Know your shelves.
A catalogue for the books you physically own: the edition you actually have, and the shelf it actually sits on. It works offline, it does not ask for an account, and the whole catalogue exports to CSV or JSON whenever you want it somewhere else.
Why it exists
A collection outgrows memory long before it outgrows the shelf.
Once it does, you buy the book you already own, you cannot remember which printing is in the case upstairs, and the reading apps are no help; they track what you read, not what you keep. The obvious fix is a spreadsheet, which is why so many collectors have one and why so few of them are current.
A catalogue for the books you physically own, not a reading tracker. It records the edition you actually have and where that copy sits: which shelf, in which case, in which room.
Who it is forCollectors, and anyone whose shelves have outgrown memory: people who care which printing they own, not just which title. The current beta is Core only: it catalogues, on your device, without an account.
What it solves
The shelf you actually have
A catalogue, not a reading feed
The home screen counts volumes, unread, reading, and wishlist: what you own, not how many days in a row you opened the app. Cataloguing picks up where you left it, a new install starts empty, and you get a warning before you buy the same book twice.
Edition-level detail
The printing on your shelf, not the title in the abstract
Scan an ISBN or type an entry by hand and the record fills in from public catalogue data (author, year, format, reading state), down to the specific edition you hold. Where that data runs out, the record says the edition is user-catalogued rather than inventing one.
Where the copy sits
Room, case, shelf
Copies are organised by the geography of your home ( Living Room, Oak Case, Study Shelf), so finding a book means walking to it rather than searching for it. Locations are yours to name and rename.
Designed differently
On your device, and portable out of it
The library is stored on the device and collection access works offline. The beta collects no usage analytics. CSV and JSON export sit in the free core, and the settings screen names which capabilities are Archivist gates rather than hiding them behind an upsell.
Designed differently
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On-device by default
The catalogue lives on your device. Collection access works offline, and a new install starts empty.
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No usage analytics
The beta collects no usage analytics. What you own and what you read is not measured.
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Accountless core
Cataloguing does not require an account. There is nothing to sign up for to use the app for its main job.
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Portable on purpose
CSV and JSON export are Core features. Leaving is supported rather than penalised.
Under the hood The technical surface, without the implementation
- Local-first catalogue store
- ISBN metadata ingestion from public catalogue data
- Portable CSV / JSON export
- No analytics dependency
- Accountless core; entitlement boundaries are explicit
Availability
- Status
- Available
- Platform
- iOS · Windows · Android beta
- Price
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Core Free
Scanning and manual entry, editions, shelves and physical locations, reading state and notes, duplicate warnings, and CSV or JSON export. No account, no advertising, no analytics.
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Archivist $4.99 a month · $49.99 a year
Full photo covers and spines, receipts and a dated condition history for every copy, and structured JSON import. Encrypted cloud backup on iOS and Android only.
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Collector $9.99 a month · $99.99 a year
Variant identification, insurance documentation, and sourced valuation snapshots — a record of what you own, not an appraisal.
Subscriptions are sold on iOS and Windows. The Android beta is free while closed testing runs.
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Questions or problems? darkindex@deadstarlabs.com