Readr
An open-source reader for local reading, in-page Q&A, and turning notes into articles
About Readr
Readr is a free, open-source reader for DRM-free EPUB, PDF, and Markdown. It supports book typography, Paper, Sepia, and Dark themes, plus scrolling, single-page, and two-page views; ask questions on the page and see answers with citations linking back to source paragraphs, turn highlights and notes into an editable, exportable Markdown article, and read aloud from the current page on-device. AI can connect directly to OpenRouter, ChatGPT, Anthropic, OpenAI, or local Ollama.
Best for
Best use cases
Read EPUB, PDF, or Markdown
Check questions about a book while reading
Turn highlights and notes into an article
Have the current page read aloud on-device
Features
Multi-format reading
Supports DRM-free EPUB, PDF, and Markdown, with proper book typography and Paper, Sepia, and Dark themes.
In-page Q&A
Ask natural-language questions on the reading page; answers appear in the margin with citations linking back to relevant source paragraphs.
Turn notes into an article
After you highlight and add notes, Readr creates an article draft from them that you can edit and export as Markdown.
Read aloud from the current page
Read aloud from the current page and turn pages with speech; voice runs on-device.
Pros
- Free and open source under the MIT license.
- No account or subscription required.
- Text-to-speech runs on-device; books are not sent to a server for readback.
- Supports local Ollama for fully offline AI.
Cons
- Mac builds require Apple silicon.
- AI features require an account or key for the selected provider, or local Ollama.