Running a NAS? Audiobookshelf works great on all the popular platforms. Pick yours below.

Synology (DSM 7+)

The easiest way is through Portainer, which gives you a proper Docker Compose experience on Synology.

Set up the folders

In File Station, create this structure:

/docker/audiobookshelf/
  /audiobooks
  /metadata

Your actual audiobook files can live wherever they already are on the NAS — you’ll mount that path separately.

Deploy via Portainer

If you have Portainer installed (and you should — it makes Docker on Synology much less painful), go to Stacks > Add Stack and paste:

services:
  audiobookshelf:
    container_name: audiobookshelf
    image: ghcr.io/advplyr/audiobookshelf:latest
    ports:
      - 13378:80
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/audiobookshelf:/config
      - /volume1/docker/audiobookshelf/metadata:/metadata
      - /volume1/audiobooks:/audiobooks
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Toronto
    restart: unless-stopped
    mem_limit: 4g

Adjust the paths to match your Synology volume layout. Click Deploy.

Set up a reverse proxy (optional)

Synology has a built-in reverse proxy. Go to Control Panel > Login Portal > Advanced > Reverse Proxy and create a rule:

• Source: HTTPS, port 443, hostname audiobookshelf.yourdomain.com
• Destination: HTTP, localhost, port 13378
• Custom Header: Add WebSocket headers — Upgrade: $http_upgrade and Connection: $connection_upgrade

The WebSocket headers are important. Without them, real-time features won’t work.

Updating

In Portainer, go to your stack, click Pull and redeploy. Done.

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Unraid

Audiobookshelf is in the Community Apps catalog — no manual Docker config needed.

Install

1. Go to the Apps tab in the Unraid UI
2. Search for audiobookshelf
3. Click Install
4. Configure your paths in the template:
   • Audiobooks: /mnt/user/audiobooks (or wherever your files live)
   • Podcasts: /mnt/user/podcasts
   • Config: /mnt/user/appdata/audiobookshelf/config
   • Metadata: /mnt/user/appdata/audiobookshelf/metadata
5. Click Apply

That’s it. Access it at http://YOUR-UNRAID-IP:13378.

Updating

The Community Apps plugin handles updates. You’ll see an update notification in the Docker tab when a new version is available.

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TrueNAS (SCALE / Electric Eel)

Audiobookshelf is available in the TrueNAS community apps catalog. Requires TrueNAS 24.10.2.2 or newer.

Install

1. Go to Apps in the TrueNAS UI
2. Search for audiobookshelf
3. Click Install
4. Configure storage paths — point the audiobooks volume to your existing dataset
5. Set the port (default 13378)
6. Click Save

If it’s not showing up

Make sure you have the community apps catalog enabled. Go to Apps > Discover Apps > Manage Catalogs and check that the TrueNAS community catalog is active.

Updating

TrueNAS shows available updates in the Apps UI. Click the app and hit Update.

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After install (all platforms)

Once Audiobookshelf is running:

1. Open http://YOUR-NAS-IP:13378 in a browser
2. Create your admin account
3. Add a library and point it to your audiobooks folder (use the container path, e.g., /audiobooks)
4. Let it scan — this takes a while on large libraries

Then connect SoundLeaf and you’re good to go.

NAS-specific gotchas

• Config volume must be local — don’t put the /config directory on a network share or a slow external drive. It holds the SQLite database.
• File watcher on network mounts — if your audiobooks are on a different NAS or network share mounted via NFS/SMB, the real-time file watcher may miss changes. Enable a scheduled library scan as a fallback.
• Permissions — if Audiobookshelf can’t read your audiobook files, it’s almost always a permissions issue. Make sure the container user (or the default root user) has read access to your media directories. On Synology, this usually means the files are owned by your admin user or are in a shared folder with appropriate permissions.