Reader is a modern EPUB reader that goes beyond pagination. Features semantic search across entire books, RAG-based chat for asking questions about the text, and integrated audio playback for listening on the go.
What it is. An e-book reading app that treats the book as something you can converse with, not just page through. Standard reader features — a clean reading surface, progress tracking, library management — sit alongside three things most readers don’t have: semantic search over the whole book, a chat that answers questions grounded in the text, and built-in audio playback.
The problem it solves. Physical intuition doesn’t survive digitisation: you can’t flip through an e-book to find “that part about the harbour.” Text search only helps if you remember the exact words. Reader’s semantic search lets you find ideas by meaning — search “the argument about free will” and land on the passage that makes it, however it was phrased. And when a concept doesn’t land, you ask the chat instead of re-reading a chapter.
Who it’s for. Students working through dense texts, researchers cross-referencing books, and heavy readers who want to switch between reading and listening without a second app. Also well suited to language learners using audio plus text on the same book.
How it works. Books are indexed with semantic embeddings so search and chat retrieve by meaning; the RAG chat answers from the book’s own text with citations to the passage it’s drawing from — it explains the book, it doesn’t replace it. Audio playback runs from the same index, so listening and reading share progress.
A concrete use case. Two hundred pages into a philosophy book, you hit a reference to an earlier claim. Ask the chat “what was the earlier argument about necessity?” — you get the answer with the exact passage cited, and jump straight to it.
Design note. The AI features are deliberately subordinate to the reading experience: the text stays centred, the tools stay at the edge, and nothing interrupts a page that doesn’t need interrupting.
See the code at github.com/sharan01x/reader.
