The founder of Ukrainian IT projects DOU and Djinni, Max Ishchenko, has developed his own reading service with built-in AI explanations and translations. According to him, the impetus for creating his own solution was disappointment with the standard functions of popular readers.
The founder of Ukrainian IT projects DOU and Djinni, Max Ishchenko, has developed his own reading service with built-in AI explanations and translations. According to him, the impetus for creating his own solution was disappointment with the standard functions of popular readers.
"I was bored with my Kindle, which can’t do AI explanations and translations properly — so I made my own e-reader with Claude. It even works with paper books," wrote Max Ishchenko on LinekdIn.
The reader was developed as part of the Chytai.org.ua web project ecosystem.
The reader’s interface and its integrated artificial intelligence are focused on deep immersion in the text and quick clarification of complex contexts.
Contextual AI explanations in the text: while reading an e-book (in EPUB, PDF, MOBI formats), the user can highlight any unclear word, term or fragment. The AI assistant (Claude from Anthropic) immediately provides extensive help in the “Explanations and Notes” sidebar, taking into account the context of the work (for example, explaining mythological characters or rare dialectisms).
Interactive book questions: Users can ask the assistant direct questions about the plot, locations, or characters (for example, “Where does the action take place? and when?” or “Who is Pyle and why did he come to Saigon?”). The AI describes the historical background, geolocation, and time period of the events in detail.
Working with paper books and voice input: for those who read paper publications, there is an opportunity to take a picture of a page or dictate questions by voice through the built-in interface.
Note storage: All AI-generated explanations and your own thoughts can be saved as notes with links to specific pages and sections.
According to the official privacy rules of the Chytai.org.ua project, the service strictly limits the use of personal data:
The book files uploaded by the user are stored on Fly.io servers in Frankfurt. They are private: they are only visible to the user, they are not shared with third parties, and they are not sold to advertisers.
To generate explanations, only the highlighted passage and a few related sentences for context are sent to Anthropic. No identifying data (name, email, or shelf lists) is transmitted to Anthropic.
Users can independently connect their own ChatGPT or Claude accounts through the settings — in this case, the AI chat will gain access to the shelf to generate recommendations according to the respective service’s own rules.
When exporting data from Goodreads or Apple Books, the file is read once and immediately deleted after transferring titles and notes.
Deleting an account instantly erases all data and logs you out of all devices (data disappears completely from encrypted backups on GitHub within 90 days).
In addition to being a reader, the platform functions as a social network for book lovers, where default public shelves and ratings help users find new publications and follow friends' updates.
The launch of the Chytai AI reading app is not the only example of how IT professionals are creating products for book lovers and solving their own reading pain points.
Previously, dev.ua reported on a Ukrainian developer who launched an audio player with the ability to simultaneously translate and transcribe audiobooks in real time.
Another Ukrainian specialist created the Kebuk aggregator, a platform for comparing book prices in Ukrainian online bookstores.
