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OpenPaper icon

OpenPaper

Read an English research paper side by side with its translation, sentence by sentence.

Release CI License: MIT Platform: macOS | Windows Built with Tauri

OpenPaper demo: search, translate, linked sentence highlight, summarize, ask, and switch languages

Install

macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sionic-ai/openpaper/main/install.sh | bash

Run it again to update. The app also shows an Update button when a new release is out.

The installer puts OpenPaper.app in /Applications (or ~/Applications), installs Claude Code if it is missing, and starts the Claude Code login if you are not logged in. Translation uses your Claude Code account, so there is no API key to set. Requires macOS 11 or later and a Claude account.

Installer options

Options go after bash -s --, for example ... | bash -s -- --no-open:

Option Env var What it does
--no-claude OPENPAPER_NO_CLAUDE=1 Skip installing and logging in to Claude Code
--no-login OPENPAPER_NO_LOGIN=1 Never start the Claude Code login
--no-open OPENPAPER_NO_OPEN=1 Do not open the app at the end
--dir <path> OPENPAPER_DIR Install into this folder
--version <tag> OPENPAPER_VERSION Install a specific release tag
--check Print what is installed and change nothing
--uninstall Remove the app, keep your papers
--purge With --uninstall, also delete your papers

Exit codes: 0 ready, 1 error, 2 app installed but Claude Code is not logged in. Agents installing for a user should follow AGENTS.md.

Windows

Download OpenPaper-windows-x64-setup.exe and run it. It installs for your user only, with no admin rights, and adds OpenPaper to the Start menu. The app shows an Update button when a new release is out.

The setup program is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn about it. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Translation needs Claude Code. If it is not installed, run this in PowerShell, then log in:

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
claude auth login

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a Claude account. The setup program installs Microsoft Edge WebView2 if it is missing.

What you get

  • Side by side reading. The original on one side, the translation on the other, paired sentence by sentence. Hover or select a sentence and its pair lights up on both sides. Swap sides with ⇄ and drag the divider to resize. Press ⌘F to find text in both columns. Reopening a paper returns to where you stopped reading.
  • Pick your language. Translate into Korean, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Spanish, French, German, or Portuguese.
  • arXiv search. Search arXiv inside the app, or paste an arXiv ID or URL. Local PDFs work too.
  • AI paper finder. Describe what you are looking for in plain words. Claude plans the searches, and the app only shows papers that came back from arXiv, never invented ones.
  • Easy mode. An explanatory translation that unpacks jargon and adds the missing reasoning, while keeping facts and numbers as written.
  • Summary post. One click writes a short explainer post about the paper with its real numbers. It is saved and shows up instantly next time.
  • Ask the paper. Ask questions in a chat grounded in the open paper. Select any passage to ask about it directly. Answers stream in as they are written.
  • Folders and dark mode. Drag papers onto each other to group them. Light and dark themes follow the system until you pick one.
  • In-app update. An Update button appears when a new release is out.

How it works

  • Claude Code CLI, isolated. Every model call runs claude -p with tools, MCP servers, and settings turned off, in an empty temporary folder. The app sends paper text and reads JSON or text back. No API key, no direct HTTP calls to Anthropic.
  • No invented papers. The AI finder lets Claude plan queries, fetches real results from the arXiv API, and keeps only picks whose IDs are in those results.
  • Your files stay local. Papers, translations, summaries, and folders are plain JSON files in ~/Library/Application Support/dev.rlaope.openpaper/papers/ on macOS and %APPDATA%\dev.rlaope.openpaper\papers\ on Windows.

The full pipeline, file formats, and the command-line probe are in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

Build from source

Needs Rust 1.85+, Node 20+, pnpm, and a logged-in claude CLI (claude auth status).

pnpm install
pnpm dev          # run the app in development
pnpm build        # typecheck and build the web side
pnpm tauri build  # macOS: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/OpenPaper.app
                  # Windows: pnpm tauri build --bundles nsis → bundle/nsis/OpenPaper_<version>_x64-setup.exe

Uninstall

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sionic-ai/openpaper/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --uninstall

Add --purge to also delete your papers. By hand: rm -rf /Applications/OpenPaper.app, and ~/Library/Application Support/dev.rlaope.openpaper for the papers.

On Windows, remove OpenPaper in Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Your papers stay in %APPDATA%\dev.rlaope.openpaper; delete that folder to remove them too.

Limits

  • macOS 11+ and Windows 10/11 (x64). Linux is not supported.
  • On Windows, only Claude Code from the official installer (claude.exe) is found. An npm install (claude.cmd) is not used.
  • The macOS build is ad-hoc signed, not notarized, and the Windows setup program is not code-signed. The installer clears the download quarantine. If you download the zip in a browser, right-click the app and choose Open the first time.
  • PDFs use the text layer only. Scanned PDFs do not work, and PDF equations, figures, and tables show as plain text.
  • Speed and quality follow your Claude Code account's model and usage limits.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Report security issues privately as described in SECURITY.md.

License

MIT

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Read research papers side by side in your language.

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