SpatialRead
Local-first research paper reader with three specialised AI agents and bring-your-own API keys
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spatialread.comAbout SpatialRead
SpatialRead is a downloadable research-paper reader built for people working through dense academic PDFs. Its organising idea is three distinct AI agents rather than one generic assistant, each with a different reading posture: a Teaching Assistant that explains, simplifies, and expands on complex passages for comprehension; a Critical Peer Reviewer that critiques writing, identifies weaknesses, and checks whether the evidence supports the claims, which doubles as training in how to read like a reviewer; and an experimental Industry Translator that maps findings into business applications and implementation strategy for your specific industry and role. The interaction model is selection-driven — highlight any text to ask a question, explore a related concept, and accumulate a web of connections rather than a linear chat log — and screenshot capture lets you feed figures, diagrams, charts, and tables into the same flow, which matters because that is where most of a paper's actual content lives. Inputs are not limited to PDFs: essays, articles, markdown files, or a direct question to the AI all work as starting points. Two architectural choices set it apart from browser-based competitors: all documents are stored locally on your device with no cloud storage or external servers, and you bring your own provider API keys so you pay usage directly, with unlimited free local-model use through Ollama.
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