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I Built a Manga Reader That Works on Every Platform --Here's How

A developer built Nyora, a free, open-source manga reader that works across Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Web, and Docker, featuring AI-powered on-device translation and cross-platform sync without requiring an account. The project began as a fork of Kotatsu and Aidoku, and its key technical challenge was creating a stable cross-platform manga ID hash for sync.

read2 min views1 publishedJul 24, 2026

Nyora is a free, open-source manga/manhwa/manhua reader for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Web, and even Docker — with AI-powered on-device translation and cross-platform sync.

Every manga reader makes you choose:

I wanted one library — same titles, same progress, same bookmarks — on my phone, laptop, and browser. No ads. No account required. So I built it.

| Platform | Distribution |

|---|---|
| Android | APK (sideload) |

| iOS/iPadOS | IPA via AltStore/SideStore | | macOS | .dmg or brew install --cask nyora | | Windows | .exe (x64 + ARM64) | | Linux | .deb , .rpm , or curl installer | | Web | |

No account needed to read. Cloud sync is opt-in.

This is the flagship feature. Instead of dumping translated text over the artwork:

Each platform uses the best local engine:

There's also an Ensemble AI Narrative Engine that tracks character names and speaking styles across chapters so translations stay consistent.

The Android app pulls from 1,100+ manga sources via 35 generic engine templates (Madara, FoolSlide, MMRCMS, etc.). Web has ~390 live, health-checked sources. Desktop ports are growing toward parity.

Sync library, categories, reading history, bookmarks, and exact page progress across all six platforms. Two sign-in methods:

Self-hostable — the backend is just Supabase/PostgreSQL with row-level security. The server stores only reading state, never page images.

Component Stack
Android Kotlin 2.2, Jetpack Compose, Hilt, Room, Coil 3, ML Kit
iOS Swift, SwiftUI (fork of Aidoku)
macOS SwiftUI + Compose Multiplatform
Windows/Linux Compose Multiplatform (Kotlin)
Web TypeScript SPA (100% client-side, no framework)
Python SDK
pip install nyora — bundled engine + TUI
JS SDK
npm install nyora-sdk — cloud-powered
Sync backend PostgreSQL, RLS, last-write-wins
Marketing site Astro

Nyora began as a fork of Kotatsu on Android. I loved the data-driven source engine approach but wanted it on every platform. I forked Aidoku for iOS and started porting the source engine to Swift. Desktop came next via Compose Multiplatform. Web was a clean-room TypeScript rebuild.

The hardest part: cross-platform manga ID hashing. Every platform needed to resolve the same manga to the same UUID for sync to work. I built a stable nyoraId

hash that works identically across Kotlin, Swift, TypeScript, and Python.

**Web** (no install): [web.nyora.xyz](https://web.nyora.xyz)

**Native apps**: [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/Nyora-Manga)

**Self-hosted**: `docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -v nyora-data:/data hasan72341/nyora`

Python: pip install nyora

Discord: Join the community Nyora is GPLv3 (mobile apps) and Apache-2.0 (everything else). The source engine templates are beginner-friendly and highly parallelizable. If you've ever wanted to contribute to open source, porting a parser is a great first PR.

Check the GitHub and Discord to get started. Built with Kotlin, Swift, TypeScript, and the stubborn belief that manga readers shouldn't require compromises.

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