Important Clarification

This plugin is primarily for my own use, and it's not intended to run as a continuously active web server on the Kindle.

The expected workflow is:

• Launch the plugin when needed
• Briefly access the dashboard from a phone or computer on the same local network
• Stop the server after reviewing the data

For cover display:

• Existing books do not show dashboard covers until cover files are saved.
• This is optional and not enabled by default.
• If you do not press Pull Covers in the frontend, no book covers will be shown.
• If you press Pull Covers, covers are now stored as WebP. In my test, ~50 covers used around 1.1 MB.

Power usage note:

• The networking part is one of the biggest Kindle battery drains.
• My recommended use case is: start the plugin, review/screenshot what you need, then stop the server.

It is designed for short, on-demand sessions rather than persistent background operation.

KoDashboard

A KOReader plugin that starts a lightweight local web server and exposes a browser dashboard for your reading data.

Open it from any device on the same local network (phone, tablet, laptop) to explore your library, reading progress, statistics, calendar activity, and highlights/notes.

Screenshots

Books

Calendar

Stats

Highlights

Features

• Runs directly inside KOReader
• Local web UI served by the plugin (web/index.html, web/app.js, web/style.css)
• JSON API for books, highlights, stats, overview, and dashboard data
• Bulk cover fetching (Pull Covers) with progress, pause/resume, and caching
• Highlights tools: copy single annotation + export all highlights (JSON)
• QR code shortcut in KOReader menu for quick mobile access
• Configurable port (default 8686)
• Kindle support (opens/closes firewall rules when starting/stopping)

Installation

Install from ZIP (recommended)

1. Download the release ZIP.
2. Extract it.
3. Copy the kodashboard.koplugin folder into KOReader's plugins directory.
4. Restart KOReader.

Expected path:

.../koreader/plugins/kodashboard.koplugin

Usage

1. In KOReader, open the main menu.
2. Open the KoDashboard menu.
3. Tap Start dashboard server.
4. KOReader will show a local address (for example http://192.168.1.23:8686).
5. Open that URL in a browser on another device on the same Wi-Fi/network.
6. Or tap Show QR code in the KoDashboard menu and scan it from your phone/tablet.

KOReader plugin menu options

• Start / Stop dashboard server
• Show QR code (starts the server if needed)
• Port (custom port setting)

Cover Fetching (Pull Covers)

This is one of the core features of KoDashboard.

How to use it

1. Open the dashboard in your browser.
2. Go to the Books tab.
3. Click Pull Covers.
4. Let the job run (you can Pause / Resume).
5. When complete, covers are refreshed in the library UI.

What the progress panel means

• saved: a cover was newly saved (downloaded or extracted)
• skipped: a cached cover already exists
• failed: cover lookup/download failed
• Current: the book currently being processed
• Error list: sample failures (up to a few entries) to help troubleshooting metadata/network issues

How cover fetching works

• KoDashboard tries local/embedded cover extraction first (when available).
• If no usable local cover is found, it can fall back to Open Library cover lookup/download.
• Downloaded covers are cached, so later runs usually skip existing covers.

Important notes / caveats

• The KOReader device itself must have network access for online cover fetching.
• Your browser device (phone/laptop) only controls the UI; the fetch runs on the KOReader side.
• Cover matching depends on title/author metadata quality.
• Large libraries can take time depending on library size and network speed.
• Some books may remain without a fetched cover (metadata mismatch, missing result, network failure).

Highlights: Copy and Download

KoDashboard supports both quick copying and bulk export of annotations.

Copy a single annotation

From the Highlights page or a book detail page:

1. Find an annotation card.
2. Click the copy icon.
3. A formatted text block is copied to your clipboard.

The copied text can include:

• Book title
• Author
• Chapter
• Page
• Date
• Highlight text
• Note text

Download (export) highlights

From the Highlights page:

1. Use search/filter/sort if needed.
2. Click the download icon (Export JSON).
3. KoDashboard downloads a file like:

kodashboard-highlights-YYYY-MM-DD.json

The exported JSON includes structured rows such as:

• Book title / author
• Type (highlight or note)
• Color
• Chapter
• Page
• Datetime
• Highlight text
• Note text

API Endpoints

Most endpoints are GET. Cover upload uses POST.

• /api/books
• /api/books/:book_ref
• /api/books/:book_ref/annotations
• /api/books/:book_ref/timeline
• /api/books/:book_ref/cover
• /api/books/:book_ref/fetch-cover
• /api/books/:book_ref/upload-cover (POST, binary image body)
• /api/highlights
• /api/stats
• /api/overview
• /api/dashboard

Notes

• Intended for local network use
• Server binds to all interfaces (*) on the configured port
• Static files are served from the plugin web/ directory
• The built-in server supports GET and POST requests

Troubleshooting

• If the page does not load, confirm KOReader shows the server as running
• Make sure both devices are on the same network
• Try a different port if 8686 is occupied
• If covers fail to fetch, verify internet access on the KOReader device and check book metadata quality
• On Kindle, restarting the plugin can help if firewall rules were not applied cleanly

Project Structure

• main.lua - plugin entry point and HTTP server
• api.lua - API routing and JSON responses
• dataloader.lua - data loading/parsing from KOReader data sources
• web/ - frontend dashboard UI

Credits

• Fable (design inspiration for reading/social reading UX ideas)
• KoInsight by GeorgeSG (inspiration/reference for KOReader reading insights work)