epub.ts (@likecoin/epub-ts)

A TypeScript fork of epubjs v0.3.93 by Fred Chasen / FuturePress — parse and render EPUB documents in the browser.

Note: This library is primarily developed for internal use at 3ook.com and is provided as-is. It was mainly built with AI-assisted development. For the original library, see epubjs.

Features

• Drop-in replacement for epubjs v0.3.93 — same API, just change the import
• TypeScript first — full strict mode, typed emitter, generated .d.ts declarations
• Modern build — Vite library build, ESM + CJS output
• Fewer dependencies — only 1 runtime dependency (jszip); removed core-js, lodash, path-webpack, event-emitter, localforage, @xmldom/xmldom
• Named exports — import individual classes like Book, EpubCFI, Rendition, etc.

Installation

npm install @likecoin/epub-ts

Quick Start

ES Modules (recommended)

import ePub from "@likecoin/epub-ts";

const book = ePub("/path/to/book.epub");
const rendition = book.renderTo("viewer", { width: 600, height: 400 });
rendition.display();

Browser (from ArrayBuffer)

import ePub from "@likecoin/epub-ts";

const fileInput = document.querySelector('input[type="file"]');
fileInput.addEventListener("change", async (event) => {
	const file = event.target.files[0];
	const data = await file.arrayBuffer();
	const book = ePub(data);
	const rendition = book.renderTo("viewer", { width: 600, height: 400 });
	rendition.display();
});

Node.js (parsing only)

Parse EPUB metadata, spine, navigation, and section content without a browser. Requires linkedom as a peer dependency.

npm install linkedom

import { Book } from "@likecoin/epub-ts/node";
import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";

const data = readFileSync("book.epub");
const arrayBuffer = data.buffer.slice(data.byteOffset, data.byteOffset + data.byteLength);
const book = new Book(arrayBuffer);
await book.opened;

console.log(book.packaging.metadata.title);
console.log(book.navigation.toc.map(item => item.label));

const section = book.spine.first();
const html = await section.render(book.archive.request.bind(book.archive));

Migration from epubjs

Drop-in replacement. Change your import:

- import ePub from "epubjs";
+ import ePub from "@likecoin/epub-ts";

All APIs remain the same.

Named Exports

import {
	Book, EpubCFI, Rendition, Contents, Layout,
	Section, Spine, Locations, Navigation, PageList,
	Resources, Packaging, Archive, Store,
	Annotations, Themes, Mapping,
} from "@likecoin/epub-ts";

API

See the full API documentation for details on all classes, interfaces, and methods.

Key classes:

Class	Description
Book	Main EPUB representation — loading, parsing, manipulation
Rendition	Renders a book to a DOM element
Contents	Manages content within an iframe
EpubCFI	EPUB Canonical Fragment Identifier parser
Locations	Generates and manages reading locations
Navigation	Table of contents and landmarks
Annotations	Highlights, underlines, and marks

Comparison with epubjs

Aspect	epub.ts	epubjs
Language	TypeScript (strict mode)	JavaScript
Build	Vite	webpack + Babel
Tests	Vitest	Karma + Mocha
Type definitions	Generated from source	Hand-written .d.ts
Dependencies	1 (jszip)	7+ (core-js, lodash, event-emitter, etc.)
API compatibility	100% (drop-in replacement)	—
Bundle format	ESM + CJS + UMD	UMD
Maintenance	Active	Inactive since 2022

Supported Environments

Environment	Import	Notes
Modern browsers	@likecoin/epub-ts	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
Vite / webpack	@likecoin/epub-ts	ESM or CJS
Node.js 18+	@likecoin/epub-ts/node	Parsing only (no rendering); requires linkedom peer dep

What's Changed from epubjs

• Build: webpack + Babel → Vite
• Tests: Karma + Mocha → Vitest
• Source: JavaScript → TypeScript (full strict mode)
• Removed dependencies: core-js, lodash, path-webpack, localforage, @xmldom/xmldom
• Replaced event-emitter with inline typed emitter
• Replaced localforage with native IndexedDB wrapper
• Replaced @xmldom/xmldom with native DOMParser/XMLSerializer
• Added Node.js parsing-only entry point (@likecoin/epub-ts/node) with linkedom
• Dropped IE8–IE11 support

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+

Setup

git clone https://github.com/likecoin/epub.ts.git
cd epub.ts
npm install

Scripts

Script	Description
npm run build	Vite library build → dist/
npm test	Run tests (Vitest)
npm run test:watch	Run tests in watch mode
npm run typecheck	TypeScript type checking (tsc --noEmit)
npm run lint	ESLint
npm run lint:fix	ESLint with auto-fix
npm run docs	Generate API docs (HTML + Markdown)

Contributing

See PROJECT_STATUS.md for current conversion progress and what to work on.

For AI agents contributing to this project, see AGENTS.md.

License

BSD-2-Clause (same as epubjs)

Acknowledgments

• epubjs by Fred Chasen / FuturePress — the original library this is forked from
• jszip — ZIP file handling

Built by 3ook.com

This project is built and maintained by the 3ook.com team. 3ook is a Web3 eBook platform where authors can publish EPUB ebooks and readers can collect them as digital assets.

Related Projects

• epubjs — Original EPUB reader library
• epubcheck-ts — TypeScript EPUB validator (also by 3ook.com)