Kiwix: open it, first login, settings, fixes
· Updated 18 September 2026 · SparkBox team
Serve offline reference libraries such as Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, and technical manuals from your SparkBox. Add the ZIM files you choose, then choose local-only access or deliberate sharing on a trusted home network. Kiwix has no login. This is the short card for it — the two minutes after you press Enable, and the page to come back to when something is off.
Open it
When you enable Kiwix from Apps, choose its Library access address. The default, 127.0.0.1, allows access only from the box itself at http://127.0.0.1:8087. The Open button on another device will not reach a local-only library.
To share with your home network, deliberately enter the box’s trusted LAN IP in that field. Then open http://<that-LAN-IP>:8087 from your home device. Kiwix has no login: anyone who can reach that address can read the added libraries. Keep private libraries off public IP addresses and wildcard bindings such as 0.0.0.0. For remote private access, use an authenticated proxy or an SSH tunnel to the local-only port.
Add a lawful ZIM file to modules/kiwix/config before enabling this app.
First login
Kiwix has no login; choose local-only access or a trusted LAN address in the enable dialog. Before enabling Kiwix, place at least one ZIM file on the box in /opt/sparkbox/modules/kiwix/config with your normal file-copy method (the File Browser app only shows your data folder, not this one). Then open Kiwix and choose the library you want to read. Restart it after adding a new ZIM file.
Worth knowing
- Add a ZIM file to modules/kiwix/config before enabling Kiwix; the server has nothing to show until you provide a library.
- Restart Kiwix after adding or replacing a ZIM file so it reloads the library.
- Only add content you are allowed to download and share.
Add your offline library first
Download a ZIM file from a source you trust, then place it on the box in /opt/sparkbox/modules/kiwix/config with your normal file-copy method (the File Browser app only shows your data folder, not this one). Kiwix starts only after at least one ZIM file is there. Restart the app after adding or replacing a file so it reloads the library. SparkBox does not download, choose, or manage content for you.
Keep the library on your SparkBox
ZIM files can be large. They stay in modules/kiwix/config on your SparkBox and are served only from your box. Add only material you are allowed to download and share.
When it breaks
If it will not open, check the app card first — a red dot means it is restarting or unhealthy, and this walkthrough reads the reason from its log. Tom AI on the dashboard can do the same for you.
Where your data lives
/opt/sparkbox/modules/kiwix/config/Check that your selected backup includes this folder and keep the recovery key away from the box. After restoring, verify library files, the access address, and actual reading before depending on it.
Questions, or did this not match your box?
Every guide here came from a real problem someone hit. If yours behaves differently, say so — that is how these get corrected, and how the fix gets prioritised.
We answer there rather than in a comment box, because that is where the people who have already solved it are.