Nekobun Reader — Modern RSS Reader for Knowledge Workers

Problem

RSS readers haven't evolved much in a decade. Most existing solutions suffer from:

Online dependency: Can't read without internet, no offline sync
Information overload: Hundreds of unread items with no smart prioritization
Lack of insights: No understanding of reading habits or content value
Poor UX: Cluttered interfaces that prioritize features over reading experience

Knowledge workers need a better way to consume and organize RSS feeds without drowning in information noise.

Approach

Nekobun takes an offline-first, reader-centric approach to RSS consumption:

Offline-First Architecture:

Local SQLite database stores all articles and metadata
Background sync engine fetches feeds every 15 minutes
Full-text search works completely offline
Read/unread state syncs across devices via optional cloud backup

Smart Tagging & Organization:

// Auto-tagging based on content analysis
const suggestedTags = await analyzeFeedItem({
  title: "Building RAG Systems",
  content: articleBody,
  source: "ai-newsletter"
});
// Returns: ["ai", "rag", "engineering", "tutorial"]

Reading Analytics:

Track reading time, completion rate, and engagement patterns
Identify high-value sources based on actual reading behavior
Surface articles similar to ones you've finished

Distraction-Free Reading Mode:

Clean typography with adjustable font size and spacing
Dark/light/sepia themes
Estimated read time and progress indicator
Keyboard shortcuts for power users (j/k navigation, m mark read, etc.)

Impact

Adoption metrics (12 months since launch):

15,000+ active users across macOS, Windows, and Linux
4.8/5.0 average rating on Product Hunt (850+ upvotes)
2,300+ GitHub stars, featured in "Awesome Electron" list
600+ community-contributed feed sources in built-in directory

User behavior changes:

Average reading completion rate: 68% (vs. 22% industry average)
Users read 3.2x more articles per week compared to web readers
85% of users report "inbox zero" within 2 weeks of adoption
Top requested feature (offline mode) has 98% satisfaction score

Performance:

App starts in under 1 second on modern hardware
Full-text search across 10,000+ articles in under 200ms
Memory footprint: 120MB average (vs. 400MB+ for web-based readers)
Cross-platform using single codebase (Electron + React)

Technical Highlights

Offline-First Sync

// Smart sync that respects bandwidth and battery
class SyncEngine {
  async sync() {
    const feeds = await this.getFeedsToUpdate();
 
    // Parallel fetching with connection pooling
    await Promise.allSettled(
      feeds.map(feed => this.fetchFeed(feed, {
        timeout: 5000,
        maxRetries: 2,
        respectRateLimit: true
      }))
    );
  }
}

Content Extraction

Used Mozilla's Readability library with custom enhancements:

Remove ads and tracking scripts
Preserve code blocks and formatting
Extract featured images with fallbacks
Generate clean plain-text summaries for search

Tag Suggestions

Implemented TF-IDF based keyword extraction + manual override:

const topKeywords = tfidf.getTopTerms(articleContent, 5);
const manualTags = userTagMappings[feedSource] || [];
return [...new Set([...topKeywords, ...manualTags])];

Lessons Learned

Offline-first is non-negotiable: Users want to read during flights, commutes, and in low-connectivity areas. Building offline-first from day one was the right call.
Less is more: Early versions had too many features (social sharing, comments, highlights). Users wanted a focused reading experience. We removed 40% of features in v2.0 and satisfaction increased.
Analytics build trust: Showing users their reading patterns helped them understand their information diet and motivated them to curate better feed lists.
Performance matters on desktop too: Even though it's a desktop app, users notice slow startup and laggy UI. Optimizing SQLite queries and lazy-loading content was critical.
Electron isn't evil: Despite the memes, Electron enabled a polished cross-platform app with a single codebase. Users care about features and UX, not bundle size debates.

Stack and Tools

Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Desktop: Electron with native module support
Database: SQLite with better-sqlite3 (10x faster than web SQL)
Content: Readability.js, Turndown (HTML to Markdown)
Search: Custom full-text search index with fuzzy matching
Build: Electron Builder for packaging, GitHub Actions for releases
Optional Sync: End-to-end encrypted cloud backup via Cloudflare Workers

Future Roadmap

Mobile apps: React Native version for iOS/Android
Browser extension: Quick-save articles from any website
Reading groups: Share feed lists and reading recommendations
AI summaries: Optional GPT-powered article summaries for long reads
Podcast support: Treat audio content as first-class alongside articles