Install Boundless Reader and you get an empty Library, an empty Browse tab, and nothing to search. The app has no built-in catalogue at all, on purpose. Everything you read comes from a repository you add yourself.
A repository is not a source
A repository is a URL that lists sources you can install. Adding one does not pull in any content by itself. It just tells Boundless where to look.
A source is an extension for one specific site. It knows how to list that site's catalogue, run a search against it, read a chapter list, and load a chapter. You add repositories, then install sources from them. Both live under the Settings tab.
Adding the official repository
The official repository's URL is:
https://boundless.moe/repo
It carries only public-domain and openly licensed content, which makes it a safe place to confirm your setup works before you go looking elsewhere.
- Open Settings and go to the source repositories screen.
- Add the URL above.
- Wait for the repository to load its list of sources.
- Install the source you want.
What's in it right now
Two sources, as of this post: Project Gutenberg and Komga Demo.
Project Gutenberg gives you more than 70,000 public-domain books, with browsing, search, and genre filtering. Reading happens fully inside the app, and books are split into real chapters rather than dumped as one continuous file.
Komga Demo connects to Komga's own public demo server. It's there so you can see what a self-hosted comics and manga library looks like inside Boundless before you set one up yourself.
Either is a reasonable first install.
How sources actually work
Sources run on your device, inside the app, not on a Boundless server. When a source loads a page or an image, the request goes straight from your device to whatever site that source targets. Boundless doesn't host content, doesn't proxy requests, and doesn't cache anything server-side. There's no Boundless server anywhere in that path.
A few things follow directly from that:
- Speed and reliability depend on the site behind the source, not on Boundless.
- If that site is down, slow, or has changed its layout, the source shows you exactly that. Extensions can and do break when a site redesigns.
- Whatever a source fetches, it fetches with your connection and your IP address.
Adding a repository means running that repository's code on your device. Add ones you actually trust, and remember you're the one responsible for the content and the sites your sources reach.
Adding a repository from somewhere else
Boundless doesn't curate the wider world of repositories out there, and it can't vouch for one it didn't publish. Before adding a third-party URL, it's worth asking yourself three things:
- Who publishes it, and can you tell?
- What sites do its sources target, and are you comfortable with your device fetching from them?
- Is the content there something you have a right to read in your country?
The official repository sticks to public-domain and openly licensed material for exactly this reason: it's a safe default that raises none of those three questions.
Managing and removing what's installed
Repositories and installed sources are both managed from the same Settings screens you used to add them.
Removing a source stops it appearing in Browse and Search. It does not touch your library entries, your reading progress, or your history, because those live in the local database, separately from the extension itself. That separation is why removing and reinstalling a source is the normal move when one misbehaves.
If a repository won't load in the first place, check the URL character by character for a typo, then check that your device has a working connection.
When a source stops working
A source going quiet is usually the site behind it, not Boundless. Sites get redesigned, go down, or start challenging automated requests, and any of those can break the extension reading them.
Work through it in this order:
- Try a different title or a different search. A single broken page reads very differently from a source that's broken everywhere.
- Check the site directly. Every title detail screen has an in-app browser button for its source, so you can see what the site is doing right now.
- Look for a repository update. Fixing breakage on the source side is normal maintenance for whoever publishes it.
- Remove and reinstall the source. Your library, progress, and history stay put, since they're stored separately.
If the site itself is down, no client-side fix will bring it back. There's no fallback copy sitting on a Boundless server.
Once you've got a source installed, Your library covers adding titles and managing chapters, and Reading covers the two readers themselves. The official repository's current source list, and a copy button for its URL, live at /sources.