lieslese

A private EPUB & PDF reader that runs entirely in your browser. Open your own books — they never leave your device. No account, no upload, no server-side storage, no tracking.

Live instance → lieslese.de · Source → github.com/jonash54/lieslese · MIT

Why

Most "cloud" readers ship your library and reading data to someone else's server. lieslese flips that: the server only delivers a static web app, and everything — the EPUB files, your reading position, highlights, notes and settings — is stored locally in your browser (IndexedDB / localStorage).

Reading data is kept in open standard formats so it stays portable:

• reading position → EPUB-CFI in a Readium Locator
• highlights / notes / bookmarks → W3C Web Annotation
• book metadata → parsed from the EPUB's OPF / Dublin Core

Export your notebook to Markdown/HTML anytime, or export all reading data as JSON. Nothing is locked in.

Features

• Open EPUB and PDF by file picker or drag & drop; library grid with covers
• In-browser reader (foliate-js): three flow modes — paginated, continuous scroll, and scroll-per-chapter — plus table of contents and in-book search
• Highlights (highlight / underline / squiggly, 5 colours), notes, bookmarks; per-book notebook with Markdown/HTML export
• Wikipedia lookup and share a quote from any text selection
• Footnote popovers (read footnotes without losing your place)
• Reading settings: light / sepia / dark, font (incl. OpenDyslexic), size, line height, margins; fullscreen
• Metadata editor with optional autofill (Google Books, client-side)
• Accent themes (weltsein green / blue / your own CSS)
• Installable PWA, works fully offline; open .epub/.pdf from your OS (file handlers)

Run it

docker compose up -d --build      # serves on 127.0.0.1:4585

Put a TLS-terminating reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik) in front for a public deployment. The app is a pile of static files under public/ — you can also serve that directory with any static web server; no backend required.

Develop

Edit files under public/ — with the bundled docker-compose.yml they are bind-mounted, so changes are live on reload. Structure:

public/
  index.html        library + shell
  reader.html       the reader
  js/db.js          IndexedDB storage layer
  js/lib.js         metadata extraction + standard annotation objects
  js/library.js     library page
  js/reader.js      foliate integration + local persistence
  js/theme.js       theming
  css/              weltsein design system + app/reader styles
  vendor/foliate-js reader engine (MIT)

Privacy

The server logs standard access logs only and stores nothing about you or your books. There are no accounts and no analytics. Clearing your browser data deletes your library — use Settings → export to back up.

License

MIT. Bundles foliate-js (MIT).