Audiobookshelf

Access

• Open URL: https://<SERVER_IP>
• Accept the browser certificate warning (the certificate is self-signed)
• Follow the initial setup wizard to create the root user

Important Files and Directories

• Config File: /etc/default/audiobookshelf
• Service File: /lib/systemd/system/audiobookshelf.service
• Nginx Config: /etc/nginx/sites-available/audiobookshelf
• SSL Certificate: /etc/nginx/ssl/fullchain.pem
• SSL Private Key: /etc/nginx/ssl/privkey.pem
• Access Log: /var/log/nginx/audiobookshelf.access.log
• Error Log: /var/log/nginx/audiobookshelf.error.log

Service Management

Check service status:

systemctl status audiobookshelf

Restart service:

systemctl restart audiobookshelf

Stop service:

systemctl stop audiobookshelf

Start service:

systemctl start audiobookshelf

View logs:

journalctl -u audiobookshelf -f

Nginx Management

Test configuration:

nginx -t

Restart Nginx:

systemctl restart nginx

Reload Nginx:

systemctl reload nginx

Check Nginx status:

systemctl status nginx

Enabling SSL with a Domain

1. Point your domain to the server IP.

2. Install Certbot:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

3. Generate a Let's Encrypt certificate:

certbot certonly --nginx --non-interactive --agree-tos --email [email protected] -d yourdomain.com

4. Replace SSL paths in Nginx config:

vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/audiobookshelf
# Before:
    # ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/ssl/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/privkey.pem;
# After:
    # ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    # ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

5. Replace server_name _; with your domain in both HTTP and HTTPS blocks:

vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/audiobookshelf
# Before:
    server_name: _;
# After:
    server_name: yourdomain.com;

6. Reload Nginx:

systemctl reload nginx

Notes

• Audiobookshelf runs as a native systemd service
• Nginx acts as a reverse proxy and TLS terminator
• HTTPS is enabled using a self-signed certificate by default
• Large uploads are supported (client_max_body_size 10240M)
• Audiobookshelf listens on 127.0.0.1:13378 and is only accessible through Nginx