Collection import creates empty series records when all source files fail; need existing-library/adopt-files workflow

[paulmorabito]

Component

Import / Collection Import

Description

Summary

I am trying to adopt an existing comic library mounted inside Pullbox at /comics as the starting point for library management.

Pullbox successfully scans the mount, discovers the files and series, and allows me to select the correct Comic Vine series. However, when I confirm the import, Pullbox creates the series records but does not link/import any local files. The newly created series pages then show no issues.

Why this matters

I want Pullbox to manage an existing library without moving or restructuring it. The /comics directory is also used by Komga, Kapowarr etc. I can make the directory and file naming convention consistent between these.

At the moment, selecting correct Comic Vine series matches creates empty Pullbox records and leaves all local files untracked. This makes existing-library adoption difficult, especially for a real collection containing a mix of normal issues and collected editions.

Requested improvements

• Add an existing-library/adopt-files or catalog-only import mode.
• Keep readable files visible as local/unmatched items when Comic Vine issue-level matching is unavailable.
• Do not create empty series records when all selected source files fail.
• Show file-level import failures in the final result and normal logs.
• Provide a clear pre-import summary, e.g. 11 series selected; 0 files importable; 82 files will be skipped.
• Support per-series/file skip, defer, and manual resolution without blocking the full import.

Steps to Reproduce

1. go to import and point it to the pre-existing comics library at /comics

Expected Behavior

For an existing mounted library, I would expect one of these workflows:

1. Pullbox adopts/link-catalogs readable local CBZ/CBR/PDF files from /comics, then enriches with Comic Vine metadata where possible.
2. Pullbox imports files that cannot be mapped to a specific Comic Vine issue as unmatched/local files, rather than dropping them entirely.
3. If strict Comic Vine issue mapping is required, Pullbox should block or prominently warn before import when a selected series has 0/N importable files. The capability to match a series with a comic vine entry exists already.
4. The UI and logs should show a per-file failure reason and a recovery action.

Actual Behavior

Pullbox can access and scan my existing comic library mounted at /comics. It discovers files, groups them into series, and lets me manually choose the correct Comic Vine match for each series. The Comic Vine override requests complete successfully.

However, after I select series and run the import, Pullbox creates the series records only. It does not import or link the underlying CBZ/CBR files to issues.

The import completion result reports:

Import complete: 11 series imported, 0 series failed, 0 files imported, 82 files failed
Despite the message reporting 11 series imported, the resulting Pullbox series entries are empty and show no issues.

The corresponding series_added entries show that no issue records or library paths were created:

The files remain present and readable in the original /comics folder, and Pullbox’s filesystem health check reports healthy. This does not appear to be a missing bind mount or a filesystem-access problem.

The Review/Import UI does not clearly prevent confirmation of series that have no importable files, and the final result does not prominently explain why every file failed. Standard container logs only show the aggregate failure count (82 files failed) and do not include a per-file failure reason, specific issue-matching failure, path error, permission error, or recovery action.

The practical outcome is that I end up with empty Pullbox series records while the existing library files remain completely unlinked and untracked by Pullbox.

Pullbox Version

1.2.1

Deployment Method

Docker

Operating System

Debian 13

Diagnostic Package

No response

Screenshots

No response