Counted motion
Type a number before a command to move exactly as far as you mean — a single page or a long jump. The default count is 1.
GPL-2.0 · Qt6 · Linux & Windows
Read every document
the Vim way.
apvlv is a keyboard-first viewer for PDF, EPUB, TXT, FB2, MOBI, CBZ, HTML, DJVU, and images. Navigate pages, tabs, directories, and annotations with the rhythm of Vim — without ever reaching for the mouse.
$ apvlv ~/library/manual.pdf
✓ loaded manual.pdf (QtPdf · 248 pages)
✓ normal mode (j k h l · : / ?)
:tabnew chapter.epub
/keyboard shortcuts (search forward)
:42 (jump to page 42)
Features
Fast commands, calm pages.
Designed for readers who stay on the keyboard.
Directory navigation
Open a folder, move through entries with Vim keys, expand directories, and launch documents in tabs — the file tree behaves like a document outline.
Annotations
Mark, comment, and underline without ever leaving the document-centered workflow. Notes are saved per document under a directory you choose.
Search & command line
Modal commands and completion let you find content, jump between files, split windows, and drive the viewer entirely from a colon prompt.
Many formats
PDF, EPUB, TXT, FB2, MOBI, CBZ, HTML, DJVU, and images — one viewer for everything, with selectable rendering engines per format.
Tabs & splits
Open many documents in tabs, split windows horizontally or vertically, and use marks to return to any position later.
Formats
One viewer for every document.
Each format can be rendered by a selectable engine — set it per file type in ~/.apvlvrc.
The default. Render with QtPdf, MuPDF, or Poppler — whichever you prefer per file.
.pdf:engine = QtPdf
EPUB · FB2 · MOBI
Reflowable ebooks rendered through MuPDF or the built-in Web engine, with the same Vim motions.
.epub:engine = Web
TXT · HTML
Plain text and web pages, read with the very same keys, search, and command line as everything else.
.fb2:engine = MuPDF
DJVU · CBZ · Images
Scanned books, comic archives, and image files — paged and navigable just like a PDF.
apvlv comics.cbz
Keyboard map
Commands that keep your hands on the keys.
Most commands accept a leading count where it is meaningful; count defaults to 1.
o
Display a file chooser to open a PDF, DJVU, EPUB, HTML, or TXT file.
O
Select a directory to display.
t
Open a PDF, DJVU, EPUB, HTML, or TXT file in a new tab.
T
Select a directory to display in a new tab.
R
Reload the current file.
gt
Show the next tab.
gT
Show the previous tab.
G
Show page number count.
C-fPageDown
Go forward count pages.
C-bPageUp
Go backward count pages.
C-d
Go forward count half pages.
C-u
Go backward count half pages.
H
Scroll to page head.
M
Scroll to page middle.
L
Scroll to page bottom.
s
Skip count pages.
jC-nDown
Scroll down count units.
kC-pUp
Scroll up count units.
hBackspaceLeft
Scroll left count units.
lSpaceRight
Scroll right count units.
r
Rotate the document clockwise by 90 degrees.
/ string
Search forwards for string.
? string
Search backwards for string.
f
Toggle between fullscreen and window mode.
zi
Zoom in.
zo
Zoom out.
zw
Zoom to fit window width.
zh
Zoom to fit window height.
m char
Mark the current position to char.
' char
Return to the mark position char.
''
Return to the last position.
c
Toggle directory display.
q
Close the current window.
ZZ
Quit the viewer, like Vim.
Configuration
Shape the viewer from ~/.apvlvrc.
Write set setting = value in ~/.apvlvrc, Vim-style.
yes/no to enable or disable fullscreen.
Default window width as an integer.
Default window height as an integer.
Fixed window width.
Fixed window height.
Default directory for the open dialog.
yes/no to show pages continuously.
yes/no to scroll when hitting a page tail or head.
Disable or enable usage of ~/.apvlvinfo.
Maximum file information entries to save. Default is 100.
yes/no to show or hide the scrollbar.
yes/no to wrap searches.
mTsS controls menu, toolbar, status, and status tool display.
Tesseract pretrained languages such as eng+chi_sim.
Directory used to save ebook notes.
Number of seconds before auto reloading a document.
yes/no to use inverted mode for PDF pages.
Set the background color.
Zoom modes
zoom = normal
Let the application choose the default zoom value.
zoom = fitwidth
Fit pages to window width.
zoom = fitheight
Fit pages to window height.
zoom = float
Use a scale such as 1.0 for 100% or 2.0 for 200%.
Engines & double click
.pdf:engine
Choose MuPDF, Poppler, or QtPdf.
.epub:engine
Choose MuPDF or Web.
.fb2:engine
Choose MuPDF or Web.
doubleclick = none
Select nothing.
doubleclick = word
Select the word under the cursor to the clipboard.
doubleclick = line
Select the line under the cursor to the clipboard.
doubleclick = page
Select the page under the cursor to the clipboard.
Colon commands
Command-line control inside the viewer.
Prompt commands work like key commands, but start with a colon.
:h[elp]
Display the help document.
:q[uit]
Close the current window.
:o[pen] file
Open file.
:doc file
Load file into the current window.
:TOtext [file]
Translate file, or the current page, to a text file.
:pr[int]
Print the current document.
:tabnew
Create a new tab.
:sp
Horizontally split the current window.
:vsp
Vertically split the current window.
:fp
Go forward pages. Also :forwardpage [int].
:bp
Go backward pages. Also :prewardpage [int].
:g int
Go to page int. Also :goto int.
:z[oom] mode
Set zoom to a configured zoom mode.
:int
Go to page int.
:directory
Toggle directory display.
Build from source
Qt6, CMake, and a straight path to install.
1
Install dependencies
Qt6, Quazip, and CMake are required. Optional engines — Poppler, MuPDF, and Tesseract — add richer document and OCR support.
2
Configure & build
Configure with CMake into a build directory, then compile.
3
Install & read
Install the binary, then open any document to start reading.
# 1. install dependencies
sudo dnf install qt6-qtbase-devel quazip-qt6-devel cmake gcc-c++ # Fedora
sudo apt install qt6-base-dev libquazip1-qt6-dev cmake g++ # Debian / Ubuntu
# 2. configure & build
cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build
# 3. install & read
sudo cmake --install build
apvlv ~/library/manual.pdf# 1. install Qt6 and vcpkg dependencies (quazip, etc.)
# 2. configure & build (Release)
cmake -B build -S . -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<vcpkg>\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake
cmake --build build --config Release
# 3. install & read
cmake --install build
.\apvlv.exe manual.pdfPut your hands on the keys.
apvlv is free software (GPL-2.0). Read the source, file an issue, send a patch, or just download a build and start reading.