Lector

Spec sheet

What it does

Lector is a language-learning reader that imports books, articles, videos and podcasts, supports click-to-translate reading, vocabulary mining, frequency cloze practice and Anki export.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Product

Lector is an open-source language-learning reader for learning through imported texts and media.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Integrations

The documentation lists AnkiConnect, Claude or OpenAI-compatible AI servers, optional Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, and Docker.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Support

The contact page offers email replies, Discord live chat, and GitHub issues for bugs.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

License

The repository licenses Lector under GNU Affero General Public License version 3.0, including the requirement to offer corresponding source for modified network services.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Maker

Lector is operated and built by Luke Boyle.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

AI and language tools

The tutor and writing correction can use the Claude API or a local model, while AI translation can fall back to an on-device dictionary.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

AI providers

Supported optional AI backends include Anthropic Claude and OpenAI-compatible servers such as Ollama, LM Studio and vLLM.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

AI tutor and journal

The built-in tutor answers grammar questions and corrects journal writing with explanations, using Claude or a local model.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Anki

Lector sends mined words and phrases to Anki as Basic or Cloze cards, and its beta add-on syncs reviews back.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Anki integration

Lector supports two-way Anki synchronization through its beta Lector Sync add-on, while local self-hosts can use AnkiConnect.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

API client generation

The API documentation gives an OpenAPI Generator command for producing a typed TypeScript fetch client.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

API extensibility

API settings allow provider-key storage for Anthropic or OpenRouter, model selection and OpenAI-compatible endpoint discovery on self-hosted deployments.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

API import endpoints

Documented endpoints import EPUB files, audio, YouTube captions and URL-extracted articles, and expose collection, lesson, progress and statistics operations.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Audio and video

Users can import YouTube transcripts with timestamps or upload podcasts for transcription and listen-along playback.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Cloud data

The privacy policy says cloud content is stored to provide the service and may be sent to a translation provider, and says content is not used to train models or sold.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Cloud region

The homepage says Lector Cloud stores data in AWS us-east-1 and users can export it at any time.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Cloze practice

Practice uses frequency-ordered Tatoeba sentence pairs with multiple-choice or typed answers and spaced repetition.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Company maker

The product site identifies Luke Boyle as its builder, while his personal site says he is based in regional Australia.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lukeboyle.com

Documentation depth

The docs cover installation, environment variables, backups, OIDC multi-user login, Tailscale and HTTPS, reading features, language packs and the REST API.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Independent limit: language-pack gaps

The Reddit post says Japanese and Korean have dictionaries and reader support but no cloze banks yet.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Independent limit: model dependence

The Reddit post identifies rich translation, grammar tutoring and journal correction as the only functions requiring a model or API key.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Independent praise: feature parity

The Reddit author states the cloud and self-hosted versions are the same application without an open-core split or feature separation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Independent praise: installation

A Reddit self-hosting post highlights that deployment uses one docker compose command and SQLite without an external database.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Independent praise: privacy

The same Reddit post praises offline reader, cloze and vocabulary operation, with books remaining on the user's disk and no telemetry.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Language coverage

The site lists language packs for 24 languages including Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese-related Greek variants, Latin and others.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Language support

The reader works with any language, while language packs add a frequency-ordered cloze bank and an on-device dictionary.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Limit: cloud account language bug

A GitHub issue documented a July 8, 2026 cloud bug where browser-local language state could leak across accounts and cause setup inconsistencies between browsers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Limit: mobile positioning

The maker's project page describes the main product as a web app and separately lists a native iOS client built with SwiftUI for iOS 17.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lukeboyle.com

Limits

On the Free plan, podcast import is not included, journal writing is limited to 1,000 words/month, and managed AI requests are not included.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Notable news: language packs

An August 21, 2026 post announced Mandarin, Japanese and Korean language packs, describing separate dictionary, segmentation and grammar work for each.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Notable news: open-data payments

An August 22, 2026 post said Lector began paying $100 per month or 10% of profit, whichever is greater, to open-data projects used by its language packs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Notable news: YouTube and podcasts

A June 19, 2026 product post announced YouTube transcript and podcast imports with timestamped or listen-along reading.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Offline operation

Reading, cloze practice and vocabulary tracking work offline against on-device dictionaries; AI features require network access unless pointed at a local model.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Planned languages

The roadmap lists Vietnamese, Tagalog, Romanian, Modern Hebrew, Danish, Slovak, Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Biblical Hebrew as not yet available.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Practice

Cloze practice uses frequency-ordered sentence pairs and spaced repetition.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Privacy cloud

For cloud use, imported or translated text is stored to provide the service and may be sent to a configured translation provider; the site says it is not used to train models or sold.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Privacy self-hosted

The privacy policy says self-hosted deployments collect no books, vocabulary, journal data, settings, telemetry or account information.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Public API

Lector exposes an HTTP REST API with 100 personal-access-token endpoints and an OpenAPI 3.1 document.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Reading

It imports EPUBs, pasted text, and web articles, and lets readers click words for translation while tracking known, learning, and new vocabulary.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Reading imports

The reader accepts EPUB files, pasted text, URL articles and other imported reading material, coloring words by new, learning or known state.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Repository activity

The public repository showed 38 stars, 8 forks and 428 commits when opened.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Self-host installation

Self-hosting uses one Docker container, one mounted data volume and Docker Compose; the example exposes the UI on port 3400.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Self-host privacy

For self-hosted use, reading data stays in a server-side SQLite file and the maker says it collects no app telemetry or account data.Read 7 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Statistics

The dashboard reports vocabulary growth, reading streaks, activity heatmaps, cloze mastery and CEFR fluency estimates.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

System stack

Documentation identifies Next.js 16 with React 19, Hono on Bun, bun:sqlite, SQLite, Tailwind CSS 4 and Docker.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Text to speech

Optional Google Cloud Text-to-Speech can pronounce words and sentences.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Video and audio

YouTube caption tracks retain timestamps for synchronized reading, while uploaded podcast audio can be transcribed with Whisper for listen-along playback.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Vocabulary

Saved words and phrases are tracked with known and learning states in a vocabulary database.Read 15 Oct 2026 · lector.dev

Plans and prices

Every Lector plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Language Immersion Apps#1 of 259.1