InkPeek - a pop-up dictionary & translator (offline, open source, optional AI)

kafeg · Today, 09:37 AM

Hi all,

I read books in German and wanted something that pops up over the page when I tap a word or select a sentence: the word with its grammar, a translation, and — when I'm online — an explanation of why the sentence is built that way. The dictionaries I tried felt dated and fiddly on e-ink, and the AI plugins for KOReader were too much for what I needed. So I made one for myself: InkPeek. It works well enough for me that I'm sharing it.

What it does

Tap a word: a card over the page with the word's header — article, plural, verb forms (e.g. "das Haus (Hauses, pl. Häuser)", "gehen (geht, ging, ist gegangen) strong") — and its meanings. Any inflected form leads to its word: Häusern → das Haus, went → go.
Select a sentence: offline translation on the device (Mozilla's Firefox Translations models), or a word-by-word gloss.
Optional AI (your own key: Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter with free models, or a local server like LM Studio / Ollama): grammar breakdown, words, explanation in context, examples. Only when you open an AI tab; everything else works without internet.
History and saved words, black-and-white UI made for e-ink, app in 8 languages.

Language packs
Dictionaries are built from Wiktionary (with WikDict as a fallback) and tested before publishing; offline translation models are from Mozilla. 20 pairs right now — books in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch or Russian with English answers; English, German, Spanish, French, Polish with Russian answers; English → French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Polish/German. A pack is 30–60 MB, you download only the pairs you read. The README lists every pair with how many of the language's 5,000 most frequent words its dictionary knows (88–99%).

Readers tested on a Boox Go 6 (Android 11)

FBReader: Settings → Dictionary & translator → "ColorDict 3" for both words and phrases.
AlReaderX: Settings → General settings → Dictionary for single words → "GoldenDict/ColorDict 3".
KOReader: one small file, /sdcard/koreader/dictionaries.lua (in the README), then Dictionary settings → Use external dictionary → InkPeek.
Cool Reader: on Boox it only offers Onyx's own dictionaries; Share → InkPeek works, but Cool Reader adds the author and title to the text.
Any app: text selection → "Look up in InkPeek", or Share → InkPeek.

Speed: on the Go 6 (Snapdragon 662, 2 GB) an offline sentence takes about 0.1–0.9 s.

Download: APK on GitHub releases — https://github.com/kafeg/inkpeek/releases
Code and details: https://github.com/kafeg/inkpeek (MIT; dictionaries CC BY-SA, models MPL-2.0)

Built together with Claude (Anthropic's AI), which I mention because some people care. Feedback very welcome — especially from other Boox models and other readers, and which language pairs you'd want next.

Gormagon · Today, 10:44 AM

As I understand it you can't select dictionaries files you already have on your device (e.g. for using in KOReader or other dictionaries apps).
Can the size of the pop up be customized by the user?
Is there a dark mode with white on black background?

I'm not interested in AI but I'm also not totally satisfied with GoldenDict or ColorDict on the Librera app (but haven't found better apps so far) and I would like a dictionary with a smaller pop up, more like in the native KOReader dictionary. Judging from the screen shots your app would look promising for me if my three points mentioned would be possible.

Today, 09:37 AM	#1
kafeg Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2026 Device: Onyx Boox Go 6	InkPeek - a pop-up dictionary & translator (offline, open source, optional AI) Hi all, I read books in German and wanted something that pops up over the page when I tap a word or select a sentence: the word with its grammar, a translation, and — when I'm online — an explanation of why the sentence is built that way. The dictionaries I tried felt dated and fiddly on e-ink, and the AI plugins for KOReader were too much for what I needed. So I made one for myself: InkPeek. It works well enough for me that I'm sharing it. What it does Tap a word: a card over the page with the word's header — article, plural, verb forms (e.g. "das Haus (Hauses, pl. Häuser)", "gehen (geht, ging, ist gegangen) strong") — and its meanings. Any inflected form leads to its word: Häusern → das Haus, went → go. Select a sentence: offline translation on the device (Mozilla's Firefox Translations models), or a word-by-word gloss. Optional AI (your own key: Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter with free models, or a local server like LM Studio / Ollama): grammar breakdown, words, explanation in context, examples. Only when you open an AI tab; everything else works without internet. History and saved words, black-and-white UI made for e-ink, app in 8 languages. Language packs Dictionaries are built from Wiktionary (with WikDict as a fallback) and tested before publishing; offline translation models are from Mozilla. 20 pairs right now — books in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch or Russian with English answers; English, German, Spanish, French, Polish with Russian answers; English → French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Polish/German. A pack is 30–60 MB, you download only the pairs you read. The README lists every pair with how many of the language's 5,000 most frequent words its dictionary knows (88–99%). Readers tested on a Boox Go 6 (Android 11) FBReader: Settings → Dictionary & translator → "ColorDict 3" for both words and phrases. AlReaderX: Settings → General settings → Dictionary for single words → "GoldenDict/ColorDict 3". KOReader: one small file, /sdcard/koreader/dictionaries.lua (in the README), then Dictionary settings → Use external dictionary → InkPeek. Cool Reader: on Boox it only offers Onyx's own dictionaries; Share → InkPeek works, but Cool Reader adds the author and title to the text. Any app: text selection → "Look up in InkPeek", or Share → InkPeek. Speed: on the Go 6 (Snapdragon 662, 2 GB) an offline sentence takes about 0.1–0.9 s. Download: APK on GitHub releases — https://github.com/kafeg/inkpeek/releases Code and details: https://github.com/kafeg/inkpeek (MIT; dictionaries CC BY-SA, models MPL-2.0) Built together with Claude (Anthropic's AI), which I mention because some people care. Feedback very welcome — especially from other Boox models and other readers, and which language pairs you'd want next. Attached Thumbnails

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Today, 10:44 AM	#2
Gormagon monstrous mythical beast Posts: 210 Karma: 5078396 Join Date: May 2023 Location: Klopstokia Device: Tab Ultra C, Meebook P78 Pro, Viwoods AIPaper Reader, various NXTPAPER	As I understand it you can't select dictionaries files you already have on your device (e.g. for using in KOReader or other dictionaries apps). Can the size of the pop up be customized by the user? Is there a dark mode with white on black background? I'm not interested in AI but I'm also not totally satisfied with GoldenDict or ColorDict on the Librera app (but haven't found better apps so far) and I would like a dictionary with a smaller pop up, more like in the native KOReader dictionary. Judging from the screen shots your app would look promising for me if my three points mentioned would be possible.

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