Simsapa Dhamma Reader

A sutta reader and Pali dictionary application.

Linux:

Android:

Command-line tool: @simsapa/cli

simsapa is the command-line version of the app's data engine: search the suttas and the Pāli dictionaries from the terminal, gloss Pāli text, import dictionaries and books, and serve the Simsapa localhost HTTP API, without the desktop app. Every command prints plain text, or one JSON document with --json, so it suits agents as well as people.

Install it from npm (Node.js 18 or later) and download the databases:

npm install -g @simsapa/cli
simsapa setup

Supported platforms: Linux x64 and arm64, macOS on Apple Silicon, and Windows x64. The databases take about 4.8 GB on disk. The CLI uses the same data folder as the desktop app, so if the app is already set up, there is no need to run simsapa setup.

simsapa --help lists the commands, and simsapa docs prints the full CLI and localhost API reference. See npm/cli/README.md for more.

Building

Prerequisites

• Qt 6.9.3
• Rust (latest stable)
• CMake 3.24+
• Platform-specific build tools

Development Build

# Build the project
make build -B

# Run the application
make run

Distribution Packages

Linux AppImage

# Build AppImage
make appimage -B

# Or with custom options
./build-appimage.sh --app-version v0.2.0 --os-suffix -ubuntu24

# Clean rebuild
make appimage-rebuild

macOS .app and DMG

# Build both .app bundle and .dmg
make macos -B

# Or build only .app bundle (skip DMG creation)
make macos-app

# Clean rebuild
make macos-rebuild

The macOS build will:

• Create a properly bundled .app in ./dist/Simsapa.app
• Bundle all Qt frameworks and dependencies using macdeployqt
• Create a styled DMG installer: Simsapa-vX.X.X-{arch}.dmg

Note: For distribution, you may want to code sign the app. Set the APPLE_SIGNING_IDENTITY environment variable:

export APPLE_SIGNING_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAM_ID)"
make macos

Android APK

Build using Qt Creator with the Android kit configured.

Testing

# Run all tests
make test

# Individual test suites
make rust-test   # Backend tests
make qml-test    # QML tests
make js-test     # JavaScript tests