I built a VS Code extension that lets you read books as source code

Описание и применение

Расширение VS Code позволяет читать книги в виде кода, markdown или логов, сохраняя контекст и работая офлайн.

Задача

Developers want to read books during idle time without leaving the editor.

Результат

The extension enables reading books within VS Code, reducing context switches and keeping reading sessions keyboard‑driven and offline.

Рабочий процесс

• Import a book into the extension
• Choose a disguise mode (code, markdown, or log)
• Navigate pages and sections using keyboard
• Use panic key to close the tab instantly
• Position is saved and restored on reopening

Доказательства

Import a book, and its text appears in an editor tab in one of three disguise modes:

PDF text extraction uses pdf-parse, followed by heuristics to detect sections.

EPUBs are unzipped with jszip, then I walk the OPF spine and convert each XHTML chapter to plain text.

The reader is a virtual document, so nothing gets written to your workspace and there is nothing to accidentally commit.