I like hoarding books. I like their look on the shelf. I might not read it now, but I enjoy having them. My shelf is my fridge. It should never run out of food, food for the mind.

I always imagine having a virtual shelf, a "shelf" beyond a list of names. Came across Stealing Is a Skill and Criterion Closet the other day. So today is the day.

I also imagine a virtual book store, where people can roam around and flip the books. Would be so nice if bookdespository (sadly gone) have this interaction and have the book delivered to my home. Maybe later.

Demo site

Goodshelf

Screenshot

Data source

Goodreads rss

• https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=currently-reading
• https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=to-read
• https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=read

Goodreads rss limits 200 books per shelf.

The rss urls have CORS restriction. So either run from a browser extension, or go through a server proxy.

Development

Start the proxy server

# cwd: shelf/server
node index.js

Runs on http://localhost:3001. Proxies Goodreads RSS and cover image requests to avoid CORS.

Start the frontend

Runs on http://localhost:5173. Opens the app in the browser. Expects the proxy server to be running at localhost:3001 (or set VITE_PROXY_URL).

Build browser extensions

# cwd: shelf

# Chrome
npm run build:extension   # → dist-chrome/

# Firefox
npm run build:extension-firefox     # → dist-firefox/

Load unpacked in Chrome via chrome://extensions → Load unpacked → select dist-chrome/.
Load in Firefox via about:debugging → Load Temporary Add-on → select any file inside dist-firefox/.