Build Pocket

YESreplaces $4.99/mosaves $59.88/yrback to the verdict

0%0 of 20 items done

Saved on this device only. Tick prerequisites first, then work the phases in order · do not start one until the checks above it pass.

A read-it-later service to replace the Pocket that no longer exists: save from a bookmarklet or your phone's share sheet, extract the article with Readability, read it cleanly, tag and search it, import your Pocket export, export everything as JSON, and read offline. This time the reading list is yours.

estimated effort one sittingthe files for this build are in the project pack

RuntimeNode 22, node:http and node:sqliteExtraction@mozilla/readability with jsdomSearchSQLite FTS5HostingA VPS behind Caddy

Before step 1

Everything below is assumed from the first step. Tick each one when you actually have it, not when you plan to.

installfree
Why Everything in this build runs on it: the server, the scripts, the tests.
Get it Download the LTS installer from nodejs.org, or install with your package manager (brew install node, or nvm install 22). Restart the terminal afterwards. open ↗
Verify node --version prints v22 or higher
installfree
Why Every step below is a command you type or a file you edit.
Get it VS Code (code.visualstudio.com), Cursor or Zed. Open a folder for the project and use the editor's built-in terminal. open ↗
Verify You can open a folder and run a command in its terminal
installfree
Why History for your code, and the way most hosts deploy.
Get it Install from git-scm.com or with your package manager, then run git init in the project folder once it exists. open ↗
Verify git --version prints a version
have readyfree
Why Phase 5 imports it. The export window closed in November 2025.
Get it The CSV Pocket emailed you, if you exported before the shutdown.
installfree
Why Phase 2 saves from the share sheet.
Get it Android Chrome supports share targets fully; iOS Safari with the site added to the home screen.
accountabout $5 a month
Why This needs one process running all the time with a public address.
Get it Hetzner Cloud (from about 4 EUR), DigitalOcean or Fly.io. Ubuntu 24.04, the smallest size. You need SSH access and a public IP. Only needed for the deploy phase; develop locally first. open ↗
accountroughly $10 a year, or free on an existing domain
Why read.yourdomain.com
Get it Register at Cloudflare Registrar, Porkbun or Namecheap, or use a subdomain of one you already own. You add one DNS record in the deploy phase. open ↗
installfree
Why Automatic HTTPS in front of the Node process. Without TLS the browser features this relies on (and your visitors' trust) do not work.
Get it On the VPS: follow the install steps at caddyserver.com/docs/install for Ubuntu. One Caddyfile with your domain and a reverse_proxy line is the whole config. open ↗
Verify caddy version prints a version on the server

Data model

Create these before the first phase that stores anything. Changing a table later is the expensive kind of change.

- articles: id, url (unique), title, site, author, published_at, content_html, excerpt, word_count, saved_at, read_at, archived, favorite
- tags and article_tags
- FTS5 index over title, excerpt and content.

Environment variables

These go in a .env file the app reads at startup. The pack's .env.example is this table as a file · copy it, never commit the filled-in version.

Variable	Needed	Example	Where the value comes from
`PORT`	required	`3000`	Any free port.
`DATABASE_PATH`	required	`./data/reader.db`	SQLite file.
`SITE_URL`	required	`https://read.yourdomain.com`	Public base URL.
`SAVE_TOKEN`secret	required	`base64`	openssl rand -base64 32; carried by the bookmarklet.
`ADMIN_USER`	required	`admin`	Any username for the basic-auth admin pages.
`ADMIN_PASS`secret	required	`change-me-to-a-long-random-string`	Generate one: openssl rand -base64 24. Never reuse a real password.

The build, in order

1
Save and extract
A URL becomes a clean article row; private addresses refused; duplicates update.
1. articles (id, url unique, title, site, author, published_at, content_html, excerpt, word_count, saved_at, read_at, archived, favorite), tags, article_tags, FTS5.
  terminal
  mkdir reader && cd reader && git init && npm init -y && npm pkg set type=module && npm install @mozilla/readability@0.5 jsdom@25 sanitize-html@2 mkdir -p data && cp .env.example .env
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
2
Capture from anywhere
Bookmarklet, PWA share target, session for the phone.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
3
Read
Unread, archive, favorites; a reading page worth reading on.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
4
Search and tags
FTS5 and tags with autocomplete.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
5
Import and export
The Pocket CSV in, all of it out as JSON.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
6
Offline and deploy
Recent articles readable in airplane mode; backups; service.
2. Files README.md
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
7
Operate it like a productproduct builder
Only for the product-builder path: know when the reader is down, never lose the database, and keep the server patched.
1. Answer 200 with the build id and a quick database read. Point a free uptime monitor (or your own, from the Healthchecks entry on this site) at it so an outage is noticed before a user notices.
2. One JSON line per request: method, path, status, duration, no raw IPs. Rotate weekly with logrotate, keep eight.
3. SQLite's .backup command makes a consistent copy while the app runs. Copy it to object storage or a second machine; then, once, restore it into a fresh checkout and confirm the app reads it.
  terminal
  sqlite3 data/app.db ".backup '/tmp/app-$(date +%F).db'" rclone copy /tmp/app-$(date +%F).db remote:backups/
4. Firewall allowing only 22, 80 and 443; unattended security updates on; the app running as an unprivileged user under systemd with Restart=on-failure.
done when · tick each as it passes

what this build does not replace

Native apps, the recommendation feed, text-to-speech.
the mobile apps with offline sync
the recommendation feed
text-to-speech
someone keeping it online (though that turned out not to be guaranteed)

after v1, if you want it

Highlights and notes per article
An RSS feed of your favorites

Need the files? The project pack on the verdict page hands your agent the whole brief · more read it later.