openreader/README.md
Richard R ea5611c882 docs(intro): update highlights and backend details in docs and README
Revise project highlights in README and introduction to emphasize ONNX-based
PDF layout parsing (PP-DocLayoutV3), segment-based TTS playback, and flexible
backend/storage options. Clarify compute modes and self-hosting features.
Update TTS provider descriptions for accuracy and conciseness.

Also expand tsconfig exclude list to omit compute worker sources from main build.
2026-05-19 15:32:18 -06:00

4 KiB

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📄🔊 OpenReader

OpenReader is an open source, self-host-friendly text-to-speech document reader built with Next.js for EPUB, PDF, TXT, MD, and DOCX with synchronized read-along playback.

Previously named OpenReader-WebUI.

Get started in the docs.

Highlights

  • 🧱 Layout-aware PDF parsing with PP-DocLayoutV3 (ONNX) — structured block detection, cross-page stitching, and geometry-based highlighting for precise read-along sync.
  • ⏱️ Word-by-word highlighting via built-in ONNX Whisper alignment — no external dependencies, runs in-process (COMPUTE_MODE=local) or offloaded to a scalable Redis-backed worker (COMPUTE_MODE=worker).
  • Segment-based read-along for EPUB, PDF, TXT, MD, and DOCX — sentence-aware TTS with cached audio segments, background preloading, and resumable playback.
  • 🎯 Multi-provider TTS — self-hosted OpenAI-compatible servers (Kokoro-FastAPI, KittenTTS-FastAPI, Orpheus-FastAPI) or cloud APIs (OpenAI, Replicate, DeepInfra).
  • 🎧 Audiobook export in m4b/mp3 with resumable chapter processing.
  • 🗂️ Flexible backend — embedded SeaweedFS or S3-compatible storage, SQLite or Postgres, server library import, and device sync.
  • 🐳 Self-host friendly — Docker (amd64/arm64), optional auth, and automatic startup migrations.

🚀 Start Here

Goal Link
Run with Docker Docker Quick Start
Deploy on Vercel Vercel Deployment
Deploy external compute worker Compute Worker (Redis + BullMQ)
Develop locally Local Development
Configure auth Auth
Configure SQL database Database and Migrations
Configure object storage Object / Blob Storage
Configure TTS providers TTS Providers
Run Kokoro locally Kokoro-FastAPI
Run KittenTTS locally KittenTTS-FastAPI
Get support or contribute Support and Contributing

🧭 Community

📜 License

MIT. See LICENSE.