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Thesys

Thesys is a self-hosted research workspace for discovering open-access academic papers, querying PDFs with cited page highlights, comparing two papers on a claim, and exporting citations.

Explore the practical guide ↓

Independent OpenViST project profile, based on linked sources.

Thesys — OpenViST project profile in RAG & Knowledge Systems.
OpenViST project illustration. See the linked sources for product details.
Understand the project

Practical overview

When it fits

Use it for a local paper-reading workflow when source-linked PDF answers, two-paper claim comparison or bibliography export are part of the task.

Who it is for

  • Researchers who want to search OpenAlex and arXiv and organize papers in a local library.
  • Readers who need PDF answers linked to highlighted passages or selected text.
  • People comparing evidence across two papers or exporting bibliographies.

Documented uses

  • Find open-access papers through a combined OpenAlex and arXiv search.
  • Ask questions about a paper or selected passage and jump from citations to the cited PDF location.
  • Summarize document methods, findings, limitations and metrics, including citations to figures.
  • Compare two library papers against a claim and export citations in four formats.
Before you choose

Requirements & limits

Thesys is self-hosted and open-source under AGPL-3.0. Chat needs an OpenAI API key; Compare needs a TypeSafe API key. Docker Compose or a local Python and Node.js setup is documented.

  • Paper discovery searches open-access literature from OpenAlex and arXiv; an OpenAlex API key is optional.
  • Ingestion and retrieval use Docling, Chroma and BGE locally; the first ingestion downloads model weights.
  • OCR is off by default and can be enabled for scanned or image-only PDFs; OCR ingestion is slower.
  • CPU operation is supported, while a GPU helps and CPU processing is slower.
  • Compare is a distinct TypeSafe Jev integration and is unavailable without its API key.

Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.

Source-based practical guide

Set up Thesys with Docker Compose

Configure the documented Docker-based local workspace and open its web interface.

Before you start

  • Docker Compose
  • An OpenAI API key
  • An EMAIL value and, for Compare, a TypeSafe API key

Steps

  1. Copy backend/.env.example to backend/.env.

  2. Set OPENAI_API_KEY and EMAIL; add TYPESAFE_API_KEY if you plan to use Compare.

  3. Run docker compose up --build.

  4. Open http://127.0.0.1:5000.

Expected outcome

The local Thesys interface is available at the documented address. The first build is large; the first PDF ingestion downloads Hugging Face weights.

Guide limitations

  • Chat requires an OpenAI API key; Compare is unavailable without a TypeSafe API key.
  • docker compose down keeps the thesys-data volume; docker compose down -v deletes it.
Documentation 1 ↗
Evidence and transparency

Sources & review

Official repository ↗
Source record details
Source availability
Active
Sources checked
13 October 2026
Original website title
Sreehari05055/thesys-core · Official homepage title · retained in its source language
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