Sciwand
The best AI research tool — chat with PDFs, local-first
Overview
Sciwand is a local-first AI research tool for macOS that lets you read, analyze, and write grounded entirely in your own PDF library. Every answer cites the exact sentence in the source document. Analyze multiple papers side-by-side in a grid, screen literature with yes/no criteria, and score documents 1–10 for ranking. A built-in Markdown editor has an AI sidebar that only references your own sources, never the open web. Integrates with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Bookends, and connects to 250M+ scholarly works via 10 academic databases. Bring your own AI key — no subscription, no account required.
Pricing: Free to download; bring your own AI key
Minimum macOS: 13.0 (Ventura)
Architecture: Apple Silicon, Intel
Key Features
- Chat with PDFs and documents with answers cited to exact sentences
- Multi-document grid view for side-by-side paper analysis
- Literature screening with yes/no criteria and 1–10 scoring for ranking
- Library chat for synthesized answers across your entire document collection
- Markdown editor with AI sidebar grounded only in your own sources
- Citation graph visualization to explore paper relationships
- Integrates with Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Bookends
- Access to 250M+ scholarly works via 10 academic databases
- Supports PDF, DOCX, EPUB, TXT, BibTeX, and RIS formats
- Multilingual support
- 100% local — files never leave your machine
- Bring your own AI key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and more); no subscription
Tags
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