Skip to content

Book Library

The Book Library is your personal reading log — track books you’ve read, are currently reading, or want to read. Keep reading progress, lending records, and series all in one place.

Add books to your library in two ways:

  • Manual entry — fill in the details yourself
  • Import — bring in an existing collection from Hardcover or Goodreads

Connect to Hardcover via API to import your reading history, shelves, and book data. Hardcover import is API-based and pulls in detailed metadata automatically.

Upload your Goodreads CSV export file to import your shelves and reading history. Export your data from Goodreads first, then upload the file in solyto.

See Importing Data for step-by-step instructions.

Each book entry includes:

FieldDescription
titleBook title
authorAuthor name
seriesSeries name (if part of a series)
volumeVolume number within the series
rating1–5 stars
publication_yearYear the book was published
pagesTotal page count
current_pagePage you’re currently on (reading progress)
lent_toWho you lent the book to
is_wherePhysical location of the book
coverBook cover
linkURL (Hardcover, Goodreads, store page)
wishlistMark as wanted but not yet owned
summaryBrief description or synopsis
started_atDate you started reading
finished_atDate you finished reading
tagsColored tags for filtering
genresOne or more book genres

Track where you are in any book. Set current_page against the total pages to see how far along you are. solyto displays your progress as a percentage, making it easy to pick up where you left off.

Progress is visible in the book list and on each book’s detail page.

Books that are part of a series can be grouped together. Set the series name and volume number on each entry to keep your series organized. Browse by series to see all volumes in order.

Track who has your books. Use lent_to to record the person you lent a book to, and is_where to note where the book physically is — a friend’s house, the office, or back on your shelf.

This is especially useful if you lend books often and want to remember who has what. A dedicated Lent out filter shows only books you’ve loaned.

Get book recommendations based on your library. Pick A favorite, Something I haven’t seen before, Just something random, or Something new — solyto picks a matching book from your collection (or fetches a fresh release via Hardcover for “new”). Use “Try again” to reroll.

Recommendations are generated on-demand only — nothing happens until you click the button.

solyto checks Hardcover for new books from your favorite authors and can notify you when they publish. Notifications are configurable per channel — Telegram, email, or push. See Notifications for setup.

Browse your book collection in List, Cards, Shelf, or Spine views — the shelf view renders a wooden bookshelf and the spine view flips out 3D book spines (spine width derives from page count). Search by title or author (press Ctrl+F), and filter by genre, rating, wishlist, or lent-out.

The book library has its own genre system. Add genres that match your reading — literary fiction, sci-fi, biography, self-help, or anything else. Assign multiple genres to any book.

Manage genres from the library settings. You can add, rename, and remove genres at any time.

Export your entire book library as .csv. The file includes all fields — title, author, series, rating, genres, and reading dates. See Exporting Data.