Book Strategies

Book strategies determine how Codex names individual books and extracts volume/chapter numbers.

Filename (Default)

Rule: Book title = filename without extension

This is the Komga-compatible default behavior.

File: Batman #003.cbz
Title: "Batman #003"

File: One Piece v01.cbz
Title: "One Piece v01"

Pros:

• Predictable: what you see on disk = what you see in UI
• Komga-compatible
• No surprises from bad metadata

Cons:

• Ignores potentially good metadata
• Users must rename files to change display

Configuration:

{
  "book_strategy": "filename"
}

---

Metadata First

Rule: Use ComicInfo <Title> if present, fallback to filename

File: +Anima #03.cbz
ComicInfo.xml: <Title>Cooro's Journey</Title>
Title: "Cooro's Journey"

File: Batman #001.cbz
ComicInfo.xml: (no title)
Title: "Batman #001"

Pros:

• Uses rich metadata when available
• Supports chapter titles and issue names

Cons:

• Unreliable metadata leads to poor display
• Inconsistent across different metadata sources

Configuration:

{
  "book_strategy": "metadata_first"
}

---

Smart

Rule: Use metadata only if it's meaningful, otherwise use filename

File: +Anima #03.cbz
ComicInfo.xml: <Title>Vol. 3</Title>
Title: "+Anima #03" (rejected "Vol. 3" as generic)

File: +Anima #03.cbz
ComicInfo.xml: <Title>Cooro's Journey</Title>
Title: "Cooro's Journey" (meaningful title used)

Generic patterns that are rejected:

• Vol. 3, Volume 1
• Chapter 5, Issue #3
• #3, 3

Pros:

• Best of both worlds
• Uses good metadata, ignores bad

Cons:

• More complex logic
• Edge cases possible

Configuration:

{
  "book_strategy": "smart",
  "book_config": {
    "generic_patterns": ["^Vol\\.?\\s*\\d+$", "^Volume\\s*\\d+$"]
  }
}

---

Series Name

Rule: Generate title from series name + position with automatic padding

Format depends on series strategy:

• series_volume: {series} v.{volume_number}
• series_volume_chapter: {series} v.{volume_number} c.{chapter_number}

/One Piece/
  ├── random_file_a.cbz  → "One Piece v.01"
  ├── random_file_b.cbz  → "One Piece v.02"
  └── ...                → "One Piece v.45"

With series_volume_chapter:

/One Piece/
  ├── Volume 01/
  │   ├── ch001.cbz  → "One Piece v.01 c.001"
  │   └── ch002.cbz  → "One Piece v.01 c.002"
  └── Volume 12/
      └── ch150.cbz  → "One Piece v.12 c.150"

Padding scales with book count:

• Volumes: 2 digits for 0-99, 3 for 100-999, 4 for 1000+
• Chapters: 3 digits for 0-999, 4 for 1000+

Pros:

• Clean, uniform naming across library
• Independent of messy filenames
• Predictable sort order

Cons:

• Loses original filename information
• Requires accurate series detection

Configuration:

{
  "book_strategy": "series_name"
}

---

Custom

Rule: User-defined regex patterns for title/volume/chapter extraction

Best for: Non-standard naming conventions, advanced users

Example filenames and extractions:

One_Piece_v012_c145.cbz  → volume: 12, chapter: 145, title: "One Piece v.12 c.145"
OP - 012x145 - Romance Dawn.cbz  → volume: 12, chapter: 145, title: "Romance Dawn"
Series [V01] [C003].cbz  → volume: 1, chapter: 3, title: "Series v.01 c.003"

Configuration:

{
  "book_strategy": "custom",
  "book_config": {
    "pattern": "(?P<series>.+?)_v(?P<volume>\\d+)_c(?P<chapter>\\d+)",
    "title_template": "{series} v.{volume} c.{chapter}",
    "fallback": "filename"
  }
}

Option	Description	Default
pattern	Regex with named capture groups	Required
title_template	How to construct display title	Uses {title} group or filename
fallback	Strategy if pattern doesn't match	"filename"

Named groups:

Group	Purpose	Example
(?P<volume>...)	Extract volume number	v(?P<volume>\d+) matches "v12" → 12
(?P<chapter>...)	Extract chapter number	c(?P<chapter>\d+) matches "c145" → 145
(?P<title>...)	Extract title portion	- (?P<title>.+)$ matches "- Romance Dawn"
(?P<series>...)	Extract series (for template)	^(?P<series>.+?)_

Common patterns:

Naming Convention	Pattern
Series_v01_c001.cbz	(?P<series>.+?)_v(?P<volume>\d+)_c(?P<chapter>\d+)
Series - 01x05 - Title.cbz	^(?P<series>.+?) - (?P<volume>\d+)x(?P<chapter>\d+) - (?P<title>.+)$
[Group] Series v01 c001.cbz	\] (?P<series>.+?) v(?P<volume>\d+) c(?P<chapter>\d+)
Series Vol.1 Ch.5.cbz	(?P<series>.+?) Vol\.(?P<volume>\d+) Ch\.(?P<chapter>\d+)

Template placeholders:

• {series} - Captured series name
• {volume} - Volume number (auto-padded)
• {chapter} - Chapter number (auto-padded)
• {title} - Captured title
• {filename} - Original filename

caution

Test custom patterns with Preview Scan before creating the library.