I have been using different apps to read research papers, books, and web articles. On iPad, I read research papers and books on Apple Books, and articles in Safari; on Mac, I use skim for research papers and books, as it gives excellent annotation features.

But I wanted one reading library that worked across iPad and Mac without locking my pdfs and annotations into a single service/app.

So I have built a browser-based reader where your library lives in a folder you choose in google drive. The app itself is client side: pdfs, imported articles and annotations files are stored in your drive rather than on my server.

- PDFs and web articles live together in one library

- Articles stay as HTML instead of being converted into PDFs (because converting to PDFs often cuts words vertically such that the top half of the word is on one page and the rest on another)

- Highlights, handwritten annotations and notes are stored separately alongside each document

- The app first writes locally, then syncs with drive.

You can try it without signing in using the demo document.

Google is still reviewing OAuth verification, so signing into drive currently shows the standard unverified app warning.

I'm mainly interested in feedback on architecture, the annotation model and whether using drive as the storage layer feels like the right trade off.

It's almost entirely client-side. PDFs render with PDF.js, articles stay as HTML instead of being converted into PDFs, and annotations are stored as plain json alongside each document in your google drive folder. The browser keeps a local cache for fast reopening, while drive handles syncing across devices. I have deliberately avoided a custom backend thus your library is just files you own.