LightRead

Project Overview

LightRead is an open-source, local-first ebook and paper reader built with Tauri 2 and Vue 3 for macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android. Books, papers, reading progress, and annotations stay on your own device by default, with no account required and no network needed for local reading. It links clear reading, locating and annotating, translation, Agent deep reading, and the human-authored answer into one complete paper workflow.

Local reading needs no account or network; whether to use online features is up to you.

Key Features

• Multi-format reading: supports EPUB, MOBI, AZW, FB2, CBZ, CBR, DjVu, PDF, TXT, HTML, and Markdown
• Library management: local and drag-and-drop import, category tags, pinning, batch management, progress, bookmarks, and annotations
• Professional PDF reading: optional rendering engines with continuous scroll, single-page, facing-page, and book views
• Deep paper reading: a separate paper library, selection and layout-comparison translation, the Ten Questions, and full-document reflow translation
• Finding books and papers: supports OPDS, Calibre, community sources, Project Gutenberg, and arXiv
• Text-to-speech: online neural voices, local offline models, and system voices
• Open portability: import and export library packs per an open specification, plus WebDAV cloud backup and a custom library location

Target Audience

• Researchers who read both ebooks and papers
• Privacy-conscious readers who want local storage
• Users who need AI translation and deep paper reading
• People using a reader across multiple platforms

Quick Start

1. Download the installer for your system from Releases and install it
2. Go to the library and import books, or drag files into the window
3. Go to Papers and import a PDF to enable full paper-reading features
4. Use the top of the reader to switch paging or scrolling, fit-height or fit-width, two-page, auto-read, and read-aloud
5. In Settings, change the library location, export an OKF library pack, or configure WebDAV

Core Advantages

• Local-first: books, progress, and annotations stay on-device by default, with online features all optional
• Complete paper workflow: from clear reading through annotation, translation, and Agent deep reading
• Open and portable: library packs use an open specification readable by other tools
• Broad platform support: builds for three desktop platforms and Android

System Requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	macOS, Windows 10/11, Linux, Android arm64
Architecture	Apple Silicon and Intel, x64, arm64
From source	Node.js, the Rust toolchain, and Tauri 2 build dependencies

Notes

• Scanned or image-only PDFs have no text layer, so selection, read-aloud, and AI text analysis do not work
• KFX and DRM-encrypted files are unsupported; convert them to a supported format first
• Online features such as AI, online speech, and source downloads need a network and the relevant services