DexReader

A modern, cross-platform manga reader for MangaDex built with Electron, React, and TypeScript.

Features

• 🔍 Browse & Search - Search MangaDex's extensive library with advanced filters (tags, content rating, status)
• 📚 Library Management - Organise your manga library with favourites, collections, and reading history
• 📖 Flexible Reader - Multiple reading modes (single page, double page, vertical scroll) with zoom and pan controls
• ⬇️ Offline Reading - Download chapters for offline access with parallel download support
• 🎨 Modern UI - Clean, responsive interface following Windows 11 design principles (to our best abilities)
• ⚡ High Performance - Optimized database queries, image caching, and React rendering for smooth experience

Download

⚠️ Security Notice: Current builds are unsigned. You may see security warnings from Windows SmartScreen or macOS Gatekeeper.

• Windows: Click "More info" → "Run anyway"
• macOS: Right-click → "Open" → Confirm

📢 macOS Testing Notice: DexReader is built and tested primarily on Windows and Linux. While macOS builds are generated automatically via CI/CD, we haven't conduct any extensive testing on real hardware due to device availability. If you're a Mac user, we'd really appreciate your feedback! Please report any issues you encounter on GitHub Issues or offer to help with testing in Discussions.

Installation

We provide installation binaries on the GitHub Releases page:

• Windows: dexreader-{version}-setup.exe (NSIS installer)
• macOS: dexreader-{version}.dmg (Disk image)
• Linux:
  • dexreader-{version}.AppImage (Portable, recommended)
  • dexreader-{version}.deb (Debian/Ubuntu)

Or, you can also build from the source code by downloading the tarball, or ZIP files provided in each release

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24.x or later
• npm or pnpm

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/remichan97/DexReader.git
cd DexReader

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

Available Scripts

• npm run dev - Start development app with hot reload
• npm run dev:inspect - Same as above, but expose DevTools port for debugging main processes
• npm run build - Build for production (no packaging)
• npm run lint - Run ESLint
• npm run typecheck - Run TypeScript type checking
• npm run format - Format code with Prettier

Building Installers

# Windows (requires Windows, and escalated permission)
npm run build:win

# macOS (requires macOS)
npm run build:mac

# Linux
npm run build:linux

Tech Stack

• Framework: Electron 41.0.2
• Frontend: React 19 + TypeScript 5.9.2
• Build Tool: electron-vite
• Database: Drizzle ORM + SQLite
• State Management: Zustand
• Styling: CSS Modules with Windows 11 design tokens
• API: MangaDex API

Project Status

Current Version: 0.10.0 (Pre-release) Target Release: v1.0.0 (May 2026)

Phase 5 (Production Readiness) - In Progress:

• ✅ Frontend refactoring (56% complexity reduction)
• ✅ Database optimization (88-99% faster queries)
• ✅ Memory profiling and leak detection
• ✅ Download system performance (5-10x improvement)
• ✅ Image loading optimization (cache thrashing eliminated)
• ✅ CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
• ✅ Auto-update system with user settings
• ✅ Build optimization (55% faster updates)
• ✅ Image loading optimization
• ✅ CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
• ⏳ UI responsiveness improvements
• ⏳ Auto-update system
• ⏳ Testing suite

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release notes.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! We appreciate bug reports, feature requests, documentation improvements, and code contributions.

🙋 Help Wanted: macOS Testing

We're currently looking for Mac users to help test DexReader! No coding required—just download the app, try it out, and let us know if anything doesn't work as expected.

How to help:

1. Download the latest macOS .dmg from Releases
2. Test the core features (browse, read, download)
3. Report any bugs or quirks on GitHub Issues
4. Share your experience in Discussions

Your feedback helps make DexReader better for all Mac users!

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Before contributing, please read:

• Contributing Guidelines - Development setup, code standards, commit conventions, and PR process
• Code of Conduct - Expected behaviour and community standards

Key topics covered in the contributing guide:

• Development setup and workflow
• Code standards and style guide
• Commit message conventions
• Pull request process
• Project architecture overview

Quick Start for Contributors

# Fork and clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/DexReader.git
cd DexReader

# Install dependencies (this also sets up git hooks)
npm install

# Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

# Start development
npm run dev

Commit Convention

This project follows Conventional Commits. All commits must follow this format:

<type>(<scope>): <description>

Examples:
feat(reader): add double-page spread mode
fix(download): prevent duplicate downloads
docs(readme): update installation instructions

Pre-commit hooks will validate your commits automatically.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Content provided by MangaDex
• Built with Electron and React

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Note: DexReader is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by MangaDex.