Warning

I'm not actively working on Vellum. Most of the design work is done using AI and the README itself is AI-generated, but hey! The app looks decent imo.

I’m still around for bug fixes though — if something breaks or feels off, open an issue and I’ll take a look.

Vellum

Vellum is a reader application for Android that supports Comic Archives (CBZ), EPUBs, and PDFs.

Features

Reading

• Supports CBZ, PDF, and EPUB formats.
• Page navigation via volume keys or customizable tap zones on the screen edges.
• Right-to-Left reading direction option (manga mode).
• Vertical progress indicator on the right edge of the screen to track reading completion.

Content & File Management

• Open archives and documents directly from external file managers and applications.
• Ingestion of external files into local storage.
• Recursive folder scanner to import files from a selected directory.
• Backup and restore reading progress database via JSON export/import.
• Local network server (LAN Transfer) with PIN authentication to upload archives from a browser.

Tech Stack

• Languages & Frameworks: Kotlin, Jetpack Compose.
• Concurrency: Kotlin Coroutines and Flows.
• Dependency Injection: Hilt.
• Database & Persistence: Room Database, Jetpack DataStore.
• Image Loading: Coil 3.

Getting Started

Installation

1. Install the application on an Android device running Android 8.0 (API level 26) or higher.
2. Tap the import/add button in the navigation bar to import archives or scan a directory.
3. Tap the center of the screen during reading to toggle overlays and chapter settings.

Development Environment

1. Clone the repository.
2. Open the project in Android Studio.
3. Ensure JDK 17 is configured for the build environment.
4. Build using Gradle Kotlin DSL.

Might add

The following settings are currently exposed in the preferences UI but are unimplemented in the reading engine:

• Keep Screen On: Prevent the device from entering sleep mode while reading.
• High-Quality Scaling: Toggle advanced image interpolation for sharper page rendering.
• Long Press Menu: Open the reader controls menu via a long press instead of a single tap.
• Adaptive Chromaticity: Dynamically tint UI components based on the colors of the current page or cover art.