Installation
Installing pipx
pipx creates isolated environments to avoid conflicts with existing system packages.
Run in the terminal:
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath
First, ensure Python is installed.
python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath
First, install Python if it's not already installed.
python -m pip install --user pipx
Installing dictforge
Run in the terminal or command prompt:
pipx install dictforge
Installing Kindle Previewer
dictforge invokes Amazon's kindlegen utility to generate Kindle dictionaries (MOBI format). Install
Kindle Previewer 3.
Launch Kindle Previewer once after installation to extract the embedded kindlegen binary.
In newer versions of Kindle Previewer 3, Amazon has stopped distributing kindlegen as a separate utility — it is embedded within Kindle Previewer itself and is not installed globally on the system.
Configuring kindlegen path
You can configure the path to kindlegen once using the init command, and then you won't need to specify it in every build:
dictforge init
The command will prompt you for the kindlegen path. Common locations:
/Applications/Kindle Previewer 3.app/Contents/lib/fc/bin/kindlegen
%LocalAppData%\Amazon\Kindle Previewer 3\lib\fc\bin\kindlegen.exe
Alternatively, you can provide the path directly when running dictforge using the --kindlegen-path option.
More details: Installing Kindlegen.