The reader owns the deployment
Library state belongs on hardware and storage chosen by the reader. The project developer should not need an account, a copy or routine access.
Why it is built this way
The rules behind the reader
Fiction Reader starts from a simple position: a personal library should serve its reader without becoming a platform that watches them or burdens the sites and authors it reads from.
Fetching is deliberate
Subscribing and downloading are separate choices. Fiction Reader fetches works a reader selected, not every link it can discover.
Source sites set boundaries
Requests are paced, backpressure is honoured, discovery respects robots rules, and access does not extend beyond the user's own account.
No circumvention
CAPTCHA solving, paywall bypass, credential sharing, fingerprint spoofing and proxy rotation are outside the application's purpose.
Downloaded HTML is untrusted
Content is sanitised before display, URLs are checked, credentials are kept out of logs, and public exposure of the private server is discouraged.
History should not vanish silently
Edits become revisions and source deletions remain visible in a private archive, while the original author and source URL stay attached.
Cloud permission stays narrow
Google Drive sync uses only the non-sensitive app-data scope. A useful feature is not a reason to ask for the whole Drive.
Offline is a mode, not a second library
Installed devices cache what the reader already holds. They do not bypass the server to scrape a source independently.
Limitations are part of the product
This is an independently maintained personal project. It makes no promise of general support, uninterrupted operation or compatibility with every source change.
The responsibility line
Useful does not mean consequence-free
Fiction Reader can sign in to a source using credentials supplied by its operator. That does not alter the source's terms, copyright rules, account policies or technical restrictions. The operator must decide whether and how to use the application with each source and accepts the consequences of that choice.