TextStack

Free reader for real books. Look up and explain what you don't understand, discuss it with your own AI assistant, save what you learn back into the book.

Get TextStack

• Web: textstack.app. Sample chapters open without signup.
• Android: Google Play.
• Self-host: see Run locally.

Features

Feature	Description
Library and uploads	Browse the catalog, or upload your own EPUB / PDF and read it after parsing.
Kindle-like reader	Themes, fonts, fullscreen, keyboard shortcuts, bookmarks, highlights, reading stats.
Explain and translate	Select a phrase and get a short explanation or translation that takes the book's context into account.
Vocabulary review	Words you look up are saved with their sentence and reviewed with spaced repetition.
Read aloud	Text-to-speech with adjustable speed.
Offline and sync	Download books for offline reading on web and Android; progress syncs across devices.
AI assistant (MCP)	Connect your own AI assistant to your library. See below.

Read with your AI assistant

TextStack is a Model Context Protocol server, so an assistant you already use (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can work with your books:

1. Read: the assistant searches your library and reads the chapter you are on.
2. Discuss: ask about the chapter, an argument or a hard passage.
3. Save back: conclusions go into the book as insights, highlights, chapter reviews and vocabulary. Chapter reviews and vocabulary are saved only after you say yes.

Setup, tools and auth: docs/05-features/mcp.md.

Run locally

Prerequisites: Docker, pnpm, Node.js (.nvmrc) and the .NET SDK for the target in Directory.Build.props (only needed outside Docker).

git clone https://github.com/mrviduus/textstack
cd textstack
cp .env.example .env     # fill POSTGRES_PASSWORD and JWT_SECRET (32+ chars); OPENAI_API_KEY enables AI features
make up                  # backend services in Docker (builds on first run)
pnpm install
pnpm -C apps/web dev     # web is not a compose service

Service	URL
Web	http://localhost:5173
API	http://localhost:8080 (Scalar docs)
Admin	http://localhost:81

Tests, migrations, mobile and the rest: docs/03-ops/local-dev.md and CLAUDE.md.

Documentation

• Docs index and architecture
• Deployment, backup and restore, incident runbook
• Changelog

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas and PRs are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md first, or open an issue.

License

GNU AGPL v3.0 © 2026 Vasyl Vdovychenko. Free to use, modify and self-host. If you run a modified version as a network service, you must publish your changes under the same license.

A commercial license is available for organizations that cannot use AGPL (proprietary forks, hosted commercial services). Contact: [email protected].

• Standard Ebooks corpus in seed data: CC0 / public domain
• Edge TTS: used under Microsoft's Edge Read Aloud terms
• Third-party dependencies: their respective licenses