Paper Reader

An interactive paper reading interface for building research taste faster.

Run

python -m http.server 8080

Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

(Any static file server works. Serving from localhost is required for Google Docs OAuth.)

Features

Left panel: PDF viewer with page navigation and zoom. Drag the divider to resize.

Right panel: Structured notes with these sections:

Phase	Section	Purpose
Before Reading	Problem Statement / Claim	The exact gap or claim this paper centers
Before Reading	Alternative Explanation	A competing or confounded explanation for the claim
Before Reading	My Predicted Experiments	Design your eval before seeing the paper's results.
Paper Notes	Prior Assumption (Bit Flip)	Complete: "All prior work assumed ___ . This paper flips that by ___."
Paper Notes	Definitions [D1, D2...]	Key terms and concepts
Paper Notes	Techniques [T1, T2...]	Methods and architectures
Paper Notes	Insights [I1, I2...]	What you found interesting
Paper Notes	Bit Flips [B1, B2...]	Assumptions this paper overturns
Paper Notes	Research Questions [RQ1...]	Questions the paper formally asks
Paper Notes	Experiments [E1, E2...]	Experiments, datasets, baselines
My Analysis	My Questions [MQ1...]	Your own questions to explore
My Analysis	Core Insight	One sentence: what is NOW KNOWN. Not a method, not a result — an insight.
My Analysis	Extensions / Ideas	Research directions this opens
My Analysis	Issues / Limitations	Weaknesses, confounds, missing ablations
My Analysis	Apply to Own Work	How this connects to your research

Legend: Auto-generated from all items that have a label. Use [D1], [T1], [I1], [B1] etc. in your notes to cross-reference.

Saving Notes

• Notes auto-save to browser localStorage as you type
• Save Notes — downloads a .json file (recommended for backup)
• Load Notes — loads a previously saved .json file
• Export HTML — downloads a formatted .html file (can be uploaded to Google Drive and opened as a Google Doc — no setup needed)
• Google Docs — exports directly to your Google Drive (one-time setup required, see below)

Google Docs Setup (one-time)

1. Go to console.cloud.google.com and create a project
2. Enable Google Drive API (APIs & Services → Enable APIs)
3. Create credentials: OAuth 2.0 Client ID → Web application
4. Under "Authorized JavaScript origins" add http://localhost:8080
5. Copy the Client ID and paste it into the app (click Google Docs button or Settings)

Once set up, clicking Google Docs will open a Google sign-in, then create and open a new Google Doc with your notes.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
← / →	Previous / next page
+ / -	Zoom in / out
Ctrl+S	Save notes as JSON