Campaign Brief: Quick Lookup

Overview

• Feature name: Quick Lookup
• Codename: First Class Lookup (internal only — never user-facing)
• Product: reader
• Owner: @tristan
• Launch date: ~2026-04-01 (targeting next week)
• Status: complete

What It Is

Quick Lookup is a Reader feature that lets you select any word, name, term, or short phrase while reading and instantly get everything you need across three modes:

• Define — dictionary/encyclopedia definitions for general words and terms.
• Lookup — a document-aware view of how the term is used within the document itself: pulling the author's own definition, or in the case of a character name, who they are and their relevance to the plot (without spoilers).
• Translate — instant translation of the selected word or phrase.

The functionality existed inside Ghost Reader, but this makes it a polished, one-action experience: long press and get everything you need.

Why We Built It

When you're reading and encounter a term or character name you can't quite place, the flow breaks. You either context-switch to Google, scroll back through the book, or just push through confused. Quick Lookup lets you long press and get refreshed instantly — dictionary definitions for general terms, and the author's own usage for document-specific terms and characters. It's a small but genuine way AI enhances reading without getting in the way.

User Demand

• Signal strength: low-medium
• Evidence: Less concrete demand, more delight-driven. The underlying capability has existed in Ghost Reader and people really like it. Worth checking Canny and HelpScout for specific requests.
• Who wants this most? Readers of complex non-fiction and long-form fiction — anyone who encounters unfamiliar terms, author-coined concepts, or large character casts.

Success

• Primary goal: retention
• What does success look like? Existing Reader users discover and love the feature, reinforcing that Reader is the smartest reading app. High usage rate among active readers. Creates genuine "wow" moments that users share organically.
• Secondary goals: Acquisition — if the launch captures attention, it positions Reader as the AI-powered reading app and draws in new users who want that superpower. Owns the "AI + reading" narrative.

The "Wow" Moment

Long press a character's name or a complex term like "antifragile" in Taleb's book and instantly get the author's own definition plus full context — no searching, no scrolling back.

Target Audience

Active Reader users, especially those reading complex non-fiction (terms, concepts) and long fiction (characters, plot references). Secondary: potential new users excited by AI-enhanced reading.

Launch Constraints

Feature expected to land within the next week. Reader only (Bookwise support exists but is not public). No hard deadline — announce soon after the feature ships.

Messaging Angle

Position as a genuine reading superpower — small, delightful, and useful. Not "AI reads for you" but "AI makes you a better reader." The Lookup mode is the differentiator: it's not just a dictionary, it understands your document. Show don't tell — the demo of long-pressing a character name or author-defined term is the pitch.

Raw Notes

this feature is our first class lookup feature, which allows you to select any word, term, or short phrase while reading and instantly get really nice definitions for it. It has a couple of different types of definitions—it'll give you encyclopedia or dictionary definitions, but it also has a really cool section called X-ray. X-ray looks up how the term is used in the document itself. It could be a character's name or a term the author has defined for the first time in the document. It'll pull all the references the author used and where they defined that term, then give you the author's definition. In the case of a character's name, it shows who the character is, their background, and their relevance to the plot without spoilers. We're announcing this for Reader because we've had this functionality buried inside Ghost Reader for a while. This just makes it really fun and easy to use, and it's a small but meaningful way that AI can enhance the reading experience. It's delightful and gives you a genuine reading superpower. Concretely, the problem is that when you're reading, you see a term or name and can't quite recall what it is. This feature allows you to long press the word and be refreshed on it in just one action. It's like having a little superpower while reading. I think there's been less concrete demand for it and more just people really liking it. We could check Canny and Help Scout reports to see if anybody's requested it. I would say this is mostly about retention, but I do really hope that if we launch it well enough and capture the zeitgeist and own our area of AI intersected with reading, we can also get users hyped about it and acquire new users who think, "Wow, I want to use a reading app that is that powerful." The wow moment will be selecting a character's name or a complex non-fiction definition—like how Taleb defines the term "anti-fragile" in his book. Then you long press that word or character's name and immediately get the definition, which is pretty powerful. There's no hard deadline. I'm hoping this feature will land in the next week, and then we can announce it pretty soon after. It works in Bookwise too but Bookwise is not public yet so it's not part of this campaign.

