diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e8ab8b6..7eb26e6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "@ztimson/zim-utils",
-	"version": "0.3.0",
+	"version": "0.3.1",
 	"description": "Native, dependency-light ZIM archive reader/searcher and Kiwix catalog downloader for Node.js",
 	"author": "Zak Timson",
 	"license": "MIT",
diff --git a/src/manager.js b/src/manager.js
index 1b4cfca..e925da3 100644
--- a/src/manager.js
+++ b/src/manager.js
@@ -13,13 +13,15 @@ export class ZimManager {
 	server;
 	#ownsServer;
 
-	/** @param {{catalog?: string, server?: KiwixServer, port?: number, host?: string, binDir?: string}} [opts]
-	 * server: reuse an existing KiwixServer; if omitted, one is created (not yet started) and exposed via `.server` for reuse elsewhere. */
-	constructor(dir, {catalog = CATALOG_URL, server, port, host, binDir} = {}) {
+	/** @param {{catalog?: string, server?: KiwixServer, port?: number, host?: string, binDir?: string, url?: string}} [opts]
+	 * server: reuse an existing KiwixServer instance directly.
+	 * url: attach to an already-running kiwix-serve by address instead (e.g. started elsewhere in your codebase
+	 * with no shared reference) - mutually exclusive with `server`, ignored if `server` is given. */
+	constructor(dir, {catalog = CATALOG_URL, server, port, host, binDir, url} = {}) {
 		this.#catalogUrl = catalog;
 		this.#dir = dir;
 		this.#ownsServer = !server;
-		this.server = server ?? new KiwixServer(dir, {port, host, binDir});
+		this.server = server ?? new KiwixServer(dir, {port, host, binDir, url});
 	}
 
 	/** The KiwixServer backing this manager - reuse it directly for content/search access, or pass into another ZimManager. */
diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index f0d3005..9e742bc 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -34,30 +34,41 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 	#binDir;
 	#libraryPath;
 	#child = null;
+	#remote; // baseUrl string if attached to an externally-managed kiwix-serve, else null
 
 	get port() { return this.#port; }
-	get running() { return !!this.#child; }
-	get baseUrl() { return this.#child ? `http://${this.#host}:${this.#port}` : null; }
+	get running() { return !!this.#remote || !!this.#child; }
+	get baseUrl() { return this.#remote || (this.#child ? `http://${this.#host}:${this.#port}` : null); }
 
-	/** @param {{port?: number, host?: string, binDir?: string}} [opts] port defaults to an auto-picked free port; host defaults to localhost-only; binDir defaults to the bundled ./bin next to this package. */
-	constructor(dir, {port, host = '127.0.0.1', binDir = DEFAULT_BIN_DIR} = {}) {
+	/** @param {{port?: number, host?: string, binDir?: string, url?: string}} [opts]
+	 * url: attach to an already-running kiwix-serve (e.g. one started elsewhere in your codebase) instead of
+	 * spawning/owning one - start/stop/reload become no-ops, and library.xml is read over HTTP instead of disk. */
+	constructor(dir, {port, host = '127.0.0.1', binDir = DEFAULT_BIN_DIR, url} = {}) {
 		this.#dir = dir;
 		this.#host = host;
 		this.#port = port;
 		this.#binDir = binDir;
 		this.#libraryPath = path.join(dir, 'library.xml');
+		this.#remote = url ? url.replace(/\/$/, '') : null;
 	}
 
 	#assertRunning() {
-		if (!this.#child) throw new Error('KiwixServer is not running - call start() first');
+		if (!this.running) throw new Error('KiwixServer is not running - call start() first');
 	}
 
 	#bin(name) {
 		return path.join(this.#binDir, process.platform === 'win32' ? `${name}.exe` : name);
 	}
 
