Pocket Reader

A Chrome extension that reads web page content aloud using Pocket TTS - a lightweight text-to-speech model that runs on your CPU.

Features

• Read any web page content aloud
• Paragraph-by-paragraph processing - audio starts playing quickly even for long documents
• Multiple voice options (8 different voices)
• Automatic content extraction (focuses on main article content)
• Simple playback controls (play/stop)
• Works entirely locally - no cloud services required

Project Structure

pocket-reader/
├── server/             # Python TTS server
│   ├── server.py       # Flask server using Pocket TTS
│   └── pyproject.toml  # UV/Python dependencies
├── extension/          # Chrome extension
│   ├── manifest.json   # Extension manifest
│   ├── popup.html      # Extension popup UI
│   ├── popup.css       # Popup styles
│   ├── popup.js        # Popup logic
│   ├── content.js      # Content extraction script
│   ├── background.js   # Background service worker
│   └── icons/          # Extension icons
└── generate_icons.py   # Script to generate extension icons

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or later
• UV package manager
• Chrome or Chromium-based browser

Setup

1. Generate Extension Icons

First, generate the extension icons:

uv run --with pillow generate_icons.py

2. Start the TTS Server

Navigate to the server directory and start the server:

cd server
uv run server.py

The server will:

• Download the Pocket TTS model on first run (~100MB)
• Preload the default voice
• Listen on http://localhost:5050

3. Install the Chrome Extension

1. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
2. Enable "Developer mode" (toggle in top right)
3. Click "Load unpacked"
4. Select the extension folder from this project

Note

You may need to restart Chrome for the extension to be fully active. Pocket Reader may also not appear in your toolbar by default.

Usage

1. Make sure the TTS server is running
2. Navigate to any web page you want to read
3. Click the Pocket Reader extension icon
4. Select a voice (optional)
5. Click "Read Page"

The extension will:

1. Extract the main content from the page
2. Split the text into paragraphs
3. Generate and play audio paragraph by paragraph (so you hear audio quickly, even for long articles)

Click "Stop" to stop playback at any time.

Available Voices

• Alba - Default casual voice
• Marius - Male voice
• Javert - Male voice
• Jean - Male voice
• Fantine - Female voice
• Cosette - Female voice
• Eponine - Female voice
• Azelma - Female voice

API Endpoints

The TTS server provides the following endpoints:

Endpoint	Method	Description
/health	GET	Health check
/voices	GET	List available voices
/paragraphs	POST	Split text into paragraphs
/synthesize	POST	Convert text to speech
/preload	POST	Preload model and voices

Example: Synthesize Text

curl -X POST http://localhost:5050/synthesize \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Hello world!", "voice": "alba"}' \
  --output speech.wav

Troubleshooting

Server not connecting

• Make sure the server is running (uv run server.py in the server directory)
• Check that port 5050 is not in use by another application

No audio playing

• Check browser console for errors
• Ensure your browser allows audio playback

Content not extracting properly

• The extension tries to find the main article content automatically
• Some pages with unusual layouts may not extract well

Extension not loading content

• You may need to reload the page to have the extension's script to restart on that page

License

This project uses Pocket TTS which is licensed under the MIT License. See Pocket TTS for more details.