Can AI build a reading tracker app like StoryGraph?

Build a personal reading tracker web app to replace StoryGraph Plus for my own use.

Tech rules:
- Plain HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript in one file. No framework, build step, account, or server.
- Store data in localStorage under one key, with a version number. Store cover image URLs, not image files.
- Use the Open Library API (openlibrary.org, no key) for book lookup by ISBN or title search. Send at most 1 request per second.

Data model:
- Book: id, title, authors [], isbn13, isbn10, pages, coverUrl, genres [] (my own tags), format (print | ebook | audio), audioMinutes, owned.
- Read: id, bookId, status (to-read | reading | read | dnf), startedOn, finishedOn, rating (0.5–5 in half steps), review, progressPercent.
- Goal: year, targetBooks.

Features:
- Add a book by ISBN, by title search, or manually when nothing is found.
- Shelves: To-Read, Reading, Read, Did Not Finish, and by tag.
- Update progress as page number or percent.
- Yearly goal with progress bar.
- Stats for any date range: books and pages per month, average rating, top tags, format split, average days to finish.
- "Compare" view: 2 date ranges side by side.

Edge cases the build must handle correctly:
1. A re-read creates a new Read record for the same Book. Stats count each finished read in the year it finished.
2. Audiobooks count toward books read but not toward pages. Show audio hours separately.
3. ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 for the same book are treated as the same book on import.
4. Books with no page count are excluded from page stats and flagged for editing.
5. A book marked read with no finish date is included in all-time stats but not yearly stats, with a prompt to add the date.
6. Did Not Finish books never count toward the reading goal.
7. If Open Library returns nothing or is offline, manual entry still works.

Import and backup:
- "Import Goodreads CSV": read Title, Author, Additional Authors, ISBN, ISBN13, My Rating, Number of Pages, Date Read, Date Added, Bookshelves, Exclusive Shelf, My Review, Read Count. Strip wrapper characters like ="..." from ISBN fields. Map Exclusive Shelf to status.
- "Import StoryGraph CSV": let me map columns if headers differ.
- Show imported, duplicate, and skipped counts.
- One-click "Export JSON" and "Export CSV". "Import JSON" restores after confirmation.

Layout:
- Mobile-first, cover grid on phones, readable at 375px wide.

Exclusions:
- No publishing, App Store submission, accounts, payments, social features, reviews from others, or recommendations.

Write a short README explaining where data is stored, how to export and restore it, and how the Open Library lookup works.

Keep it under 1,000 lines. This is a personal tool, not a product.

What is the short answer?

Yes. AI can build a reading tracker that replaces The StoryGraph Plus at $4.99 per month for your own reading. A tracker with shelves, ratings, a yearly goal, and custom stats takes 3–4 hours, and it works as a Goodreads alternative too.

StoryGraph’s free tier already tracks your books. Plus sells custom charts, extra stats filters, and period comparisons. Those are charts over your own data, which AI builds well. What you can’t rebuild alone is StoryGraph’s recommendations, because they depend on mood and pace tags from other readers.

Option	Best for	Upfront cost	Ongoing cost	Main limitation
Build a rough prototype	Readers who want shelves, ratings, and a yearly goal in one private place	$0 and 3–4 hours	$0	Goodreads import and re-reads untested
Build a daily-use personal version	Readers who pay for Plus mainly for custom charts and stats filters	$0–$20 and 8–10 hours	$0	No recommendations or community tags
Keep paying for StoryGraph Plus	Readers who choose their next book from mood-based recommendations	$0	$4.99/mo or $49.99/yr	Monthly cost for charts on data you entered

The ready-to-paste starter prompt at the end of this page builds the daily-use version.

What should the first version include?

The first version needs your whole history imported correctly. A reading tracker without your past books feels empty and you won’t use it.

• Add books by ISBN or title search
• Shelves: To-Read, Reading, Read, Did Not Finish
• Start and finish dates, including re-reads
• Rating, tags, and a short review
• A yearly goal and stats charts
• Goodreads and StoryGraph CSV import
• Deliberate exclusion: no recommendations, no friends, no social feed. This is a private reading log.

What can AI build reliably?

ChatGPT and Claude build shelves, forms, and charts reliably. They also know the Open Library API, which returns titles, authors, page counts, and covers for free, with no key.

Concrete things AI gets right:

• ISBN lookup that fills in title, author, pages, and cover
• A cover grid for each shelf
• Books and pages per month as a bar chart
• A 2-period comparison, like this year vs. last year, which is a StoryGraph Plus feature
• Half-star ratings

Where will AI need human help?

