Getting Started

Shiori is built from source with Cargo and sets itself up on first launch by downloading its reference data. This page takes you from a clean checkout to your first reading session.

Building from source

You need Rust (rustc 1.88 or later) and a network connection for the first build.

cargo build --release -p shiori-gui
cargo run --release -p shiori-gui

The first build downloads and embeds the IPADIC morphological dictionary via lindera. This happens once, at build time, and takes a few minutes; later builds reuse it. If the first build fails with a download error, check your network and rebuild.

First launch

On first launch Shiori shows a setup screen and offers to fetch its reference data into the data directory:

Each step is skipped if its data is already imported, so a failed or interrupted download can be retried and only fetches what is missing.

Continue without dictionary

The setup screen also has a Continue without dictionary button. The app runs fully without the reference data — you can import, read, mark words, and review with SRS — but anything dictionary-derived is unavailable: definitions, compound lookup, frequency ranks, usage registers, and kanji cards. The word panel will say "No dictionary installed" (distinct from "no entry found for this word").

While running this way, a dismissible banner at the top of the window carries a retry button for the download and an info button explaining exactly what is and is not available. You do not need to dig through settings to retry.

Where your data lives

Everything lives in %APPDATA%\shiori (typically C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\shiori):

• jrc.sqlite3 — the database: your library, word statuses, review cards and history, reading sessions, chat, and the imported reference data.
• books\ — archival copies of every file you import, so the original can be moved or deleted afterwards.
• Cached downloads (JMdict JSON, kanji archives, fonts, the Aozora catalog).

After first run the app is fully local. The only features that touch the network are LLM calls to remote providers and the Sources catalog fetch, which falls back to its cached copy when offline.

Importing your first book

Two ways in:

• Drag and drop — drop one or more files anywhere onto the Library view. A file dialog import button is also available there.
• Sources view — search Aozora Bunko's public-domain catalog or Japanese Wikisource and import a work in one click.

Supported file types:

The import form lets you edit title, author, and other metadata before the book is added; metadata remains editable from the library afterwards.

Your first reading session

Open a book from the Library and you get a paged, e-reader-style view. The core interaction is clicking words:

• Click any word to open the dictionary panel on the right: definition, usage register, and frequency information.
• Conjugated phrases are selected whole — clicking 読んでいる selects the full phrase and the panel explains the form component by component.
• The panel's buttons assign a knowledge status: Learn (SRS) creates a review card with the sentence you found it in, Known, Ignore, and Reset set the status directly.

Every word has one of four statuses:

Furigana display (including "unknown words only" and "first X instances per book") is configured in Settings → Reading.

From here, see Reading for the full reader — furigana modes, the away/pause clock, and the book info panel — and Reviews-and-SRS for how cards are scheduled and reviewed.