-	/** Rebuilds library.xml from scratch by scanning `dir` for .zim files - a full rebuild is simpler and less bug-prone than tracking incremental add/remove. */
+	/** Reads library.xml from disk if we own the server, or over HTTP if attached to a remote one. */
+	async #fetchLibraryXml() {
+		if (this.#remote) return (await fetch(`${this.#remote}/library.xml`).catch(() => null))?.text?.() ?? '';
+		return fs.promises.readFile(this.#libraryPath, 'utf8').catch(() => '');
+	}
+
+	/** Rebuilds library.xml from scratch by scanning `dir` for .zim files - no-op if attached to a remote server. */
 	async #rebuildLibrary() {
+		if (this.#remote) return;
 		await fs.promises.rm(this.#libraryPath, {force: true});
 		for (const f of await this.#zimFiles()) await execFileAsync(this.#bin('kiwix-manage'), [this.#libraryPath, 'add', path.join(this.#dir, f)]);
 	}
@@ -78,15 +89,9 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 		return (await fs.promises.readdir(this.#dir).catch(() => [])).filter(f => f.endsWith('.zim'));
 	}
 
-	/** URL for a single asset, e.g. for pulling one html/image file when you already know the path (from search). */
-	contentUrl(book, pathInZim = '') {
-		this.#assertRunning();
-		return `${this.baseUrl}/content/${book}/${pathInZim}`;
-	}
-
 	/** Rebuilds library.xml and starts kiwix-serve. Resolves once the server is responding. */
 	async start() {
-		if (this.#child) return;
+		if (this.#remote || this.#child) return;
 		await fs.promises.mkdir(this.#dir, {recursive: true});
 		await this.#rebuildLibrary();
 		this.#port ??= await findFreePort();
@@ -102,9 +107,9 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 		}
 	}
 
-	/** Gracefully stops kiwix-serve, if running. */
+	/** Gracefully stops kiwix-serve, if we own it. No-op if attached to a remote instance. */
 	async stop() {
-		if (!this.#child) return;
+		if (this.#remote || !this.#child) return;
 		const child = this.#child;
 		await new Promise(resolve => {
 			child.once('exit', resolve);
@@ -118,16 +123,17 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 		await this.start();
 	}
 
-	/** Rebuilds library.xml from disk and hot-reloads kiwix-serve via SIGHUP - no downtime/restart needed. */
+	/** Rebuilds library.xml from disk and restarts kiwix-serve. No-op if attached to a remote instance -
+	 * whoever owns that process is responsible for reloading it. */
 	async reload() {
-		if(!this.#child) return;
+		if (this.#remote || !this.#child) return;
 		await this.restart();
 	}
 
-	/** Local catalog listing - same flat shape as the online catalog (catalog.js), plus a `file` field since these already live on disk. */
+	/** Local catalog listing - same flat shape as the online catalog (catalog.js), plus a `file` field. */
 	async list() {
 		this.#assertRunning();
-		const xml = await fs.promises.readFile(this.#libraryPath, 'utf8').catch(() => '');
+		const xml = await this.#fetchLibraryXml();
 		const entries = fromXml(xml);
 		return (entries?.library?.book || []).map(e => {
 			const tags = e.tags.split(';');
@@ -147,7 +153,7 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 				articleCount: +e.articleCount || 0,
 				sizeMb: +(Number(e.size) / 1024).toFixed(1) || 0,
 				href: name,
-				icon: e.favicon,
+				icon: `data:${e.faviconMimetype || 'image/png'};base64,${e.favicon}`,
 				viewer: `${this.baseUrl}/content/${name}`,
 			};
 		});
@@ -169,8 +175,8 @@ export class KiwixServer {
 
 	/** Fetches a single asset's raw bytes straight from kiwix-serve. */
 	async raw(href) {
-		const res = await fetch(this.fetch(href));
-		if (!res.ok) return null;
+		const res = await fetch(this.link(href));
+		if(!res.ok) return null;
 		return {mimetype: res.headers.get('content-type'), data: Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer())};
 	}