Server library
The server library holds your group’s own compendium entries: homebrew, and content from books you own. It lives on your server only and is never bundled with the app. Everyone on the server shares it.
Adding and editing
Section titled “Adding and editing”In the Compendium, click New entry. Choose the type (spell, monster, item…), then fill in:
- Name, and the book it comes from (for example “Player’s Handbook (2024)” or “Homebrew”).
- Rules version: 2024, 2014 or Level Up.
- The fields that search and filters use: a spell’s level, school and classes, a monster’s challenge rating, type and size, an item’s rarity and category, and so on.
- The text, in Markdown. A new monster or spell starts from a skeleton you can fill in.
Anyone on the server can add entries. An entry can be edited or deleted by its author, and by anyone who is DM of a campaign. If someone else saved the entry while you were editing it, your save is refused and Beholder asks you to reload it first, so nobody’s changes are silently overwritten.
Pasting from a book or page
Section titled “Pasting from a book or page”To add entries from a book or page you own, click Paste in the Compendium. Set the book and rules version once for the whole paste, then paste one entry or a whole section, such as every spell in a chapter, and click Read entries.
Beholder splits the text into entries. Each entry starts with its name on its own line, followed by a line it recognises:
| Type | Header line after the name |
|---|---|
| Spell | “Level 3 Evocation (Sorcerer, Wizard)”, “3rd-level evocation” or “Evocation Cantrip” |
| Monster | “Small Fey (Goblinoid), Chaotic Neutral”; the challenge rating comes from the “CR” or “Challenge” line |
| Magic item | “Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Requires Attunement)”, or a “Rarity” line just below |
| Feat | “Origin Feat”, “General Feat (Prerequisite: …)” or “Prerequisite: …” |
| Subclass | a name written “Sorcerer: Storm Sorcery”, or a line like “Fighter subclass: …” |
The rest of each entry becomes formatted text: short lines followed by a paragraph become headings, “Name. Text” paragraphs get a bold name, monster statistics, ability scores and sections (Actions, Reactions…) are laid out like the SRD, bullets become lists, and tab-separated lines become tables. Text that matches no entry is kept as one entry of the kind when it can’t be detected you chose.
You then review the list. Each entry shows its fields, and is marked Check the fields when something was guessed (a monster without a challenge rating, an entry of the fallback kind) or Already in the library when an entry with the same type, name, book and rules version exists. Duplicates start unticked. Preview shows the formatted text, and Edit opens the entry in the editor; saving it there adds it right away. Then click Accept selected or Accept all. Tick Replace entries already in the library to overwrite the duplicates you’re allowed to edit.
Priority over other sources
Section titled “Priority over other sources”Library entries come first when names clash: if your library has a “Fireball”, the compendium shows yours, with the SRD version listed under Also in.
In a campaign
Section titled “In a campaign”The library is a rules source like a book: it’s on by default in new campaigns, and the DM can turn it off under Settings → Rules sources.
The DM can also hide single entries from the players of one campaign: open the entry and click Hide in this campaign. Players of that campaign no longer see it; the DM still does, marked Hidden, and can show it again.
Import and export
Section titled “Import and export”- Export JSON or Export YAML saves the whole library to your Downloads folder and shows the file name.
- Import reads a file in the same format. Entries already in the library (same type, name, book and rules version) are skipped, unless you tick Replace entries already in the library: then they’re updated with the file’s version, where you’re allowed to edit them (your own entries, or any entry if you’re DM of a campaign). Entries with a problem are listed with the reason, and the rest are imported.
The format is described in Library file format. Imports of tens of thousands of entries are fine: they’re sent in batches, and a banner shows how many are still on their way to the server.
Importing JSON of any shape
Section titled “Importing JSON of any shape”For JSON files from other tools or websites, click Import any JSON and pick the file. Beholder finds the list of entries in it and suggests a mapping: which keys hold the name, the text, the entry type, the book, and fields like a spell’s level or a monster’s challenge rating (keys inside objects are written with a dot, like properties.Level). Each type value found in the file (for example “Spells” or “Monsters”) is matched to a Beholder type, which you can change, along with a type to use when it’s unknown. A preview of the first 20 entries updates as you change the mapping.
Click Check the whole file to read it once without importing: you get the number of entries per type and per book, how many are already in the library, how many are only partly mapped, and which ones can’t be read. Then click Import, optionally replacing the duplicates you’re allowed to edit. Entries are never refused because a field is missing: the field gets “Unknown” and you can fix it later. Keys you didn’t map are added to the end of the text. Only entries without a name are skipped. Large files (100 MB and more) are read from disk as they’re imported, and the import can be undone like any other.
Give the mapping a name and click Save profile to reuse it with similar files. Export profile saves it to your Downloads folder so others can Import a profile.
Undoing an import
Section titled “Undoing an import”Every file import and every paste is recorded as one import. Right after it, an Undo this import button appears; older imports are listed under Recent imports with who made them, when, and how many entries they wrote. Undoing removes the entries the import added and puts back the previous text of the entries it replaced, in one action and for everyone. Entries someone edited or deleted after the import are left as they are, and the list shows how many were kept. You can undo your own imports; a DM of any campaign can undo anyone’s.
Importing the dnd-data files
Section titled “Importing the dnd-data files”Files in another layout are refused until they’re converted. For the dnd-data JSON files kept in data/, run cargo xtask dnd-data in the project folder: it writes ready-to-import files to data/converted/ (one per category). Import them one at a time from the Compendium. After the converter improves, run it again and re-import with Replace entries already in the library ticked to update what you imported before. See Converting dnd-data files for what’s converted and how.