Campaign Brief: Ghost Reader Mobile

Overview

• Feature name: Ghostreader Mobile v3
• Product: reader
• Launch date: ~late April 2026 (next month, blocked on React Native migration)
• Status: inspiration

What It Is

A full chat-with-your-documents experience inside the Reader iOS and Android apps. While reading any document, you can open a chat interface and talk to an AI assistant that knows exactly where you are in the document, what's on your screen, and how far along you are. Ask questions, get clarifications, request recaps of previous sections, explore characters, or dive deeper into topics — all without leaving the reading experience. Ghost Reader Chat V3 already shipped on web (where a sidebar makes it easy), but mobile required careful UX design to make chatting while reading feel seamless on a small screen.

Why We Built It

Readers constantly want to engage more deeply with their content while reading — ask questions, get unstuck, explore ideas. ChatGPT can talk about a book in theory, but it doesn't know where you are or what you're looking at. Reader's mobile chat assistant has full document context and reading position awareness. The hard problem isn't AI chat — it's making it work beautifully on a small screen alongside the reading experience. As far as we know, nobody has nailed this UX on mobile yet.

User Demand

• Signal strength: medium-high
• Evidence: Multiple user requests for mobile Ghost Reader chat. Broader push for Readwise to be AI-first. Web version (V3) already shipped and validated the concept — mobile is the natural next step.
• Who wants this most? Mobile-first readers who consume long-form content (articles, books, PDFs) on their phones and want AI assistance in the moment, not after the fact.

Success

• Primary goal: acquisition
• What does success look like? The launch video and social campaign positions Reader as the first app to truly nail AI-assisted reading on mobile. Drives new signups from people excited about the AI + reading intersection. Creates a compelling demo moment that influencers and tech press want to share.
• Secondary goals: Retention — existing mobile Reader users get a powerful new reason to stay engaged. Conversion — the AI chat experience is a premium feature that makes the subscription feel worth it.

The "Wow" Moment

Chatting with the assistant while reading and getting a response with a clickable link that jumps you directly to the passage it's referencing — showing that the AI knows exactly where you are in the document.

Target Audience

Mobile readers who consume long-form content and want AI to enhance their reading. Secondary: AI/tech enthusiasts who'll appreciate the UX innovation of making chat-while-reading work on a small screen.

Launch Constraints

Blocked on the React Native migration (getting close). Will need significant QA and testing post-migration. Targeting next month. Ghost Reader V3 web is already live — this is the mobile counterpart.

Messaging Angle

"Chat with anything you read — now on mobile." Emphasize the UX breakthrough: everyone has chat, everyone has reading apps, but nobody has made them work together seamlessly on a phone. The assistant knows your exact reading position and document context — it's not a generic chatbot, it's a reading companion. Show the experience in motion — this needs video, not screenshots.

Raw Notes

Okay, the next feature is Ghost Reader Mobile, or Ghost Reader V3 Mobile. It's basically the ability to chat with your documents inside our mobile iOS and Android apps while reading in a chat interface. It's a really fluid, fun, seamless chatting-while-reading experience, which nobody has really figured out a great UX for yet. It's really hard because the screen real estate is so small on mobile. The pain it solves is that while you're reading, users often want to unlock the value of AI. They want to ask questions, get clarification when they're lost, expand on topics, ask for recaps on previous sections, request summaries, ask questions about the content, or ask who characters are. They want to engage more deeply with their content while reading, not in a separate space on mobile. ChatGPT is great for talking about a book in theory, but in Reader Mobile now, you can chat with an assistant that knows exactly where you are in the document, what you can see while reading, and how far along you are. We already shipped Ghost Reader Chat V3 on web, but on web it's easy mode because you have so much screen real estate. You can just pop a sidebar next to the content and chat while reading. It's much harder on mobile and required a lot of careful design and iteration to make it seamless. We've had quite a few users who want this, and there's a broader push for Readwise to be AI-first. This feature is primarily about acquisition and helping us get on the AI hype wave. We're pioneering a way to engage more deeply while reading that, as far as we know, no one has really done. There are really good standalone chat experiences and really good standalone reading experiences, and people have combined them on big screens like web. But on mobile, getting the UX, feel, context, and navigation just right is something we think we're the first to do. The wow moment will be a video showing chatting while reading. You'll probably get a link to somewhere in the document that you can click through to take you to the passage the assistant is referencing. Hopefully we can also convey that the assistant in the chat knows exactly where you are in the document. That's really powerful. For timing, we're hoping to launch this in the next month or so. It's currently blocked on the React Native migration, but that's getting pretty close. There will be a lot of QA and testing of the feature. Definitely in the next month.

