedural bookshelf textures (SVG) and their plank colours
• mood-themes.js — the mood themes: scenery, light layers, bars and fonts
• mood-fx.js — the mood themes' moving light layer, drawn on a canvas over the library
• ambience.js — mood sounds: loops the recordings in sounds/ with a cross-fade (Web Audio, runs in the title bar page)
• home-page.js — the All libraries Home page
• tv-mode.js — TV mode: the full-screen couch layout, controller and remote input
• offline.js, offline-button.js, offline.* — downloads, the offline library and player, syncing listening back
• titlebar.* — the custom title bar (the web app runs in a panel underneath it)
• connect.* — the connect / change server / can't-reach screen
• ui.* — the themed title-bar menus and message boxes
• i18n.js, locales/ — the app's own texts in 33 languages (English is the fallback)
• build/installer.nsh — removes the Start with Windows entry on uninstall

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome — open an issue (or use Help → Report a Problem in the app).

License

ABS-DA is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later — see LICENSE. The same licence as Audiobookshelf itself.

Copyright © 2026 Farathim