WritePub

A minimalist EPUB editor built with Tauri, Svelte, and TipTap. Open, edit, and save EPUB files with a distraction-free writing experience.

Features

• Distraction-free editing - Clean, minimalist interface inspired by iA Writer
• Full EPUB 3.3 support - Open and save EPUB files with full standard compliance
• Rich text editing - Bold, italic, underline, headings, lists, tables, images
• Chapter management - Drag-and-drop chapter reordering with collapsible sidebar
• Cover page handling - Proper cover image display with aspect ratio preservation
• Dark mode - Toggle between light and dark themes (persisted)
• Customizable settings - Line spacing and chapter density options (persisted)
• Zathura compatibility - Fixed list styling for proper rendering in Zathura
• Cross-platform - Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Small footprint - ~10MB bundle size thanks to Tauri

Installation

Pre-built binaries

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

Build from source

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• Rust (latest stable)
• System dependencies for Tauri (see Tauri prerequisites)

Build steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://git.packden.us/crueber/writepub.git
cd writepub

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run tauri dev

# Build for production
npm run tauri build

The built application will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Usage

Opening an EPUB

1. Click Open in the header or press Ctrl+O (Cmd+O on Mac)
2. Select an EPUB file
3. The book's chapters will appear in the sidebar

Editing

• Click a chapter in the sidebar to edit it
• Select text to see formatting options
• Use the toolbar for:
  • Bold, Italic, Underline
  • Headings (H1, H2, H3)
  • Bullet and numbered lists
  • Tables (insert, add/delete rows and columns)
  • Images (insert and manage)

Managing chapters

• Add chapter: Click the + button in the sidebar
• Delete chapter: Hover over a chapter and click the × button
• Reorder chapters: Drag and drop chapters in the sidebar
• Change heading level: Click the level button (H1, H2, etc.) to change heading hierarchy

Cover pages

Cover pages are handled specially:

• No heading is added to cover pages
• Cover images maintain their aspect ratio (no stretching)
• Images are centered and scaled to fit the viewport
• Change cover image via the "Change Cover Image" button

Settings

Access settings from the sidebar menu:

• Line spacing: Compact, normal, or relaxed
• Chapter density: Compact, normal, or comfortable sidebar view
• Theme: Toggle dark mode

All settings are persisted across sessions.

Saving

• Click Save or press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on Mac)
• If it's a new file, you'll be prompted to choose a location
• The EPUB will be saved with all your changes

Architecture

WritePub is built with a modern, lightweight stack:

Frontend

• Svelte 5 - Reactive UI framework with minimal overhead
• TipTap - Headless rich text editor built on ProseMirror
• Vite - Fast build tool and dev server

Backend

• Tauri - Cross-platform desktop app framework
• Rust - Safe, fast systems programming
• zip - EPUB archive handling
• quick-xml - XML parsing for EPUB structure

Key components

src/
├── lib/
│   ├── editor/          # TipTap editor component
│   ├── sidebar/         # Chapter list with drag-and-drop
│   ├── components/      # CoverView, UnsavedChangesDialog
│   └── store/           # Svelte stores (project, theme, settings)
└── styles/              # Global CSS with dark mode support

src-tauri/
└── src/
    ├── epub/            # EPUB parsing and writing
    │   ├── parser.rs    # Read EPUB files
    │   └── writer.rs    # Write EPUB files
    └── commands.rs      # Tauri commands (frontend <-> backend)

Development

Project structure

• src/ - Svelte frontend
• src-tauri/ - Rust backend
• package.json - Node.js dependencies
• tauri.conf.json - Tauri configuration

Commands

# Development
npm run tauri dev        # Run in dev mode with hot reload

# Building
npm run tauri build      # Build for production

# Frontend only
npm run dev              # Run Vite dev server
npm run build            # Build frontend
npm run check            # Type check Svelte files

# Backend testing
cd src-tauri
cargo test               # Run all tests

Testing

The project includes comprehensive test coverage:

• 8 unit tests (parser, writer, CSS handling)
• 12 integration tests (roundtrip, cover pages, list styling, metadata)

Run tests with:

cd src-tauri && cargo test

Adding features

See AGENTS.md for detailed guidance on extending WritePub, including EPUB compliance requirements and critical implementation details.

Roadmap

• Book metadata editing (title, author, language, etc.)
• Custom CSS editing
• Table of contents generation
• Spell checking
• Word count and statistics
• Export to other formats (PDF, HTML)
• Multi-book library management

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Tauri - Cross-platform desktop framework
• Svelte - Cybernetically enhanced web apps
• TipTap - Headless rich text editor
• ProseMirror - Toolkit for building rich text editors

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please open an issue.