User Guide & Reference

Documentation

Everything you need to master Zen Reader: installation, shortcuts, local storage management, and developer guides.

1. Installation Guide

Install directly with 1 click from the official Mozilla Add-ons directory. Automatic updates included.

Download the release zip from GitHub, go to chrome://extensions, enable Developer Mode, and click Load unpacked.

Zen Reader is designed for rapid, mouse-free productivity:

Shortcut	Context	Action
Alt + Shift + S	Any webpage	Instantly extract and save article to Zen Reader.
J / K	Dashboard	Navigate down / up through reading list items.
Enter	Dashboard	Open selected article in distraction-free reader view.
S	Dashboard	Toggle article saved / unread state.
D	Dashboard	Delete selected article permanently from IndexedDB.
Esc	Reader View	Close article and return to dashboard queue.

All articles are stored in the browser’s native IndexedDB database. This ensures:

Offline Availability: Text, headers, and media are cached locally so you can read without any connection.
Zero Cloud Limits: With unlimitedStorage, save thousands of articles without size penalties.
Complete Isolation: No external site or script can access your private reading library.

Zen Reader is structured as an npm monorepo with strict layer boundaries verified via dependency-cruiser:

app/src/

├── domain/ # Pure models (Article, Theme, Tags)

├── application/ # Use-case interfaces & ports

├── infrastructure/ # IndexedDB repository, DOMParser sanitizer

├── background/ # Service Worker & command router

└── presentation/ # Preact reader UI, popup, & dashboard

# Run development server
npm run dev

# Run architectural linter (dependency-cruiser)
npm run arch

# Build extension and web landing
npm run build