OpenBook

An open-source, privacy-first study assistant for students with learning disabilities. Powered by local AI via Ollama — no data leaves your machine.

Features

• Upload and manage PDF documents
• Chat with your documents using local AI
• Generate summaries
• Flashcards with spaced repetition
• Exam questions
• Multiple choice questions
• Accessibility features — dyslexia font, high contrast, reading ruler, font size control
• Dark/light theme

---

Running with Docker (Recommended)

The easiest way to run OpenBook. Requires Docker Desktop.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed and running
• Ollama installed and running locally
• A model pulled in Ollama e.g. ollama pull llama3.2

Steps

# 1. Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/openbook.git
cd openbook

# 2. Start the full stack
docker compose up --build

That's it. The app will be available at:

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend API: http://localhost:8000
• API docs: http://localhost:8000/docs

To stop:

docker compose down

To start again without rebuilding:

docker compose up -d

---

Running Manually

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Python 3.11+
• PostgreSQL 16
• Ollama installed and running
• A model pulled e.g. ollama pull llama3.2

1. Database

Start PostgreSQL and create the database:

psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE openbook;"

2. Backend

cd openbook-backend

# Create and activate virtual environment
python3.11 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # on Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Create .env file
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your database URL and Ollama settings

# Run migrations
alembic upgrade head

# Start the server
uvicorn app.main:app --reload

Backend runs at http://localhost:8000

3. Frontend

cd openbook-frontend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the dev server
npm run dev

Frontend runs at http://localhost:5173

4. Ollama

Make sure Ollama is running:

ollama serve

Pull a model if you haven't already:

ollama pull llama3.2
# or
ollama pull gemma4:e2b
# or any other model that supports tools

---

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in openbook-backend/ based on this template:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/openbook
UPLOADS_DIR=uploads
OLLAMA_URL=http://localhost:11434
OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3.2

Tech Stack

Layer	Tech
Frontend	React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui
Routing	TanStack Router
State	Zustand
Backend	FastAPI, Python
Database	PostgreSQL
ORM	SQLAlchemy (async)
Migrations	Alembic
AI	Ollama (local)
Container	Docker + Docker Compose

---

Contributing

OpenBook is open source and contributions are welcome. Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.

---

Support the Developer

If OpenBook helps you or someone you know, consider supporting its development:

• ⭐ Star the repo on GitHub