Kenseader

A high-performance terminal RSS reader with AI-powered summarization and rich content display.

Quick Start

# Install via Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew tap kenxcomp/tap && brew install kenseader

# Start daemon & TUI
brew services start kenseader
kenseader run

Features

• 🖥️ Terminal UI - Beautiful TUI built with ratatui
• ⌨️ Vim-Style Navigation - Full vim keybindings for efficient navigation
• 🤖 AI Summarization - Automatic article summaries via Claude, Gemini, OpenAI
• 🎯 Smart Filtering - AI-powered relevance scoring based on your interests
• 🏷️ Style Classification - AI classifies articles by style, tone, and length
• 🖼️ Inline Images - Images displayed at original positions (Sixel/Kitty/iTerm2/Halfblocks)
• 🔍 Real-time Search - / to search, n/N to navigate matches
• 📦 RSSHub Support - Native rsshub:// protocol for easy subscriptions
• 📋 Batch Selection - Yazi-style selection with Space and Visual mode with v
• 📚 Reading History - Navigate history with u (back) and Ctrl+r (forward)
• 🔄 Background Scheduler - Auto-refresh, cleanup, and AI processing
• 💾 SQLite Storage - Fast, local database for feeds and articles
• ✨ Smooth Scrolling - nvim-like smooth scroll animations with configurable easing

Screenshots

Normal Mode

Unread-Only Mode

Terminal Compatibility

Terminal	macOS	Linux	Windows	Image Protocol
iTerm2	✅	-	-	iTerm2 Inline
Kitty	✅	✅	-	Kitty Graphics
WezTerm	✅	✅	✅	iTerm2 Inline
foot	-	✅	-	Sixel
Others	✅	✅	✅	Halfblocks

📦 Installation (more options)

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

# Add the tap
brew tap kenxcomp/tap

# Install kenseader
brew install kenseader

# Start the daemon as a background service (recommended)
brew services start kenseader

# Or start manually
kenseader daemon start

# Run the TUI
kenseader run

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/kenxcomp/kenseader.git
cd kenseader

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# Binary will be at ./target/release/kenseader

Requirements

• Rust 1.70+
• SQLite (bundled via sqlx)
• Terminal with true color support (required for image display)

Architecture

Kenseader uses a client-server architecture with the TUI and daemon running as separate processes:

┌─────────────────┐         Unix Socket         ┌─────────────────────┐
│  kenseader run  │  ◄────────────────────────► │  kenseader daemon   │
│   (Pure TUI)    │      JSON-RPC Protocol      │   (Backend Service) │
└─────────────────┘                             └─────────────────────┘
                                                         │
                                                         ▼
                                                ┌─────────────────────┐
                                                │      SQLite DB      │
                                                └─────────────────────┘

• Daemon (kenseader daemon start): Handles all backend operations - feed refresh, article cleanup, AI summarization, database access
• TUI (kenseader run): Pure frontend that communicates with daemon via IPC
• IPC Socket: ~/.local/share/kenseader/kenseader.sock (Unix socket)

Usage

# 1. Subscribe to feeds (can be done without daemon)
kenseader subscribe --url https://hnrss.org/frontpage --name "Hacker News"
kenseader -s https://blog.rust-lang.org/feed.xml -n "Rust Blog"

# 2. Start the daemon (REQUIRED before running TUI)
kenseader daemon start

# 3. Launch the TUI
kenseader run

# 4. When done, stop the daemon
kenseader daemon stop

Important: The TUI requires the daemon to be running. If you try to run kenseader run without starting the daemon first, you'll see an error message.

Commands

Command	Description
run	Start the TUI interface
run --read-mode	Start TUI in read-mode (direct database access, no daemon required)
subscribe	Subscribe to an RSS feed
unsubscribe	Unsubscribe from a feed
import	Import subscriptions from OPML file
list	List all subscriptions
refresh	Refresh all feeds
cleanup	Clean up old articles
daemon start	Start background daemon for auto-refresh and summarization
daemon stop	Stop the background daemon
daemon status	Check if daemon is running

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
h/j/k/l	Vim-style navigation
gg / G	Jump to top/bottom
Enter	Select article / Open fullscreen image
b	Open in browser
s	Toggle saved/bookmark
d	Toggle read/unread
r	Refresh feeds
i	Toggle unread-only mode
/	Search
q	Quit

See full keybindings documentation for all shortcuts.

Configuration

Configuration file: ~/.config/kenseader/config.toml

[ai]
enabled = true
provider = "claude_cli"  # claude_cli, gemini_cli, openai, gemini_api, claude_api
summary_language = "English"

[ui]
image_preview = true

[ui.scroll]
smooth_enabled = true        # Enable smooth scrolling (default: true)
animation_duration_ms = 150  # Animation duration in milliseconds
easing = "cubic"             # Easing: none, linear, cubic, quintic, easeout

[sync]
refresh_interval_secs = 3600

See full configuration documentation for all options.

Documentation

Topic	Description
Configuration	Full config reference, keybinding customization, RSSHub setup
Keybindings	Complete keyboard shortcuts reference
Image Display	Image protocols, terminal compatibility, troubleshooting
AI Providers	CLI/API providers, batch summarization, smart filtering
Background Daemon	Scheduled tasks, IPC API, configuration
Cloud Sync	iCloud/Dropbox sync, read-mode for multi-device

Project Structure

kenseader/
├── crates/
│   ├── kenseader-cli/    # CLI application and main entry point
│   ├── kenseader-core/   # Core library (feed parsing, storage, AI)
│   └── kenseader-tui/    # Terminal UI components
└── Cargo.toml            # Workspace configuration

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Request features
• 🔧 Submit PRs

License

MIT