Building monkeyread, a speed reader that feels like monkeytype

monkeyread (monkeyread.eu) is a free RSVP speed reader with the look and feel of monkeytype. Words appear one at a time in the same spot, with a highlighted pivot letter your eye lands on, and the whole UX — layout, config bar, focus mode, themes — borrows directly from monkeytype's.

What it does

• RSVP reading: one word (or up to three) at a time, pivot letter aligned on a fixed guide, longer pauses on punctuation
• Any speed, with presets or a custom value
• Focus mode: everything but the current word fades out
• space play/pause, tab restart, ←/→ to step a word at a time
• A library: import PDF, EPUB, or TXT, parsed client-side with pdf.js and JSZip, kept in IndexedDB along with your reading position
• 5 themes (serika dark, serika, paper, nord, dracula), 10 fonts, French and English

Texts and books never leave your browser. An optional account only syncs reading stats and settings, not the content you're reading.

Stack

Next.js, Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui. Linting and formatting run on oxlint and oxfmt, with a shadcn/no-arbitrary-values rule that keeps app code on the design tokens in globals.css instead of one-off Tailwind values.

Why

I wanted to read faster without installing anything, and monkeytype already nailed the kind of minimal, keyboard-first interface that disappears once you're using it. Pointing that same interaction model at RSVP reading felt obvious once I'd used monkeytype enough to have it memorized.