A reader you run yourself.
PaperPilot Web is a standalone application, separate from the Zotero plugin. It is software you run on your own machine or server, not a public service hosted on this website. There is no open registration: accounts are created by an administrator, and each account keeps a private library.
It is built for reading English papers with a Chinese translation alongside the original text, without losing the original page, figures and formulas.
What it does.
| Paragraph translation | English first, Chinese after, paragraph by paragraph, with machine translation and AI translation options. |
|---|---|
| Source page check | Original PDF page view with zoom from 25% to 400%, paragraph position highlighting, and a table of contents and figure navigation. |
| Separate models | Translation and Q&A / AI rearrangement can use different providers and models, including DeepSeek, Zhipu GLM, SiliconFlow, Qwen, Moonshot, MiniMax and custom Chat Completions compatible endpoints. |
| Notes and progress | Reading notes, reading progress, in-paper search, and Markdown export of the bilingual reading. |
| Accounts and privacy | Independent accounts, private libraries, encrypted service configuration, and optional daily character limits. |
Run it yourself.
- Install Python 3.11+ and Node.js 24.22.1+, or use Docker with the repository Dockerfile and compose file.
- Run the application locally and open http://localhost:8765.
- Upload a PDF and choose a translation model and a Q&A model in the service settings. AI features require your own configured provider access.
Default limits are a single PDF of 50 MB / 200 pages and 1 GB of personal files. See the repository README for setup, configuration and limitations.
Where data goes.
PDF files and parsed page images are stored on the server you run. Translation sends the target paragraph and a small amount of context; AI rearrangement sends page-batched extracted text; Q&A sends limited excerpts. The full PDF and images are not sent directly to the text APIs.
Review the repository’s data-handling information and your institution’s policies before processing sensitive or unpublished material. This website does not accept PDF uploads or run PaperPilot Web.
Related variant
PaperPilot also exists as a Zotero 10 plugin: PaperPilot for Zotero ↗ (v1.0.2). The web version and the plugin are separate implementations and do not share a library.
Explore the implementation.
Have a research tool or document workflow to develop? Discuss a project with HaoHorizon ↗