Papr is a terminal-based workspace designed to bring the main stages of academic research into a single keyboard-driven application.
It combines paper discovery, a local PDF library, reading, note-taking and manuscript preparation. Researchers can search arXiv without leaving the terminal, download papers into a locally managed collection and organise them into groups which are mirrored to directories on disk.
The program uses SQLite for local storage and is designed around an offline-first workflow. Internet access is only required for functionality such as arXiv searches, metadata retrieval and paper downloads.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Daily research dashboard populated with papers matching configurable research keywords.
- Search arXiv by title, author, category, abstract or DOI.
- Incrementally displays and filters search results.
- Download papers in the background with human-readable filenames.
- Local PDF library management with automatic deduplication.
- Organise papers into groups which are synchronised with directories on disk.
- Automatically organise and browse papers by author.
- Maintain bookmarks and a prioritised reading queue.
- Read PDFs directly in compatible terminals using Kitty or Sixel graphics.
- Open documents in external PDF viewers including Zathura and Okular.
- Write per-paper Markdown notes with a Vim-inspired editor and styled preview.
- Track reading activity and reading time.
- Create and edit LaTeX and Typst manuscripts within the terminal interface.
- Background LaTeX compilation using latexmk.
- Embedded Typst compiler with PDF export and Typst Universe package support.
- Displays compiler diagnostics, source locations and build logs.
- Includes project file navigation and file management.
- Extensible through process-isolated JSON-based plugins.
Website: github.com/AfrozSaqlain/Papr
Support:
Developer: Afroz Saqlain
License: MIT License
Papr is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Reference Management Tools | |
|---|---|
| KBibTeX | Reference management software primarily for BibTeX |
| Zotero | Powerful online/offline research tool for the Firefox web browser |
| JabRef | Graphical frontend to manage BibTeX databases |
| WIKINDX | Bibliography, notes, and article authoring system |
| BibLaTeX | Programmable bibliographies and citations |
| Docear | Academic literature suite |
| I, Librarian | Build an annotated library of scientific PDF articles |
| Citations | Manage your bibliographies using the BibTeX format |
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