Vault · DCThe completist
Open the deluxe Batman: The Killing Joke at full size, admire Brian Bolland's cover with nothing in the way, mark it five stars next to your other keepers. Three seconds.
macOS & Windows · Local-first
Your comics. Your folders.
A library worthy of them.
Point Shelf Republic at the folders you've spent years organizing and get a visual library in seconds. Isolated vaults, oversized covers with front-to-back flip, and one click to open any issue in the reader you already use, without changing a single thing about how it's already arranged.
One-time $39 · 14-day money-back · No account required
“It's the Obsidian for comic collections.”
No account. No cloud. No telemetry.No migrationNo subscriptionNo lock-inFiles stay CBR/CBZ/PDF on disk
The false dilemma
You already built the perfect system. No app respects it.
You've spent years, maybe decades, building a taxonomy on disk. A root folder per publisher, subfolders per character or saga, special editions kept apart. It's a personal order that reflects how you think about your collection.
The trouble starts when you want to see it. Inventory apps ignore your folders and lock your collection in their cloud. File-based readers respect your folders, but were built for server admins, not for someone who wants to enjoy their covers on a Sunday afternoon.
Inventory that looks like a spreadsheet
CLZ, iCollect: built as databases with a barcode scanner on top. Your art, reduced to tabbed lists and 80×120px thumbnails.
One database for worlds that don't mix
Spider-Man next to Tintín in the same grid, forced into US-centric fields: UPC barcode, variant cover, CGC grade.
Readers built for servers
Kavita, Komga, YACReader read folders, but mean Docker, SMB permissions and a technical UI. Powerful, joyless.
One architectural decision
The file system is the truth. The app is the layer that celebrates it.
Move a folder in Finder and the app updates. Rename a CBZ in the app and the file renames on disk. There's no sync queue and no reconciliation. There's a single state. Your organization isn't data you feed an app; it's the reality the app reflects.
Inventory apps
Your files are optional attachments to their cloud.
Library readers
Your files are first-class, but you have to be technical.
Shelf Republic
Your files are the reality; the app is the visual layer.
Isolated vaults
Collections that live in different worlds, kept in different worlds.
Each vault points to its own root folder on disk. One click between your complete Marvel and your bande dessinée. Filters, tags, ratings and search stay independent per vault. The American taxonomy (publisher, issue, variant) never contaminates the European one (dessinateur, scénariste, intégrale).
Vault · DC
Vault · EuropéensThe bande dessinée collector
Every Tintín in publication order. Filter to the black-and-white facsimiles. Tag four albums “first edition”. Admire the 1936 Blue Lotus you scanned yourself.
Vault · MangaThe mixed collector
A third vault, with none of the American fields. Different stack rules: one stack per mangaka, volumes assumed right-to-left.
What's inside
Everything a serious collection asks for. Nothing it doesn't.
01
Shelf view
Oversized covers on virtual shelves. The cover is the protagonist, not a thumbnail.
02
Front-to-back flip
Flip any book to its back cover. The McFarlane without text; the facsimile you scanned yourself.
03
Collapsible stacks
A whole run folds into one spine. Expand to see every volume, in order.
04
Search & filters
By author, genre, rating or any custom tag. Find one book among 3,500 in seconds.
05
Opens in your reader
Double-click and the file opens in the viewer you already use: YACReader, Preview, Comickaze, any format. No new reader to learn.
06
Folders as truth
No import, no migration, no database to fill. Your folder is your collection.
Why it sticks
Both the tool and the pleasure, in one place.
Management that respects what you built
Point it at your root folder and get a complete visual library in minutes, without touching a single file. The collector with 3,500 comics never abandons a hand-made taxonomy for a pretty interface.
Everyday joy from your collection
See your covers big again. Flip the back of a first edition. Browse your Corto Maltese shelf on a Sunday with nothing to look for. Feel what you felt when you bought each one.
Local-first, by construction
If you ever stop paying, you lose the viewer, not the collection.
There's no proprietary database to fill, so there's nothing to be held hostage. The contract is simple: your files are yours and your organization is sacred.
✓
Zero migration
The folder you have is the collection you have.
✓
Zero data lock-in
Files stay standard CBR/CBZ/PDF, readable by any viewer.
✓
Zero subscription on your collection
Stop paying and you lose the app, not the comics.
✓
Zero technical setup
Unlike Kavita or Komga, there's no server to configure.
One-time. No subscription.
Pay once. It's yours.
Launch price
$49$39
one-time
- Unlimited vaults & comics
- macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) & Windows
- Opens in the reader you already use
- Free updates throughout v1
- 14-day money-back guarantee
Launch price. Regular $49 after launch week.
No cloud database to run on our side, so there's no subscription to charge on yours.
Questions
Everything you'd ask before buying.
No. Point it at your root folder and your library appears. Your files are never moved or copied. The app reads the folder as it is.
CBR, CBZ and PDF, with covers extracted automatically.
No, and that's on purpose. Double-click a comic and it opens in the viewer you already use: YACReader, Preview, Comickaze, whatever your default is. Any format, since it's your reader doing the opening. The app is the visual library, not another reader to learn.
Nothing. They stay as standard CBR/CBZ/PDF in your folders. The app is a viewer, not an owner. You keep the collection, you only lose the viewer.
Always. No account, no cloud, no telemetry. Everything runs on your machine.
Both. A native desktop app for macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
Yes, that's exactly what vaults are for. Each points to its own folder, with independent tags, filters and ratings.
You don't migrate, you read. Point a vault at your files, or import a CSV export from CLZ.
A 14-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
Point it at your folder. See your collection like never before.
No migrating, no importing, no losing your structure.
macOS 12+ · Windows 10+