A local-first macOS workspace that connects literature, technical documents, reading notes, citations, and your next decision.
One native Mac app instead of a folder, a browser tab, a PDF reader, a knowledge base, and a reference manager.
Recent High-Impact, Conference Papers, Unread with PDF — your sidebar is a working set, not a folder tree.
DOI, venue, citation key, and counts — joined from public scholarly services and embedded PDF metadata.
Color-coded tags double as filters; reading state and ratings travel with the paper.
Side-by-side notes with LaTeX math, tables, and code — saved as plain Markdown next to the paper.
Most research tools want to take over your workflow. Papyrus Papers is designed to slot into it — and stay out of the way.
Built entirely on SwiftUI, SwiftData, and PDFKit. No Electron, no embedded Chromium. Windows, keyboard shortcuts, drag-and-drop, and Settings behave like a real Mac app.
Your library, notes, PDFs, and indexes live on your Mac. No Papyrus account required. Network requests only happen when you explicitly use metadata lookup or WebDAV sync.
BibTeX, RIS, Markdown, project bundles. Copy Into Library or Keep PDFs In Place. Files stay portable, the workflow stays yours.
Drop a PDF. Paste a DOI. Drag a folder. Papyrus Papers enriches metadata automatically so you can start reading instead of fixing records.
PDFs, DOIs, arXiv IDs, BibTeX, and RIS through the same dialog
Recursive folder import preserving structure
Joint enrichment from Crossref, arXiv, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, OpenLibrary, PubMed/NCBI, Zenodo, and embedded XMP metadata
Per-field provenance and a conflict picker when sources disagree
Zotero / Better-BibTeX import — keywords become tags, groups become folders
A native PDF reader paired with Markdown notes that understand LaTeX. Reading and writing happen side by side — not in two apps.
Native PDFKit reader with annotations, bookmarks, and highlights
Markdown notes with LaTeX math and code, next to the page
Full-text search across the entire library
Reading queue and projects keep work-in-progress visible across sessions
Smart Collections, the reading queue, and full-text search turn a pile of PDFs into a queue you can act on.
Build your own Smart Collections from any combination of tags, journals, year ranges, BibTeX type, favorites, and PDF status
Reading queue keeps work-in-progress visible across sessions
Full-text search across titles, authors, abstracts, notes, highlights, and PDF body
Needs-Metadata-Attention surfaces records that still need a human eye
Three different shapes for how research naturally clusters — saved queries that update themselves, working sets that span the library, and a hierarchy for the things that have a stable home. Use one. Use all three.
Saved queries that always reflect the current state of the library. Build your own from any combination of tags, journals, year ranges, BibTeX type, favorites, and PDF status — the demo collections (Recent High-Impact, Conference Papers, Unread with PDF) are just examples.
Working sets for the writing or shipping you're doing right now — a literature review, a thesis chapter, a design submission. A paper can sit in many projects without being moved or duplicated.
Classic hierarchical organization for material that has a stable home — datasheets, standards, archived background reading. Folder structure mirrors how Finder thinks, and travels into project bundle exports.
Everything you read and organized flows into the formats your writing tools expect. Citations, notes, and project bundles are one command away.
Copy citation in 8 styles — APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Harvard, Vancouver, BibTeX, RIS
BibTeX and RIS export
Markdown snapshot per paper or project
Full project export bundles
Drop PDFs, paste a DOI or arXiv ID, drag a folder, or paste BibTeX/RIS.
Open in the native reader; highlight, underline, draw, comment.
Write Markdown next to the page with math, code, and image embeds.
Tags, folders, projects, smart collections, and a reading queue.
Full-text across titles, authors, abstracts, notes, highlights, and PDF body.
Citation, BibTeX/RIS, Markdown, or full project bundle — one command.
Literature reading, lit review, proposals, and paper writing.
Datasheets, manuals, reference designs, standards, and design reviews.
Papers, technical reports, lab material, and notes side by side.
Anyone who reads a lot but doesn't want their workflow tied to a web product.
Free to try for 30 days, then a $3.99 lifetime unlock through Apple's in-app purchase. No account. No subscription. Your library stays yours.
