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The Local source

The Local source reads comics and manga stored on your device: folders of images and comic archives you already have. It is built in and needs no extension. You find it under Browse > Sources > Local source, and its entries can be added to your library like any other, marked with the Local badge.

Where Tsugi looks#

With a Storage location set (More > Settings > Data > Storage location), Tsugi reads the local folder inside it, for example Tsugi/local. Any file manager can open it, and it stays when Tsugi is uninstalled. Choosing the storage location moves the series already in Tsugi's own folder there; entries in your library keep working, covers included. If you later choose a different folder, Tsugi moves the backups, Local series and exported downloads it put in the first folder into the new one, and tells you first how much that is. On the same storage this is immediate; across storages it copies in the background with a notification. Entries in your library keep working, covers included. See Storage location.

Without one, Tsugi reads Android/data/dev.tsugi/files/local, which many file managers cannot open on Android 11 and later and which is deleted with the app.

When the Local source has nothing to show, its listing says which folder it reads ("No Local series in <folder>. Put series folders there, or choose another folder.") with a Choose folder button.

Put one folder per series inside local.

Without a storage location#

Ways to get files into Android/data/dev.tsugi/files/local:

  • Connect the phone to a computer with a USB cable and copy the files into that folder from the computer; this often works where on-phone file managers cannot.
  • Use a file manager that can still open Android/data on your device.

Folder layout#

Each series is a folder inside local, named after the series. Each chapter is either a folder of images or one archive file inside the series folder.

local/
  Series title/
    cover.jpg
    ComicInfo.xml          (optional, see below)
    Chapter 1/
      001.jpg
      002.jpg
    Chapter 2.cbz
    Chapter 3.zip
  • Image folders: a folder of pictures is one chapter.
  • Archives: .zip, .cbz, .rar, .cbr, .7z, .cb7, .tar and .cbt. One archive is one chapter, named after the file. Folders inside an archive are ignored; every image in it becomes a page of that chapter.
  • EPUB: an .epub file is read as one chapter of images. Tsugi does not split an EPUB into several chapters.

Image folders and .zip / .cbz archives open the fastest.

When you add files to a series later, pull down on its page to read the folder again and see the new chapters.

Covers#

Put an image named cover (for example cover.jpg or cover.png) in the series folder and Tsugi uses it as the cover. Without one, Tsugi takes the first page of the first chapter.

You can also set a cover from inside the app: on the entry's page, tap the cover, then Edit cover > Choose an image, or long press a page in the reader and tap Set as cover. For a Local source entry, Tsugi writes the chosen image into the series folder as its cover.

Series details#

Tsugi reads a series' title, author, artist, description, genres and status from a ComicInfo.xml file, the standard metadata file many comic tools write. It looks in this order:

  1. A ComicInfo.xml in the series folder.
  2. A JSON details file in the series folder (an older format, often named details.json). Tsugi converts it to ComicInfo.xml the first time it reads it, then removes the JSON file.
  3. The first ComicInfo.xml found inside one of the chapters. Tsugi copies it into the series folder.

A JSON details file looks like this:

{
  "title": "Example Title",
  "author": "Example Author",
  "artist": "Example Artist",
  "description": "Example description.",
  "genre": ["genre 1", "genre 2"],
  "status": 1
}

status is a number: 0 Unknown, 1 Ongoing, 2 Completed, 3 Licensed, 4 Publishing finished, 5 Cancelled, 6 On hiatus.

If a series folder has no details file at all, Tsugi leaves a small .noxml marker file there so it does not search the chapters again on every refresh. Adding a ComicInfo.xml later replaces the marker.

Sorting the Local source#

Browsing the Local source lists every series at once. Its Filter offers Order by Title or Date.

Questions#

The series does not show up. Check that each series is a folder directly inside local, and that the chapters are folders of images or supported archives inside the series folder.

A cover is missing or wrong. Check that the series opens and its chapters read. Then add a cover image to the series folder, or set one from the entry's page, and pull down on the page to refresh.