AI-Powered Research Assistant

Your Research Papers, Intelligently Organized

Import your PDFs, summarize and chat with the AI of your choice, search by meaning, keep everything in plain files you own and sync to a cloud storage of your choice. All this on a fast, native desktop app.

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Free for personal use, privacy first.

Everything You Need to Master Your Research

A fast, native desktop app that keeps your papers on your own machine. Your library is plain files you own, syncable with any cloud. LLM usage is optional, use your own subscribtions or services, no extra fees.

Import From Anywhere

Drag in PDFs, or add papers by arXiv ID, DOI, or URL (with open-access PDF fetching). Migrate your whole Zotero or Mendeley library via BibTeX/RIS, or grab the paper you're reading with the browser extension. Metadata is fetched automatically from CrossRef, OpenAlex, and Semantic Scholar.

Read & Annotate

A fast built-in PDF reader with multiple tabs, highlights, and markdown notes beside every paper — no second app. Your highlights and notes are saved as plain files right next to the PDF.

AI Summaries & Tags

Generate a structured summary and suggested tags for any paper on demand. You preview the result and choose what to keep before anything is written.

Chat With Your Library

Ask questions across your papers. Answers are grounded in the most relevant passages and cite the papers they came from.

Semantic Search

Find papers by meaning, not just keywords. Embeddings run locally on your machine — private, offline, and fast.

Bring Your Own AI

Use a local model via Ollama, your own API key (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, and more), or a CLI agent. Run fully offline if you want — no accounts with us, no per-seat AI fees.

Organize Your Way

Sort papers into nested collections, tag them however you think, and bulk-move or cite whole selections at once. Citations export to BibTeX, RIS, APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE.

Discover Connected Work

See what each paper cites and what cites it (via Semantic Scholar). Spot what's already in your library and pull in open-access references with a single click.

Own Your Files & Sync

Every paper is a plain PDF, a metadata file, and your notes — readable without us, syncable through Filen, rclone (Proton Drive, Mega, pCloud…), or any folder you already sync. No proprietary database, no lock-in.

How It Works

From scattered PDFs to organized knowledge in four simple steps.

Import Your Papers

Drag in PDFs, paste an arXiv ID / DOI / URL, or import a BibTeX/RIS export from Zotero or Mendeley. Metadata is fetched automatically.

Connect Your AI

Point the app at a local model, your own API key, or a CLI agent — your choice. Summaries and chat run through the provider you control.

Organize Your Way

Sort papers into nested collections, tag them (with AI-suggested tags you approve), and search by meaning across everything — all on your machine.

Chat & Discover

Ask questions across your library and get answers that cite their sources, then follow each paper's citations and references to find related work.

Free for personal use. Pay once for work.

No subscriptions. If you use Research Assistant proffesionally for work or research, a one-time $12.99 keeps it going. A free account is required to download.

Personal

Free

For personal use.

The full app — every feature
Use your own local or API AI
Free updates
Your files stay on your machine

Download free

Professional

$12.99one-time

For commercial, academic, or professional use.

Everything in Personal
For commercial & academic use
Supports ongoing development

Buy for $12.99

About the Author

Dominik Ficek

dominik.ficek@email.cz LinkedIn

I'm a software engineer working in technological R&D. I built Research Assistant because I wasn't happy with the free tiers the other scientific paper managers offer. I was looking for better AI integration and cloud synchronization, however the current software monetization standard is to slap subscription fees on everything. Why do I have to pay for another LLM or cloud service when I already pay for Claude and Filen?

Feel free to reach out regarding bugs or features you'd like to see in future versions.