About Papyrium

Papyrium is an independent desktop app for organizing, reading, and annotating ebooks. I built it because the tools I tried didn't quite fit the way I work.

The problem I kept running into

I read a lot, mostly technical books and non-fiction, and I could never settle on a single app for my library. The powerful ones felt too heavy. The ones with the best reading experience wanted my files and notes on their servers, behind a subscription. Either way, I usually ended up using one app to organize and a different one to actually read.

I wanted one app that could do both: manage the library, and let me read and annotate inside it. And I wanted everything to stay on my disk, where I could back it up and eventually connect it to the notes system I already use. So I started building.

Who I am

I'm Alex, a software engineer with over a decade in enterprise development, mostly backend and full-stack. Papyrium started as a weekend prototype and grew into the app I use every day for my own library. There's no company behind it — just me, working closely with the alpha users helping shape it. That means slower progress than a funded team, but every decision comes from someone who actually uses the app.

Where this is going

Papyrium is in public alpha — the basics work, but there's a lot still to build. AI assistance is high on the list — searching across your library, helping fill in missing book details — alongside Obsidian sync and an iPad companion. The roadmap is shaped by what alpha users tell me they need most.

If you want to follow along or weigh in on what gets built next, the newsletter on the homepage is where I post updates.

Get in touch

Email hello@papyriumlib.com or open a bug report or feature request on GitHub — read by me, replied to by me. Bug reports, feature ideas, and rough feedback all welcome.