Cindy's Books

Cindy's Books is named for my wife, Cindy — whose ever-growing shelves started all of this. It began with a simple problem: standing in a thrift store holding a paperback, she had no quick way to know whether she already owned it. I looked everywhere for an app to catalog her collection. Everything was either a heavy-handed "library management" system built for institutions, or so bare-bones it was barely more than a list. Nothing hit the sweet spot — a simple, fast, personal book catalog. So I built one, and made it a public project so any book lover could use it. Then reality hit: a web app is useless in the back of a thrift store with one bar of signal. So this is a native app that keeps your entire collection on your device — instant lookups, no connection needed. Point your camera at a barcode and it tells you "already owned" or "not yet — add it?" And for self-hosters running the open-source BookNexus web app, it syncs both ways with your own server: add books on your phone, edit them at a keyboard on the web, both stay in sync. What it does • Your whole library on your phone — fully offline • Scan a barcode to add a book, or catch a duplicate before you buy it • Auto-fills title, author, and cover from Open Library • Browse by author or series; instant search • Mark what you've read • CSV import/export and iCloud backup • Optional two-way sync with your self-hosted BookNexus server No account. No ads. No tracking. Your collection is one file on your phone that you own.