Lite Reader

Read your feeds on your own machine with a simple and lite application.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Testing
• Migration from Legacy Lite Reader
• Contributing
• License
• Contact

Features

• Lightweight and minimal feed aggregator
• Easy to install and use
• Supports data migration from legacy Lite Reader
• New: Multi-user support with individual user feeds
• Feed management: add, update, delete feeds
• Item management: read, star, mark as read/unread

Requirements

• None, just download the binary from the releases page and run it.

Installation

1. Download the latest release from the releases page.
2. Run the binary:

   ./lite-reader

   By default the SQLite database is stored in your OS user config directory (see Usage). To store it somewhere else, set DB_PATH to an absolute path:

   DB_PATH=/var/lib/lite-reader/agg.db ./lite-reader

Usage

• Access the application via http://localhost:3000 (or your specified port).
• The SQLite database lives in your OS user config directory by default: ~/.config/lite-reader/agg.db (Linux), ~/Library/Application Support/lite-reader/agg.db (macOS), %AppData%\lite-reader\agg.db (Windows). Override with an absolute path via DB_PATH=/absolute/path/agg.db.

Testing

Lite Reader includes comprehensive automated tests:

Unit Tests

# Run all Go unit tests
make test# View coverage report
make coverage-report

UI Tests

# First-time setup (install Playwright)
make test-ui-setup
# Run automated UI tests
make test-ui
# Run UI tests with visible browser (for debugging)
make test-ui-headed
# Run all tests (unit + UI)
make test-all

For detailed testing documentation, see TEST.md.

Key Features:

• Automated browser testing with Playwright
• Mock RSS/Atom feed server (no internet required)
• Happy path and edge case coverage
• Fast execution (< 5 minutes)
• CI/CD integration ready

Migration from Legacy Lite Reader

If you are using the legacy Lite Reader, you can migrate your data to the new Lite Reader.

1. Download the latest release of Lite Reader.

2. Copy your existing agg.db to the new default location:

   • Linux: ~/.config/lite-reader/agg.db
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/lite-reader/agg.db
   • Windows: %AppData%\lite-reader\agg.db

   Alternatively, point the binary at the old file with an absolute path:

   DB_PATH=/path/to/old/agg.db ./lite-reader

3. Run the new Lite Reader.

Contributing

We are looking for contributors! Here's how you can help:

• Report bugs (https://github.com/cubny/lite-reader/issues/new)
• Share your ideas (https://github.com/cubny/lite-reader/issues/new)
• We are looking for a frontend engineer to rewrite the app with a modern stack

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contact

• For any queries, please open an issue.