Campaign Brief: OpenClaw Integration

Overview

• Feature name: OpenClaw Integration
• Product: reader, readwise
• Owner: @christina
• Launch date: 2026-03-27
• Status: complete

What It Is

A dedicated launch packaging the Readwise CLI (launched last week) with a new ClawHub skill (possibly multiple skills), plus a landing page and guide oriented specifically at OpenClaw users. The skill connects OpenClaw to your Readwise/Reader library, giving your AI assistant instant access to everything you've saved — articles, tweets, PDFs, books, podcasts, newsletters, YouTube videos — in clean markdown format. Think of it as giving your OpenClaw a second brain.

Why We Built It

OpenClaw and similar AI autonomous agent assistants need rich context about the user to be useful. Right now, giving your assistant that context is a painful, manual process. Readwise + Reader already solves the "save anything from anywhere" problem — browser extension, iOS app, bookmark — so plugging that into OpenClaw makes the context problem disappear. You save something, your Claw knows about it in seconds.

User Demand

• Signal strength: high
• Evidence:

- Multiple Twitter DMs and replies asking for this. Reddit threads discussing it.

- HelpScout signals (3 direct conversations):

- Antoine Buteau — CLI beta tester who proactively built an OpenClaw skill on ClawHub (clawhub.ai/TristanH/readwise-official) before we even launched one officially. (2026-03-19)

- Grant Gochnauer — CLI beta tester who replied saying "I was using it to build an OpenClaw integration skill!" (2026-03-18)

- Mike Dove — New Reader convert (ex-Pocket user) who asked "What's the preferred way to integrate with my agents (Claude Code/OpenClaw) as I see some very useful ways to quick find something I saved and to pull it up!" (2026-03-24)

- Reddit thread on r/readwise where Tristan explained CLI vs MCP, specifically calling out OpenClaw as a primary CLI use case.

- Wisereads newsletter featured an OpenClaw founder interview video that was among the most highlighted content.

• Who wants this most? AI power users and early adopters who are already using OpenClaw and want to supercharge their assistant with their reading library. Tech-forward audience comfortable with CLI tools and agent workflows. Some are already building their own integrations — we need to give them the official one.

Success

• Primary goal: acquisition

- Gets OpenClaw's massive user base (hundreds of thousands to millions) to become Reader/Readwise users.

• What does success look like? Meaningful sign-up lift from OpenClaw users. The integration becomes a go-to recommendation in OpenClaw community spaces (Reddit, Twitter, ClawHub).
• Secondary goals: Positions Readwise as the default "knowledge layer" for AI assistants broadly.

The "Wow" Moment

Save a tweet, article, or YouTube video to Reader — and within seconds your OpenClaw can discuss it, reference it, and work through it with you in clean markdown.

Target Audience

Primary: OpenClaw users looking to give their assistant better context and a personal knowledge base.

Secondary: AI-curious readers who haven't tried OpenClaw yet but are intrigued by the "second brain for your AI" angle.

Launch Constraints

• Launching 2026-03-27 (tomorrow morning) for hackathon demos
• Builds on the Readwise CLI launched last week — this is packaging + positioning, not net-new backend work
• Will include ClawHub skill(s), a landing page, and a dedicated guide for OpenClaw users

Messaging Angle

"Give your OpenClaw a second brain." The pitch is about effortless context — save anything from anywhere, your AI knows about it instantly. Lean into the speed of the save-to-access loop and the breadth of content types (tweets, articles, books, PDFs, podcasts, YouTube, newsletters). Avoid making it feel like "just another integration" — this is a new category of use case for Readwise.

