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
See the interaction
AI that assists, then disappears.
One gesture, three steps
The reader remains at the centre.
Ask
Ask NickelAI sends only the selected passage and infers its language without unreliable book metadata.
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
Start free. Continue with your own provider.
NickelAI includes 20 hosted explanations with no account or key. Readers with an API key can store it locally on their Kobo; Nickel's built-in browser then connects directly to Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic.
Hosted Preview
Free
- 20 AI explanations
- No API key, account, or payment card
- One action from Kobo's selection menu
- Community hardware preview
Your AI Provider
Direct from Kobo
- Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic adapters
- Gemini validated on Kobo Glo 2012
- Your key never reaches NickelAI
- Your provider's usage limits apply
Designed around the reading flow
AI that assists, then disappears.
Visibility
The reader always sees when help is being requested and when it is ready.
User control
Close the answer with one gesture and return to the same page.
Error prevention
Read-only database access, bounded selections, and no invented metadata.
Minimalism
One reader-invoked action, no chat, keyboard, notification, or interruption.
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.
What happens after 20 explanations?
The hosted preview stops making paid AI calls. Readers with an API key can configure personal-key mode; provider billing and limits then apply.
Where is my personal API key stored?
Only in local NickelAI files on the Kobo. Nickel's browser sends it directly to the selected provider; it never reaches NickelAI's backend. Anyone with USB access to the reader may be able to recover it, so use a dedicated restricted key.
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.
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?
Hosted mode sends the selected passage to NickelAI only to produce the response. Personal-key mode sends it directly to the selected provider. Unreliable book metadata and reading history are not included.