RanobeDB

RanobeDB is a community-driven light novel database with extensive metadata for Japanese light novels, including English titles, authors, descriptions, series information, ratings, and cover images. If you have a light novel collection, this is the provider to prioritize. It covers light novels only, not manga or other book types.

No Setup Required

RanobeDB doesn’t need API tokens, cookies, or any authentication. Just toggle it on in Settings > Metadata 2 and you’re done.

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Enabling RanobeDB

Open Settings > Metadata 2, find Ranobedb in the provider list, flip the toggle, and save. That’s all there is to it.

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Using It in Metadata Fetch

Once enabled, RanobeDB appears as a priority option in the Advanced Metadata Fetch dialog. You can set it as Priority 1, 2, 3, or 4 for any individual field.

For light novels, set RanobeDB as Priority 1 for most fields. Fallbacks to Google Books or Goodreads are optional but may not match well since light novel titles often differ across platforms. If RanobeDB doesn’t have data for a particular field, Grimmory automatically tries the next provider in your priority list.

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What You Get

RanobeDB provides titles (in English when available), authors, descriptions, cover images (usually the original Japanese cover), publisher, published date, language, categories, series name, and series number.

It also returns two provider-specific fields:

Field	Description
RanobeDB ID	Unique identifier linking to the book’s page on ranobedb.org. Shown as a clickable link in the metadata viewer.
RanobeDB Rating	Community rating from light novel readers. Displayed with the site’s favicon in the metadata viewer.

Both fields can be locked in the metadata picker to prevent overwriting during future refreshes.

Rating Scale

RanobeDB uses a 10-point scale. Grimmory automatically converts it to 5 points for consistency with other providers (e.g., an 8.0 becomes 4.0).

Authors Only

RanobeDB provides author names but does not include illustrators as a separate field.

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Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
No results returned	Make sure the provider is enabled in Settings > Metadata 2. Verify the book exists on ranobedb.org by searching manually.
Wrong book matched	Use title + author name for the most accurate results. English titles work best.
Slow responses	RanobeDB is community-driven, so Grimmory rate-limits requests to avoid overloading their servers. Be patient and try again later if you hit delays.
Network errors	Confirm your Grimmory instance can reach ranobedb.org (check firewalls, DNS, and proxy settings).

API Status

RanobeDB’s API is still under development. Grimmory uses the available endpoints, and future updates may enhance functionality as the API matures.