Summarize anything. Understand everything.
Summarize articles, papers, and videos into readable text and natural audio — a CLI built for neurodivergent workflows.
I had a pile of to-reads growing at work and it was overwhelming — not because the material was hard, but because it was all in the wrong format. That goes double if you're neurodivergent, reading in a second language, or just short on time.
Summaries are rewritten as natural spoken scripts and played back using configurable voices and personas. The result sounds like a real briefing or podcast, not a screen reader. Free with Edge TTS by default, or upgrade to OpenAI TTS for higher quality. See the Audio guide for modes, voices, and presets.
brew install asanmateu/tldr/tldr-cliWorks out of the box with Claude Code, or bring your own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, xAI, Ollama, Codex, etc.) — see Providers. For standalone binaries, building from source, and other install methods, see the Installation guide.
tldr "https://arstechnica.com/some-article/" # Web article
tldr ./paper.pdf # Local PDF
tldr "https://example.com/doc.pdf" # Remote PDF
tldr "Your text to summarize here..." # Raw text
tldr # Interactive mode
tldr --batch "https://..." # Headless — print summary to stdout
tldr --batch url1 url2 url3 # Process multiple URLs sequentially
tldr --batch --browse url1 url2 # Batch then browse results interactively
tldr --batch --audio "https://..." # Headless with audio generationYouTube, Slack threads, and Notion pages also work — just paste the URL.
In interactive mode, you can drag and drop files from Finder directly into the terminal — paths from iTerm2, Terminal.app, and other emulators are automatically recognized.
After a summary, use the keyboard shortcuts shown at the bottom: save, save with audio, listen, copy, chat, re-summarize, or discard. In chat mode, press Ctrl+s to save the conversation — subsequent messages auto-save. You'll be notified in the prompt when a new version is available.
Type / in interactive mode to access commands like /history, /setup, /config, /theme, and /help.
- You give it something to read (a URL, file, or text)
- It extracts the content automatically
- Your AI provider generates a structured, learning-focused summary
- The summary is saved to
~/Documents/tldr/
Summaries use short sentences, bullet points, bold key terms, and put the most important information first. This isn't just formatting — it's designed around cognitive accessibility research to work better for all types of readers.
tldr works out of the box with sensible defaults. If you want to customise it:
tldr config # Open the config editor
tldr --style quick "https://..." # Quick summary instead of study notes
tldr --model sonnet "https://..." # Use a different modelChoose from three color themes (coral, ocean, forest) and auto dark/light mode during setup, or change later with tldr config set theme.
Use built-in presets (morning-brief, deep-study, bedtime-read, etc.) or create your own for different contexts with different tones, styles, audio modes, and cognitive trait settings.
See the Configuration guide for details.
Cognitive accessibility is the point, not a feature. Every summary is optimised for readability by default.
| Trait | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dyslexia (on by default) | Shorter sentences, simpler vocabulary, bold key terms |
| ADHD | No filler, action-oriented, most important info first |
| Autism | Literal language, explicit structure, no idioms |
| ESL | Common words only, jargon defined inline |
| Visual thinker | Hierarchical layout, grouped ideas, numbered steps |
Traits stack. Enable multiple with tldr preset edit.
- Installation — Homebrew, standalone binaries, prerequisites
- Configuration — settings, presets, tones, summary styles, audio modes
- Providers — Claude Code, Anthropic API, Gemini, xAI, Ollama, Codex, and OpenAI-compatible setup
- Audio — audio modes, listening to summaries, voices, save with audio
- Use Cases — workflows from quick triage to automated daily digests
Requires Bun (v1.0+).
git clone https://github.com/asanmateu/tldr.git
cd tldr
bun installbun run dev # Run in development
bun run test # Run tests
bun run typecheck # Type check
bun run check # Lint + format check
bun link # Make available as `tldr` commandSee CONTRIBUTING.md for architecture and project structure.
MIT