The Goodreads import needs your testing. Goodreads CSVs store ISBNs in a spreadsheet-safe wrapper, like ="9780143127741" [VERIFY in your file], and AI often misses it, so every lookup fails. Re-reads are the second trap: Goodreads keeps one row per book with a read count, while your tracker stores each read separately.

Other decisions:

• Should audiobooks count as pages? The starter prompt says no and shows hours separately. Change it if you disagree.
• Should Did Not Finish books count toward your goal? The prompt says no.

Open Library is a volunteer-run project. Keep lookups to 1 per second and don’t re-fetch books you already have. Some books won’t be found, especially new or self-published ones, so manual entry must work.

Privacy is simple. Your reading list stays in your browser. Only the ISBNs and titles you look up go to Open Library.

Can I get my data out of StoryGraph or Goodreads?

Yes, from both. Goodreads exports your full library as a CSV from its Import/Export page, a process StoryGraph’s own onboarding walks people through. StoryGraph also lets you export your library from account settings [VERIFY location and columns].

What gets lost: shelves beyond the exclusive shelf may arrive as one text field, review formatting flattens to plain text, and Goodreads’ reading progress updates don’t export [VERIFY]. StoryGraph’s mood and pace tags are community data and may not come with your export.

The starter prompt’s importer maps Goodreads columns directly and lets you map StoryGraph columns by hand. After import, check your book count per year against the old app. A mismatch usually means missing finish dates, which the prompt flags for you.

How long will it take and what will it cost?

Rough prototype: 3–4 hours and $0. Shelves, ISBN lookup, ratings, and a yearly goal.

Dependable daily-use version: 8–10 hours, including the Goodreads importer, re-reads, stats filters, and period comparison. $0–$20 for one optional AI month.

StoryGraph Plus costs $4.99 per month. A $20 AI month equals about 4 months of Plus, or 5 months on the $49.99 annual plan.

These are estimates from reviewing the feature set, not measurements from a completed build.

Which AI tool or approach should I use?

Claude is a strong default and handles CSV column mapping well when you paste the first 5 rows of your export.

ChatGPT is equally good and useful for debugging a failed import row by row.

Cursor helps if you keep adding chart types over time.

Lovable builds nice-looking cover grids fast but adds accounts and hosted storage you don’t need.

What will I need to maintain?

No server, no bill, one free API.

Recurring work:

• Export a JSON backup monthly
• Fix covers and page counts for books Open Library doesn’t know
• If Open Library changes its API, ask AI to update the lookup function [VERIFY stability]

The tracker lives in one browser. To use it on phone and laptop, export JSON from one device and import it on the other.

Should I build it, buy it, or reduce scope?

Build it if you pay for Plus to see custom charts and compare reading periods.

Buy it if you choose your next book from StoryGraph’s mood and pace recommendations. That feature is built on thousands of readers’ tags and has no personal-build equivalent. The free tier may be enough, though.

Reduce scope if you only want a yearly count. Add “read 20 minutes” to the habit tracker build and keep a simple list.

Recommendation: build it if stats are why you pay. Keep StoryGraph, on the free tier, for recommendations and use your tracker for everything else. If you journal about books, the Day One-style journal build is a natural companion.

What if I wanted to ship this to other people?

Shipping a reading tracker means accounts, a shared book database, community tagging, moderation of reviews, and API usage well beyond polite personal limits. That’s a separate and much larger project.

Starter build specification

• User: You, for your own use.
• Problem: Paying $4.99 per month for StoryGraph Plus to see charts about your own reading.
• Core workflow: Scan or type an ISBN, mark it Reading, mark it Read with a rating, check your yearly stats.
• Required features: Shelves, ISBN and title lookup, re-reads, ratings, tags, yearly goal, custom stats, period comparison, CSV import.
• Deliberate exclusions: No accounts, no friends or social feed, no recommendations, no store submission.
• Data ownership: Stored in localStorage. Exported as JSON and CSV. Imported from Goodreads and StoryGraph CSVs.
• Definition of done: You import your Goodreads CSV, and your books-per-year count for the last 3 years matches Goodreads. A re-read book counts once in each year you finished it.

For scoping help, read can AI build an app for me.

Sources and verification

• The StoryGraph Plus page: $4.99 per month, 30-day trial without payment details, custom charts, stats filters, and compare stats.
• StoryGraph on the App Store: Plus annual at $49.99 and monthly at $4.99.
• The StoryGraph review (Book Riot): Goodreads CSV export and import into StoryGraph.
• Open Library API: free book data and covers.

This app was not built and tested for this page. The verdict is based on StoryGraph’s official pages, third-party reviews, and a review of the feature set. StoryGraph’s price was checked on September 24, 2026.

Reviewed on September 24, 2026.