Docker is the easiest way to get Audiobookshelf running. It works on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and updates are a single command.

What you need

• Docker Engine installed on your machine (get Docker)
• A place for your audiobooks — a folder on your machine with your audiobook files
• A few minutes — seriously, that’s it

Quick start with Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  audiobookshelf:
    image: ghcr.io/advplyr/audiobookshelf:latest
    container_name: audiobookshelf
    ports:
      - 13378:80
    volumes:
      - ./audiobooks:/audiobooks
      - ./podcasts:/podcasts
      - ./config:/config
      - ./metadata:/metadata
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Toronto  # Change to your timezone
    restart: unless-stopped

Then run:

docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:13378 in your browser. You’ll be prompted to create your admin account.

That’s it. You have an audiobook server.

Or use Docker CLI directly

If you prefer a one-liner:

docker run -d \
  --name audiobookshelf \
  -p 13378:80 \
  -v /path/to/audiobooks:/audiobooks \
  -v /path/to/podcasts:/podcasts \
  -v /path/to/config:/config \
  -v /path/to/metadata:/metadata \
  -e TZ=America/Toronto \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/advplyr/audiobookshelf:latest

Replace /path/to/audiobooks with the actual path to your audiobook files.

Understanding the volumes

Volume	What it stores	Important notes
/audiobooks	Your audiobook files	Can be on network storage (NFS/SMB)
/podcasts	Your podcast files	Can be on network storage
/config	Database and settings	Must be on local storage — not network-mounted
/metadata	Cache, covers, backups, logs	Can be on network storage

Pro tip: Keep /config on fast local storage. It holds the SQLite database and gets hit constantly. Putting it on a network share will make everything sluggish.

You can mount additional media directories if your audiobooks live in multiple places — just add more -v lines.

Organizing your audiobooks

Audiobookshelf is pretty smart about parsing folder names. The recommended structure:

/audiobooks
  /Author Name
    /Series Name
      /Book Title
        cover.jpg
        chapter1.mp3
        chapter2.mp3

It also reads ID3 tags from your audio files, so if your metadata is good, the folder structure matters less.

Some handy folder naming tricks that get parsed automatically:

• Series sequence: Book 1 - Title or #3 - Title
• Publish year: 2024 - Title
• Narrator: Title {Narrator Name} (curly braces)
• Subtitle: Title - Subtitle (separated by dash)

First-time setup

1. Open http://YOUR-IP:13378 in a browser
2. Create your admin account
3. Click Libraries in the sidebar, then Add your first library
4. Select “Books” or “Podcasts” as the media type
5. Browse for your folder — use the container path (e.g., /audiobooks), not the path on your host machine
6. Save, and Audiobookshelf will scan your files automatically

Updating

docker compose pull
docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Your data, settings, and progress are all stored in the mounted volumes, so updates are safe.

Running as a specific user

If you need the container to run as a non-root user (common on NAS devices):

services:
  audiobookshelf:
    image: ghcr.io/advplyr/audiobookshelf:latest
    user: "1000:1000"  # Your user's UID:GID
    # ... rest of config

Find your UID/GID with id -u and id -g.

Common environment variables

Variable	Default	What it does
TZ	System	Timezone (e.g., America/Toronto, Europe/London)
PORT	80 (internal)	Internal listening port — you probably don’t need to change this
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY	3600	How long access tokens last (seconds)
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY	2592000	How long refresh tokens last (30 days)

Things that trip people up

• Don’t nest volumes — keep /config, /metadata, and your media directories separate. Nesting them inside each other causes weird issues.
• Only change the external port — if you want a different port, change the left side of the port mapping (e.g., 8080:80). Never change the 80 on the right.
• Network storage and the file watcher — if your audiobooks are on NFS or SMB, the real-time file watcher may not pick up changes reliably. Set up a scheduled library scan as a fallback (Settings > Libraries > your library > Schedule).

Next steps

• Connect SoundLeaf to your server — get the iOS app set up
• Set up a reverse proxy — access your server from outside your network
• Cloudflare Access — secure remote access with Cloudflare tunnels
• Tailscale VPN — access your server over Tailscale