linXiv v0.3.0

The backend is now native Rust. linXiv v0.2.0 shipped a Python backend that the desktop app spawned as a sidecar and talked to over HTTP on localhost; v0.3.0 deletes it entirely. The library engine is compiled into the app and called in-process over Tauri IPC, with PDFs and graph assets streamed over a custom linxiv:// scheme. There is no local web server, no port to conflict with, and no Python runtime to install.

Everything else in this release is built on top of that.

▶ Watch the full demo (3:16)

Highlights

Peer-to-peer project sharing. Share a project directly with another person over iroh — QUIC connections and pasted node tickets, with no relay server for you to run or account for you to create. Sync is end-to-end encrypted with keyhive + beelay CRDTs, so edits merge rather than overwrite. You're the Hoster or a Reader of a share; a Hoster can invite members
as Editor or Viewer, and write access is enforced host-side. Shared projects mirror into your local library, and you sync on your own schedule. Find it under Shared.

In-place updates. The app can now check GitHub for new releases and install them itself, with signed update artifacts. Background checking is off by default: pick a frequency (Never/ Daily / Weekly / Monthly) in Settings → About if you want it.

Reading lists. Track papers by reading status and work through a queue, separate from the project structure.

Home feed. Point the home page at an RSS/Atom feed in Settings and save papers straight from it. arXiv IDs are extracted automatically, and arXiv fetches share the app's global rate limiter.

Version monitoring. An on-demand pass checks your library for newer versions of saved papers, oldest-checked first, and records what it finds. DOI-based version candidates are now surfaced across sources.

A real PDF reader. Highlight annotations render as continuous spans instead of patchy per-word boxes, links inside the PDF stay clickable, and resizing the reader no longer reflows every page on each drag tick.

Notes render as Markdown, with MathJax math in note bodies alongside the existing math rendering in titles and abstracts.

ORCID backfill in Settings for resolving author identities.

Other changes

• PDF storage limit enforcement fixed.
• Trash: project deletion fixed.
• MCP installer targets the correct Antigravity config path.
• Raw linxiv-app and linxiv-cli binaries are now attached to each release.
• First launch shows terms and conditions.

What's next

Deeper iroh integration, aimed at making sharing self-hostable. Today a share connects over iroh's public discovery and relay infrastructure. You don't run the server, but you also can't choose one. The next major update will make the relay configurable: point linXiv at your own relay node from settings, no code changes and no custom build. That matters most for labs and research groups who want their sharing traffic to stay on infrastructure they control.

Read more about iroh here.

Install

Grab an installer from the assets below.

The macOS and Windows builds are unsigned. On macOS, right-click the app → Open the first time to get past Gatekeeper. On Windows, choose More info → Run anyway at the SmartScreen prompt.

Upgrading from v0.2.0

Install over the top; your database, PDFs, and Obsidian vault stay where they are and migrate on first launch. We've tested this upgrade path, but if your library matters to you, copy papers.db out of the data directory prior to installation and report any bugs found:

(Or wherever LINXIV_DATA_DIR points, if you set it.)

If you installed the CLI or registered the MCP server from v0.2.0, re-run Install CLI and Integrations in Settings so they point at the new binaries.

Notes

• linXiv is pre-1.0. The database schema is still evolving; migrations are in
  place, but expect changes between releases.
• linXiv is GPLv3. The bundled
  linxiv-p2p component is licensed
  separately under Apache-2.0.

Contributed to by:

@SparshSriva
@clumsylad21
@jakeuribe
@AndreFK