QuireInk

The e-reader where everything is a plugin.

Home screen, reader, menus, gestures, widgets: change any part of QuireInk with a plugin, or with a folder of text files. No fork, no rebuild.

Free and open source, calm and fast on e-ink. No account, no ads, no tracking.

Download for Android APK

Version 0.3.0, 7.2 MB, Android 8 or later · Other ways to install

Index

Every entry here is a plugin itself, and any of them can be replaced.

Change anything, fork nothing

Other readers are changed by forking their code and keeping the fork alive. QuireInk is changed from outside: what you see is plugins, built with the same SDK as yours, on a small kernel.

  1. On the device

    The home screen, every menu, gesture, tap zone, widget and rule are arranged on the reader itself, by touch or with buttons.

    Settings
  Customise menus
  Buttons and gestures
  Rules
Home screen: hold to arrange

  2. A folder of text files

    Translations, key maps, new defaults, fonts and styles. Copy the folder to plugins on the reader and it is there, on every device, the X4 included.

    plugins/large-print/
  plugin.ini
  i18n/*.ini
  keymap.ini
  settings.ini
  fonts/*.ttf

  3. A plugin with code

    A Rust crate against quireink-sdk adds screens, actions, formats, filters or services, or replaces the home screen, the library or the reader outright.

    // in your plugin's register():
r.add_screen(home())?;
r.bind_slot(
    slots::HOME,
    HOME,
    Priority::PREFERRED,
)?;

How to write a plugin The SDK on crates.io

The entries

Every entry of the index, in a sentence each.

  1. 1

    Annotations

    Bookmarks and highlights at the exact place, with notes; exported as Markdown and shared with KOReader.

    The reading menu, as on a Boox Go 7
  2. 2

    Calibre

    Calibre sends, lists and deletes books over Wi-Fi, as with any wireless reader.

    The library, as on a Boox Go 7
  3. 3

    Colour

    Covers and pictures in colour on colour e-ink; sixteen crisp greys everywhere else.

    A cover in colour, in the emulator, as on a colour e-ink screen
  4. 4

    Formats

    EPUB, FB2, Markdown, plain text, comics and PDF, with hyphenation and footnotes.

    A page of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as on a Boox Go 7
  5. 5

    Gestures

    Up for home, down for the quick panel, in from a side for back, two fingers for size.

    The gestures, shown once, as on a Boox Go 7
  6. 6

    Home screen

    A grid as on a phone: clock, current book, recent books and tools, arranged by dragging.

    The home screen, as on a Boox Go 7
  7. 7

    KOReader

    Reading positions, statistics and annotations travel to and from KOReader.

    A page of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as on a Boox Go 7
  8. 8

    Library

    Covers and progress, shelves by author, series and tag, a search and OPDS catalogs.

    The library, as on a Boox Go 7
  9. 9

    Lock

    An optional PIN, pattern or password when the reader wakes up.

    Setting a PIN, as on a Boox Go 7
  10. 10

    Memory

    Built for an ESP32-C3 with 380 KB; on larger readers that means speed and battery.

    Reading on the smallest device, in the emulator, as on an Xteink X4
  11. 11

    Menus

    Every menu changes on the device: drag entries, remove them, add any action.

    A menu, rearranged by dragging, as on a Boox Go 7
  12. 12

    Plugins

    Home, library, reader, menus and themes are plugins; a folder of text files is one too.

    Plugins, switched on and off, as on a Boox Go 7
  13. 13

    Quick panel

    Night mode, light, rotation, a full refresh and sleep, one swipe from anywhere.

    The quick panel, as on a Boox Go 7
  14. 14

    Rules

    Night mode at ten, a message when the battery is low; with conditions if you like.

    Rules, as on a Boox Go 7
  15. 15

    Tools

    Swipe up on the home screen for every tool, and whatever plugins add.

    All tools, as on a Boox Go 7
  16. 16

    Xteink X4

    Firmware for the Xteink X4 is built; it comes here once it has run on a device.

    Reading on the smallest device, in the emulator, as on an Xteink X4

Particulars

Licence
Apache-2.0, the source on GitHub
Devices
Android e-readers (tested on a Boox Go 7); the Xteink X4 to follow
Smallest target
ESP32-C3 with 380 KB of memory
Formats
EPUB, FB2, Markdown, TXT, comics, PDF
Languages
English and German, more by plugins
Accounts, ads, tracking
None, here or in the app

Get it

QuireInk runs as an app on Android e-readers today. It asks for no account and sends nothing anywhere unless you set up a sync yourself.

  1. Download the APK on the reader itself, or on a computer and copy it over.
  2. Open it to install. Android may first ask to allow installs from this source.
  3. On the home screen, allow “All files access” so QuireInk can read your books. If Android greys the switch out, open Settings, Apps, QuireInk and choose “Allow restricted settings” in the menu at the top.

Download for Android0.3.0

For updates as they are released, Obtainium can follow the releases page. F-Droid is to follow.

The Xteink X4 gets its own firmware, flashed from this site in the browser once it has run on a device.