FAQ¶
Can I use Achew without Audiobookshelf?¶
No, Achew is built specifically around Audiobookshelf. It uses ABS to find books and sources, pull audio, and write chapters back.
Can I use the AI Cleanup feature for free?¶
Yes! Three options: Gemini's free tier, GitHub Copilot Free, or a local model via Ollama or LM Studio. See Free options for more details.
Can I use Achew behind a reverse proxy?¶
Yes. Achew does not include built-in authentication, so do not expose it directly to the internet; use your reverse proxy to put an auth layer in front (basic auth, Tailscale, Authelia, etc.). Make sure the proxy forwards WebSocket upgrades. See Reverse Proxy.
How can I improve the consistency of chapter transcriptions?¶
See Tips for improving transcription.
Does Achew upload my audio to the cloud?¶
No. All audio stays on the Achew host. When you use cloud LLMs for AI Cleanup, only chapter titles and some metadata are sent, never audio. See Privacy and Data.
Which Transcription model should I pick?¶
See the Transcription page for recommendations.
Can I run Achew on a low-memory system?¶
Achew has been tested on as little as 4GB of memory. By default, Achew auto-detects a safe worker count based on available CPU cores and memory (and respects Docker memory limits). If you still run tight, set ACHEW_WORKER_COUNT=1 to disable parallelism (slowest but most frugal). You can also raise the value to utilize more of a beefy machine. See Tuning the worker count.
Does Achew work on older CPUs?¶
Yes, it'll just run slower. If your CPU is pre-2013 (Intel) or pre-2015 (AMD) and lacks AVX2 support, use the legacy-cpu Docker tag to avoid Whisper crashes. See Transcription → legacy-cpu.
Can I run Achew headless or via CLI?¶
Achew uses a web UI; there is no pure-CLI mode. You can run it on a headless server and access the UI from another machine on your local network.
What happens if I close the browser?¶
Nothing; all data is held server-side. Re-open Achew in the browser and you'll land right back where you were.
How do I go back or start over with a different book?¶
Use the Back Menu: click the Back button at the top-left of the screen and pick the step you want to return to. To discard your changes without submitting, choose New Audiobook.