Search & Discovery

Search & Discovery

Tsumihon provides a multi-source search system that lets you find books across every extension you have installed. Whether you prefer typing a title, scanning a barcode, or snapping a photo of a cover, there are multiple ways to discover and add books to your library.

Multi-Source Search

When you perform a search, Tsumihon queries all installed extensions in parallel, returning results from every source you have configured. Results are organized into tabs per source, so you can quickly compare listings and pick the one with the best metadata.

Each source tab shows its own set of results, including cover thumbnails, titles, and basic metadata. You can switch between tabs freely without re-running the search.

Tip: The set of sources available is determined by which extensions you have installed. Open Settings → Extensions to add or remove sources. See the Extensions page for details.

Adding Books from Search Results

Tap any result to view its full details, then add it to your library. When adding a book, at least one title field is required — Japanese, Romaji, or English. You do not need to fill in all three.

After a book is successfully added, a dialog appears offering two choices:

• Back to Library — return to your collection to continue browsing.
• View Book — go directly to the newly added book’s detail page.

ISBN Barcode Scanning

Use your device’s camera to scan the ISBN barcode printed on a physical book. Tsumihon validates scanned codes against ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 checksum algorithms to ensure accuracy before performing a lookup.

• Point your camera at the barcode on the back cover or inside flap.
• On a successful scan, the recognized ISBN is displayed on screen.
• If the scanned code is not a valid ISBN (for example, a product UPC), an error message is shown instead.

Once a valid ISBN is detected, Tsumihon automatically searches all installed sources for matching entries.

AI-Powered OCR Search

If you have a physical book but no barcode is available, you can use OCR search to find it. Take a photo of the book’s cover, and an AI model extracts the title text from the image. The extracted title is then used as a search query across all installed sources.

This is especially useful for books with Japanese titles that would be difficult to type manually.

To use OCR search you need an API key from a supported AI provider. Open Settings → Automation & AI to configure it; the settings screen shows the specific provider currently supported and links to where to obtain a key. The key is stored locally on your device and is only sent to the AI provider when you initiate an OCR search.

Image Search

Reverse image search lets you find a book by its cover art. Provide an image — either from your camera or photo library — and Tsumihon performs a reverse image lookup to find matching entries across the sources that support it.

This is particularly helpful when you have a screenshot or saved image of a cover but do not know the title.

Search Methods at a Glance