Select
Use the highlighting gesture you already know. There is no new interface to learn.
Working on real 2012 hardware
Understand the passage. Never leave the book.
Select text on your Kobo, tap Ask NickelAI, and receive a concise explanation grounded in the passage, title, and author.
End-to-end validated on a Kobo Glo N613 · No keyboard · No API key · Read-only metadata
Free experimental preview. No card required.
AI response
AI response
The Hydrogen Economy — Jeremy Rifkin
This passage explains how the burden of debt diverts resources from essential services, creating a cycle that makes development harder.
NickelAI uses verified book context without interrupting the reading experience.
kobo × ai
One gesture, three steps
The reader remains at the centre.
Ask
Ask NickelAI reads title, author, language, and progress automatically and read-only.
Continue
A focused answer appears on the e-ink display. Close it and return directly to the book.
Hardware preview
Install NickelMenu first. Then one command.
Prerequisite: install NickelMenu from its official website, restart the Kobo, and confirm its menu entry appears. Then connect the Kobo over USB and paste the command for your system.
Validated compatibility: Kobo Glo N613 running firmware 4.38.23684. Other models are not supported until physically tested.
irm https://nickelai.vercel.app/install.ps1 | iexThe installer detects the Kobo, verifies every file with SHA-256, and never modifies books or databases. You can inspect the script before running it.
Simple by design
Try it now. Help shape what comes next.
NickelAI is free while we validate demand and compatibility. A paid reader plan will launch only if 100 readers genuinely want it.
Hardware Preview
Free
- 5 contextual AI explanations
- Automatic title and author context
- No account or payment card
- Community hardware preview
Reader
€4.99 / month
- Up to 1,000 explanations each month
- Fast, provider-independent AI
- Multiple linked Kobo devices
- Cancel whenever you want
Nielsen meets e-ink
Constraints become the experience.
Visibility
The system communicates what it is doing immediately.
User control
Close the answer with one gesture and continue reading.
Error prevention
Read-only database access, bounded selections, and no invented metadata.
Minimalism
One contextual action, no keyboard, and no configuration on the Kobo.
Open source, clear provenance
Built in public, funded carefully.
NickelAI is an independent exploration of contextual AI on legacy e-readers. The client will be open source; the free preview is not financed by selling reading data.
NickelAI uses NickelMenu, created by Patrick Gaskin (`pgaskin`) with roots in the MobileRead Kobo development community, as its integration layer. NickelMenu is independent, is not bundled with NickelAI, and neither project is affiliated with Rakuten Kobo.
Voluntary GitHub sponsorship helps cover hosting, AI usage, hardware testing, and documentation. Sponsorship never unlocks extra AI requests during this non-commercial preview.
The selected passage and minimal metadata are sent to an AI service for the requested explanation. They are not used for book marketing. AI responses may contain errors.
Questions before installing
Clear answers, before the first tap.
Why only five free explanations?
The preview exists to validate the experience on real hardware without creating an uncontrolled public API bill.
How do I update NickelAI?
Reconnect the Kobo over USB and run the same installer command again. Your activation is preserved, every file is verified, and the previous installation is backed up automatically.
Will I be charged automatically?
No. The Reader plan does not exist yet, and joining the waitlist creates no purchase or payment obligation.
Is every Kobo supported?
Not yet. The Kobo Glo N613 on firmware 4.38.23684 is validated. Other firmware 4.x devices are experimental, while firmware 5.x is currently blocked by the NickelMenu prerequisite.
Does NickelAI store what I read?
The current preview sends the selected passage and minimal book context only to produce the requested response. A future account system will keep reading history off by default.