BiblioPulse
the personal library for readers: cover scanning, a 44-million-reference ISBNdb catalogue, duplicate detection, shareable to-read pile.
The product
Scan a book, never buy it twice again.
- Role
- Product & development
- Stack
- React · Supabase · server-side ISBNdb proxy
- Status
- Live
The personal library for readers: cover scanning, a 44-million-reference ISBNdb catalogue, duplicate detection, shareable to-read pile.
BiblioPulse lets a reader catalogue their library by scanning barcodes: each book is recognised through ISBNdb (44 million references), de-duplicated and filed. Today: 378 sign-ups, 4,800 books catalogued by 172 readers, shareable public libraries, organic growth with no advertising.
01The problem
Heavy readers buy books they already own.
A library of several hundred books, purchases at fairs, flea markets, online: you end up buying duplicates and forgetting what you meant to read. Existing tools are English-only, heavy or built for publishers.
Crime-fiction readers in particular wanted a simple, French-language tool and a way to share their to-read pile.
02What I built
A barcode scan connected to 44 million references.
BiblioPulse recognises a book by its barcode through ISBNdb, detects duplicates, files the library and generates a publicly shareable to-read pile. API keys are protected server-side, the site is pre-rendered for SEO and installable as an app.
Today: 378 sign-ups, 4,800 books catalogued by 172 readers, automated welcome emails, all without a euro of advertising.
03Where it stands
Live, growing organically.
BiblioPulse runs on React and Supabase, hosted on Vercel, with a daily cron for onboarding. The full audit of August 2026 cut the initial load weight thirty-fold.
Next steps: a dedicated scanning app and affiliate monetisation, never selling readers' data.