Offline research source cabinet: capture references, page-specific quotes, and citation-ready notes on phone, tablet, and Windows without accounts.
Source Shelf is a planned local-first, multi-platform research workspace for independent researchers, students, writers, and journalists. Goal: store books, articles, reports, primary documents, and interviews on your device, capture exact page citations and excerpt notes, then export citation-ready BibTeX/JSON and formatted snippets without accounts or trackers.
Flutter 3.47.7 app targets Windows desktop, Android phones/tablets, and iPhones/iPads. Source/excerpt capture, SQLite storage, collections, tags, title-prefix search, APA 7/BibTeX citation drafts, and local backup/export are implemented. Drafts require human proofreading. Icon wiring and release packaging remain planned.
Research workflows on mobile and desktop are heavily fragmented:
- Reference managers (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) are heavy, desktop-centric, or push users into cloud accounts and subscription sync.
- Note-taking apps (Apple Notes, Obsidian, Notion) hold freeform text but lack structured citation metadata (authors, year, publisher, DOI/ISBN, edition, page ranges, exact quote attribution).
- Mobile scanner/read-later apps trap snippets behind proprietary logins without clean citation exports.
Source Shelf bridges this gap: a clean, local-first card cabinet and reading log designed for capturing accurate evidence while reading physical books, PDFs, or articles on any device.
- Students & Academics: Capture quotes and page numbers while reading in libraries or classrooms; export formatted bibliographies into essays.
- Writers & Authors: Keep non-fiction source binders organized by topic, edition, and exact quote citations.
- Journalists & Independent Researchers: Verify source material offline with immutable capture dates and full local data ownership.
- Lifelong Readers: Track memorable book excerpts and retain structured reading notes without cloud subscriptions.
- Library Book Reading: Read a physical library book, record author/title/ISBN/year, and log 6 exact page quotes with personal commentary before returning the loan.
- Journal Article Excerpting: Record an academic paper's DOI, container journal, volume, issue, and key findings; copy an APA 7th or BibTeX block with one tap.
- Multi-Device Research: Draft citation notes on an Android tablet or iPhone during transit, export a standard JSON or BibTeX bundle, and import it into Source Shelf on Windows.
- Primary Source Interview Archive: Document interviewees, dates, transcripts, and excerpt cards with custom tags (e.g.,
#chapter3,#archival-doc).
- Source Catalog: Create, view, search, and edit source entries (Book, Journal Article, Book Section / Chapter, Web Document, Archival Document, Interview).
- Core Metadata Fields: Title, creators/authors (ordered list), publication year, container/publisher, volume/issue, edition, ISBN/DOI, call number, and shelf tags.
- Page-Specific Excerpts & Notes: Attach timestamped excerpt cards to each source with exact page / page-range locator, verbatim quote, commentary note, and tags.
- Citation Formatter Engine: Deterministic APA 7 and BibTeX drafts with missing-field warnings; Chicago, MLA, and Harvard are post-MVP candidates.
- Local Collections & Tags: Organize sources into user-defined collections (e.g., Thesis Chapter 2, 19th Century Maritime) and searchable tags.
- Adaptive Layout: Optimized for touch on phone, split-pane on tablet, and multi-column workspace with keyboard shortcuts on Windows desktop.
- Backup & Export: Full database export to JSON, BibTeX (
.bib), and Markdown source cards with one-tap clipboard copy or file export. - Zero Cloud / Zero Network: Works 100% offline with no accounts, telemetry, or external API requirements.
- No PDF cloud-sync or hosted reader service (PDF attachments, if added later, remain local files).
- No proprietary cloud synchronization service, user accounts, or login screens.
- No auto-scraping behind paywalls or automated web browsing bots.
- No social feeds, public profile sharing, or multi-user live collaborative document editing.
- No AI hallucinations for citations: formatting is 100% deterministic code following published style manuals.
- No cross-platform UI frameworks outside Flutter (no React Native, Expo, Kotlin Multiplatform, Unity, or .NET MAUI).
- Data Ownership: All source entries, excerpts, and tags live in a local SQLite / file-backed database on the host device.
- Network Access: None. The app declares no network permissions and makes no outbound requests.
- Device Permissions: Only file picker access when explicitly saving an export file or importing a backup.
- Telemetry: Zero crash reporting SDKs, zero analytics trackers, zero ad libraries.
Source Shelf plans Strategy A: Platform-Native Adaptive UX:
- iOS & iPadOS: Cupertino design language, native navigation bars, large titles, modal sheets, swipe-back, and iOS keyboard behavior.
- Android: Material 3 with dynamic color tokens, navigation rail / bottom navigation, and Android system predictive back.
- Windows Desktop: Fluent UI design system with title bar integration, command bar, NavigationView, hover states, context menus, and keyboard shortcuts (
Ctrl+N,Ctrl+F,Ctrl+E).
- Identifier:
com.infinityball.sourceshelf - Windows Identity:
cominfinityball.sourceshelf - Target Device Families: Phone, Tablet, Desktop (Windows 10/11, Android 7+, iOS 16+)
- Store Description:
AppStore/description.txt - Icon:
AppStore/icon.png(1024x1024 generated via OpenAI Images API)
The App Store Connect bundle ID registration returned:
FAILED bundleId lookup rejected: FORBIDDEN_ERROR.PLA_NOT_ACCEPTED
The developer account Program License Agreement (PLA) must be accepted by the account owner in Apple Developer portal before bundle ID com.infinityball.sourceshelf can be registered via API.
Pin Flutter 3.47.7 (Dart 3.13.5). Research records, backup and exports stay local. Import validates the entire versioned JSON document before an atomic SQLite merge/replace; collisions fail without changing existing data. File pickers appear only on explicit action. Markdown/JSON exports can contain private quotes and notes: review before sharing. Interview quotes are withheld from Markdown/BibTeX exports while consent context is unrecorded; JSON backup retains them for private recovery. Citations remain drafts for human proofreading. Windows identity cominfinityball.sourceshelf applies to future MSIX packaging, not current portable runner. iOS compilation requires macOS/Xcode and is not gated yet.
# Verify Flutter toolchain (3.47.7) and lockfile
flutter pub get --enforce-lockfile
# Verify Flutter toolchain
flutter --version
# Run tests
flutter test
# Run desktop build (Windows)
flutter build windows --release
# Run Android debug build
flutter build apk --debug