Reading Nook

A cozy Chrome extension for saving articles and pages to read later — with gentle nudge reminders, focus mode, reading streaks, and reflection prompts.

Install (no coding required)

1. Go to the Releases page and download the latest .zip file
2. Unzip it into a folder (for example, reading-nook-extension-0.1.0-chrome/)
3. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions
4. Turn on Developer mode (toggle in the top-right corner)
5. Click Load unpacked and select the extracted folder that contains manifest.json at the top level
6. Done — you'll see the Reading Nook icon in your toolbar

How it works

• Save — Click the floating button on any page (or right-click > "Save to Reading Nook")
• Read — Open the popup, browse your queue, and click an item to enter Focus Mode
• Reflect — After reading, rate the article and jot down a one-line takeaway
• Track — Check your reading streak, stats, and weekly digest in the Stats tab

Features

• Save Button — Floating pill button on every page to save with one click
• Reading Queue — Search and browse saved items, auto-categorized by topic
• Focus Mode — Distraction-free reader with timer and optional site blocking (Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, etc.)
• Reflections — Rate articles and capture takeaways after reading
• Reading Streaks — Daily streak counter with stats tracking
• Smart Decay — Stale items fade and auto-archive after 60 days
• Nudge Reminders — Gentle Chrome notifications when items pile up
• Session Mode — Start a curated reading session from your queue

Screenshots

Save button on any page

Popup queue

Popup stats

Focus mode

Reflection form

Build from source

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.2+
• Chrome or Chromium-based browser

Steps

# 1. Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/reading-nook-extension.git
cd reading-nook-extension
bun install

# 2. Build
bun run build

# 3. Load in Chrome
#    Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode,
#    click "Load unpacked", select .output/chrome-mv3/

Package as zip

bun run zip

This creates a distributable .zip in .output/.

To regenerate README screenshots:

bun run screenshots:readme

Development

bun run dev

Starts WXT dev server with hot reload. Load from .output/chrome-mv3-dev/ in Chrome.

If you see WebSocket connection to 'ws://localhost:3000/' failed, the dev build is loaded but the dev server is not running. Either:

• run bun run dev, or
• load the production build from .output/chrome-mv3/ instead.

Tests

bun run test          # Unit tests (117 tests)
bun run test:e2e      # E2E tests (18 tests, builds first)
bun run test:all      # Both

Project structure

entrypoints/
  background/          # Service worker — alarms, messages, blocking
  save-button.content/ # Content script — floating save button
  popup/               # Main popup — Queue, Read, Stats tabs
  reader/              # Focus mode — iframe + timer toolbar
  reflection/          # Post-reading reflection form
lib/
  types.ts             # TypeScript interfaces
  storage.ts           # chrome.storage CRUD
  utils.ts             # Utilities + microcopy
  categories.ts        # Auto-categorization + session logic
  blocking.ts          # Distraction blocking (declarativeNetRequest)
tests/                 # Vitest unit tests
e2e/                   # Playwright E2E tests

Tech stack

WXT + Svelte 5 + TypeScript + Vite + Bun

License

MIT