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Comics and Manga Metadata

Comics and manga use a “comicinfo.xml” file for metadata.

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

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

ComicInfo

Conversion table

In ComicInfoIsEquivalent In Kavita
Title→Chapter Title
LocalizedSeries→Localized Name
Series or SeriesSort→Name
Number→Issue/Chapter number
Count→Publication Status
Volume→Volume
Summary→Summary
Publisher, Imprint→Publisher, Imprint
Year, Month, Day→Release Date (Release Year for series)
Summary→Series Summary from first issue/chapter Issue/Chapter Summary
Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colorist, Letterer, Cover Artist, Editor, Translator→Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colorist, Letterer, Cover Artist, Editor, Translator
Genre→Genres
Tags→Tags
Web→Web Links (Also used for matching in CBLs)
PageCount→Length (This is aggregated on the Series)
LanguageISO→Language
Format→Special
SeriesGroup→Collections
AgeRating→Age Rating
GTIN→ISBN

Non-standard 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.
  • <SeriesSort>: The sort title to use for the Series. Kavita will prefer this over <Series>

Count

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

The following logic will only run if the field is not locked.

  • 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)

At any time you can hover over the tag badge in Series Detail to view how many issues or volumes you are missing.

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).

Format

If a Format is specified, that issue or volume may be forced into being treated as a Special.

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

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).

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.

Age Rating from least to most mature. The order is fixed according to the ComicInfo.xml standard.

  • Unknown
  • Rating Pending
  • Early Childhood
  • Everyone
  • G
  • Everyone 10+
  • PG
  • Kids to Adults
  • Teen
  • MA15+
  • Mature 17+
  • M
  • R18+
  • Adults Only 18+
  • X18+
GeneralEpubs