Skip to content

Repository files navigation

Selah Reader

Part of the Selah Reading Tools family by postsoma-2050.
An elegant, privacy-first, open-source reader mode and article curation extension for web browsers.


📖 Overview

Selah Reader transforms cluttered, ad-heavy web pages into a quiet, distraction-free reading canvas. Tuned with an editorial Warm Paper & Charcoal Ink aesthetic, Selah Reader focuses on deep reading, article curation, inline translation, and AI-assisted summaries.

Selah Reader operates alongside its sister tools in the Selah Reading Tools ecosystem:

  • Selah Reader: Immersive reading mode, article curation, AI digest, and in-reader translation.
  • Selah Translate: Lightweight selection, paragraph, and full-page web translation.
  • Selah Listen: Selection and article text-to-speech listening tool.

✨ Key Features

  • 📜 Immersive Reader Mode: Strips away ads, banners, popups, and distracting navigation bars, rendering content under an isolated Shadow DOM for maximum focus.
  • 🎨 Editorial Design System: Built with low-contrast, warm-paper tones (#FCFBFA canvas, #100F0F charcoal ink, 6px uniform radiuses) to prevent eye strain during long-form reading.
  • 🔤 In-Reader Inline Translation: Select text inside Reader Mode to trigger native, instant translations without leaving your reading flow.
  • 📚 Local Article Curation & Offline Library: Save articles locally via IndexedDB (DexieJS) with full-text local search (MiniSearch).
  • 🤖 AI Digest & Summarization: Generate instant insights and bulleted key takeaways for long articles.
  • ⌨️ Keyboard Navigation & Custom Typography: Fully controllable via keyboard shortcuts (1/2 for font size, j/k for smooth scrolling, ? for shortcut overlay).

🔒 Privacy & Permissions

Selah Reader is built with a privacy-first architecture. Your reading history, saved articles, and notes remain 100% on your device inside local browser storage (chrome.storage.local & IndexedDB). No personal data or browsing logs are collected or sold.

  • activeTab & scripting: Required to extract main article text from the active web page and inject the reader view.
  • storage: Used to persist your font size preferences, custom reading themes, and offline reading list.
  • host_permissions (https://translate.googleapis.com/*): Used exclusively to fetch inline translations when requested inside Reader Mode.

🛠️ Architecture & Tech Stack


🔨 Local Development & Building

Prerequisites

  • Node.js (v18+)
  • npm or pnpm

Installation & Build

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode (hot reloading)
npm run dev

# Build production bundle for Chrome (outputs to .output/chrome-mv3)
npm run build

📄 License & Attribution

Licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

  • Original Author: Copyright (c) 2025 Cheng Zhi Sheng (Ream open-source reader mode).
  • Customization & Rebrand: Copyright (c) 2026 postsoma-2050 (Selah Reader rebrand, AI Digest, in-reader translation, and design system integration).

About

Selah Reader transforms web articles into a clean, distraction-free reading environment designed for focused reading, article curation, and AI insights.

Topics

Resources

Stars

0 stars

Watchers

0 watching

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages