Zen Reader v2.0

Zen Reader.

Minimalist read-it-later. Save articles to read later without ads, cookie banners, or telemetry. 100% local in your browser, with no accounts and no cloud servers.

The Cluttered Web vs. Your Zen Sanctuary

https://deepfocus.org/the-art-of-deep-focus HTTPS
4 min read Saved today Offline
Typography: 100%

The Art of Deep Focus in the Age of Digital Saturation

By Deep Thought • Original source preserved locally

In a hyper-connected world, maintaining concentration for more than fifteen minutes feels like an unattainable miracle. Relentless notifications, addictive recommendation algorithms designed to hijack dopamine, and omnipresent visual noise fragment our thinking in subtle yet devastating ways.

"Simplicity is not the lack of clutter, that's a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity somehow essentially describes the purpose and place of an object and what it does."

To reclaim intellectual clarity, we must shed the urge for continuous stimulation. Reading without ads, without screen-blocking cookie popups, and without blinking banners is not an aesthetic luxury: it is an indispensable act of mental hygiene for deep understanding.

Article saved in your browser's local storage (IndexedDB)

Built to last.
Designed for calm.

After the shutdowns of Pocket and Omnivore, we built a tool that can never be discontinued: an autonomous extension living inside your browser, with zero hidden costs or servers to maintain.

100% Local & Offline

Your articles are stored in native IndexedDB with unlimited storage. Never depend on external servers that might go bankrupt or lose your reading list.

IndexedDB • Zero Cloud

Privacy by Design

What you read never leaves your computer. Zero telemetry, zero third-party analytics, zero cookies, and zero selling of your reading habits.

Zero Telemetry • 100% Private

Pure Readability Engine

Powered by Mozilla Readability to parse clean articles, preserving typography, key images, and structure while removing 100% of clutter and ad scripts.

Mozilla Readability • DOMPurify

Instant Clipper

Press Alt + Shift + S or click the icon. Saved in the background in under 50ms with a non-intrusive toast.

Custom Shortcut • Zero Latency

Designed for Zen Browser

Inspired by the aesthetics and philosophy of Zen Browser. Native compatibility with Firefox, Chrome, Brave, Arc, and Microsoft Edge under Manifest V3.

Zen Browser • Firefox • Chromium

Clean Architecture & MIT

Clean 4-tier decoupled architecture, verified with dependency-cruiser in CI. Transparent, 100% auditable open source code.

MIT License • Clean Architecture

Why Zen Reader over other alternatives?

Criteria Zen Reader Pocket (RIP 2025) Omnivore (RIP 2024) Readwise Reader Wallabag
Monthly Price 100% Free (MIT) Shut down ($5/mo) Shut down $12 / month Free (Self-host)
Account Required No (Zero signups) Yes (Firefox/Google) Yes (Email) Yes (Readwise account) Yes (Own server)
Cloud Server Dependency None (100% Local) Central servers Central servers Central servers VPS Required
100% Offline Reading Yes (IndexedDB) Partial Partial PWA Cache App dependent
Open Source (MIT) Yes (MIT License) Closed proprietary AGPL-3.0 (Closed) Closed proprietary MIT
Setup Time 10 seconds (Install & read) Shut down Shut down Card setup Complex (Docker/SQL)
Why pay $12/mo if all you want is to save and read in peace? Get started with Zen Reader →

Start reading in peace today

Install the extension in your favorite browser in less than a minute.

Recommended v2.0.0 • Manifest V3

Zen Browser & Firefox

Designed to blend seamlessly with Zen Browser and Firefox. Zero RAM impact, full privacy, and instant offline access.

Install from Firefox Add-ons
Official Mozilla Add-ons Store (AMO)
Chromium v2.0.0 • Manifest V3

Chrome, Brave, Edge & Arc

Compatible with all Chromium-based browsers. Lightweight service worker and smooth background article capture.

Download Chromium Package (.zip)
In chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked

Looking for the source code or want to build locally?

Open Source (MIT)

Zen Reader is 100% open source under the MIT license. You can clone the repository, inspect the code, or contribute directly on GitHub.

Everything you need to know

Complete clarity, no fine print or hidden surprises.

What motivated the creation of Zen Reader after Pocket and Omnivore shut down?
Pocket announced its end in July 2025 after years of neglect. Omnivore closed its servers in November 2024 after an acquisition. The market was left dominated by $10–$15/mo subscriptions or tools requiring complex self-hosted servers. Zen Reader takes the opposite approach: zero servers, installs in 10 seconds, and guaranteed to work forever because it runs 100% locally on your machine.
Where are my articles stored and how is my privacy protected?
Your articles are stored locally in your browser's IndexedDB database. No data ever travels to external servers: there is no backend, no telemetry, no analytics, and no URL tracking. Your reading history is strictly yours and stays on your disk.
Does it truly work offline when I have no internet connection?
Yes, completely. When saving an article, Zen Reader extracts the text, headings, and key images, sanitizes them, and persists them locally. You can open Zen Reader on an airplane or mountain cabin with zero internet and read your entire library smoothly.
Which browsers are supported and why focus on Zen Browser?
Zen Reader is built on universal Manifest V3 standards. It is compatible with Zen Browser, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Arc. We share Zen Browser's vision of a calm, aesthetic, and privacy-focused web experience.
Is there any limit on how many articles I can save?
The extension requests the native unlimitedStorage permission, meaning the only limit is the available storage on your hard drive. You can save thousands of articles with zero fees or artificial limits.
How is the project architected technically?
Zen Reader follows Clean Architecture with 4 decoupled layers (Domain, Application, Infrastructure, Presentation). The frontend is built with Preact and Tailwind CSS, bundled with Vite, and architecture rules are enforced in CI via dependency-cruiser.

Reclaim peace when reading the web.

No accounts. No servers. No ads. Just you and the ideas that matter.