Metadata

Kavita uses metadata to parse Series Name, Volumes, Chapters, Special Status, etc...

Kavita reads metadata from within your .c* archives (cbz, cbr, c7, cbt) and epub files. If your archives contain metadata, it will override any parsed information from the filename

You can find multiple tools to add metadata under Misc section


General Overview on how Kavita reads certain metadata tags

EPUB Tag Is In ComicInfo Is Equivalent In Kavita
Description Summary Summary
Creators Writer Writers
Pubishers Publisher Publisher
Publication Date Month, Day, Year Release Date
(Release Year for series)
Title Title Chapter Title
Subjects Genre Genres
Tags Tags
AgeRating Age Rating

Comics and Manga

Comics and manga use a ".xml" file at the root of the cbz, cbr, cbt, cb7 files

This file must be named ComicInfo.xml and be at the root of the archive.

The XML schema of this file can be found in the Anansi Project webpage. We support v2.1 (draft).

Note: Kavita currently supports the following custom tags:

  • <LocalizedSeries> : Contains optional localized series name which will display in Kavita. Will allow searching for either series name. Will group files that have the localized name and the series name together as one series.

eBooks

EPUB files do not have a ComicInfo.xml, but they do have some limited metadata in the OPF file. See the table above to know what tags do kavita read from the OPF file

Note: OPF metadata files must be inside the .epub file, or it won't be read.


ComicInfo

Tags that will cause specific behaviour in your kavita:

Age Rating

Age rating may vary between different files within a series. The Series will take the highest Age Rating (aka most mature) and use it from the files contained within. So for example, say you have:

Current tags from less restrictive to most restrictive:

  • Issue 1 - PG
  • Issue 2 - PG
  • Issue 3 - M

The series will be M as that is the most mature rating in all Issues.


Count

Kavita will set the Publication Status on a series for you based on this tag

  • If you have at least one "Count" defined within any ComicInfo from the series, and it is not 0, then Kavita will assume the Series is Ended. Otherwise, it will be assumed Ongoing.

  • If the Count matches the Volume count or Chapter count, then Kavita will assume the Series is Completed (you own all items of the series)

  • Ideally, the value of this field should be the total number of volumes (manga) or issues (comics)


Release Year

Likewise with Age Rating, Release Year is a summation of the minimum year defined within a series that is at least 4 units long (> 1000).


Publication Status

Kavita will set the Publication Status on a series for you based on the underlying ComicInfo.

If you have at least one ComicInfo with the Count property, then Kavita will at least mark the series as Ended.

Kavita will also check if the number of Volumes or Chapters matches this exactly and if so, will mark the series as Completed.

This logic will only run if the field is not locked. At any time you can hover over the tag badge in Series Detail to view how many issues or volumes you are missing.


SeriesGroup

The SeriesGroup tag can contain comma delimited strings that will either create or update existing collections in Kavita if the Library has Manage Collections turned on (default is off).


Format

If a Format is specified, that issue or volume may be forced into being treated as a Special (v0.5.4+).

The following entries will cause this:

  • Special
  • Reference
  • Director's Cut
  • Box Set
  • Box-Set
  • Annual
  • Anthology
  • Epilogue
  • One Shot
  • One-Shot
  • Prologue
  • TPB
  • Trade Paper Back
  • Omnibus
  • Compendium
  • Absolute
  • Graphic Novel
  • GN
  • FCBD