Quick start
Bibliup runs on your own computer. These steps take about ten minutes, plus the time the first download takes.
What you need
- A computer that can stay on while you use it (Windows, macOS or Linux).
- Docker Desktop (or Docker with Docker Compose on Linux). This is the free program that runs Bibliup for you. Install it and start it before going on.
- About 10 GB of free disk space for the AI models.
- Optional: an NVIDIA graphics card makes chat much faster.
Install it in three steps
Open a terminal (on Windows, PowerShell; on macOS, Terminal) and type the commands below.
1. Download Bibliup and create its settings file. The settings work as they are, so you do not need to edit anything yet.
git clone https://github.com/JoshFryOrg/Bibliup bibliup
cd bibliup
cp .env.example .env
On Windows, use copy .env.example .env for the last line. No git? Download the code as a ZIP from the repository
page instead, unzip it, and open a terminal in that folder.
2. Start it. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, first open .env in a text editor and, at the top, swap the
COMPOSE_FILE line for the one beneath it that ends in docker-compose.gpu.yml. Then:
docker compose up -d --build
The first start downloads several GB and can take a while. Search works first, and chat starts working once the download is done. On Linux, do this one setting before adding anything.
3. Open http://localhost:3000 and add a Bible.
- Go to Library and open the Bibles tab.
- Drag in a Bible file (
.xml, in the Zefania or OSIS format). Free ones are at the Zefania project. - Give it a collection name, for example "Public".
When it has finished adding, search from the home page or ask a question in Chat. That is it: you are set up. Next, add the rest of your library.
Everyday tasks
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Stop Bibliup (your library is kept) | docker compose down |
| Start it again | docker compose up -d |
| Update to the latest version | git pull, then docker compose up -d --build |
| See what went wrong | docker compose logs app --tail 200 |
| Back up everything | stop it, then copy the mnt folder (more) |
Every docker compose command reads COMPOSE_FILE from .env, so it always uses the files you chose there.
Something not working?
- Chat says it is not ready: the AI models are still downloading. Watch with
docker compose logs -f localai. - The page will not open: check Docker Desktop is running, then run the "see what went wrong" command above.
- Searches fail on Linux (
all shards failed): you need the Linux setting. - The database will not start on Windows: see Backups and your data.