Raw Notes

All right, here's my speech-to-text ramble on OpenClaw. Basically, this is a dedicated launch for the integration of Readwise with OpenClaw. Technically, you can already use our new Readwise CLI, which launched last week with OpenClaw. This launch is basically just packaging up that CLI with a new ClawHub skill, plus a lot of positioning, documentation, and orientation for OpenClaw users to explain why Readwise is useful for them. This will basically mean the skill—maybe multiple skills—plus a dedicated landing page and guide for OpenClaw users. The product is both Readwise and Reader, just like our CLI that we launched last week. The idea here is that the CLI works really well with tools like OpenClaw—these AI autonomous agent assistants. Basically, the pain point for these users is that you need to give your assistant line context on you and what you're interested in, and that can be a really painful and manual process. We make that process super simple and painless. So basically, if you're browsing and want your Claw to know about something—if you see a YouTube video, a piece of content you want to read, or content you've already read from tweets to PDFs to books to articles to podcasts to newsletters to YouTube—you can just save that content to Reader or Readwise with one click using our browser extension, our iOS app, or by hitting bookmark. That'll immediately be saved to your Reader account, which will be connected to your OpenClaw, and your OpenClaw will have immediate access to it in clean markdown format. So it's kind of like giving your OpenClaw assistant a second brain of knowledge content. I'm not sure how much demand we've had for it, but there's definitely been a lot of people asking me for it on Twitter, Twitter DMs, and Reddit. There would be some Reddit threads about it. It would actually be an interesting exercise as part of this setup step for you, the ramp assistant, to go use the Context One Help Scout to search for OpenClaw and ClawBot—what it used to be called—and find as many examples of people asking for it as possible from Help Scout. I would say this feature is definitely about acquisition. It's just such a valuable tool for people in this new AI world who are using OpenClaw. There's something inherently valuable about giving your AI the second brain of all the things you've ever read and want to read, able to quickly reference it and work through your library with you. OpenClaw is a huge trend. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are using it. We basically want those people to become Reader users. So it's definitely all acquisition. The wow moment, I think, is basically a demo showing how easy it is to save stuff—either bookmark tweets, save with our browser extension, YouTube videos, articles, whatever—or save from the mobile app with our native share sheet. Then immediately your Claude knows about it within seconds and can either prompt you with content you saved or you can discuss with it. You can find stuff you saved, and your OpenClaw will have it in clean markdown. So that wow moment is kind of around that save-to-access-with-your-assistant loop. In terms of launch timing, we want to launch it tomorrow morning for the hackathon demos.

Campaign Brief: Readwise 2.0

Overview

• Feature name: Readwise 2.0
• Product: readwise
• Launch date: mid-April 2026 (before end of April)
• Status: inspiration

What It Is

A complete redesign and rebuild of the Readwise mobile app on both iOS and Android. Every surface has been revamped — colors, fonts, animations, performance, and functionality. The app now matches the design quality Readwise deserves. Beyond the visual overhaul, there's real new functionality: completely revamped search that's faster and better at finding things, plus new ways to save highlights via camera, text input, and voice (none of which existed before). It's the same app people love, but it finally looks and feels like a modern, premium product.

Why We Built It

The original Readwise app was built in 2019 and it shows. The UI is dated, animations are janky, and the overall feel is unprofessional for a product people use every day. Tens of thousands of people pay for Readwise and thousands use the app daily with long streaks — they deserve better. The dated look and feel has been a friction point for new users evaluating the product and a source of frustration for existing users who love the functionality but cringe at the presentation.

User Demand

• Signal strength: high
• Evidence: Consistent complaints on Reddit and Twitter about the app feeling dated and janky. Regular support feedback. Tens of thousands of paying users and thousands of daily active users with long streaks — this affects a huge portion of the user base.
• Who wants this most? Daily Readwise users who do the daily review religiously, and new users evaluating whether to pay for Readwise. People with taste for good mobile design who've been frustrated by the gap between Readwise's functionality and its presentation.

Success

• Primary goal: conversion
• What does success look like? New users who sign up are significantly more likely to convert to paid when they experience the redesigned app. The app no longer feels like a barrier during onboarding — it feels like a selling point. Secondary: existing users feel renewed excitement about the product and share it organically.
• Secondary goals: Retention — daily users feel like Readwise is actively improving and worth continuing to pay for. Acquisition — a splashy launch video and social campaign drives awareness and new signups.

The "Wow" Moment

Seeing the redesigned home screen and daily review in motion — smooth animations, polished visuals, the kind of app you want to show someone. Think Flighty-level design quality applied to your highlight review.

Target Audience

Existing Readwise users (tens of thousands of paying customers, thousands daily). Secondary: potential new users who've heard of Readwise but haven't converted, especially design-conscious people who were put off by the old app.

Launch Constraints

Shipping on both iOS and Android simultaneously. Targeting mid-April, must be before end of April. Will be included in the next Reader public beta update (first since December). This is a big campaign — not a fast follow.

Messaging Angle

"Readwise, redesigned from the ground up." Lead with the visual transformation — show don't tell. A sexy screen-share video (Flighty as the benchmark) is the centerpiece. Pair the design story with the new functionality (search, camera/voice/text highlight capture) so it's not just a coat of paint. Tone: confident, proud — this is a major milestone. Avoid underselling it as "just a redesign."

Raw Notes

Okay, the next project is a big one. We're calling it internally ReadWise 2.0. It's basically a full redesign, modernization, and rebuilding of the original ReadWise mobile app on both iOS and Android. This is pretty different from the other launches we've done recently, but we do want this process to be generalizable. The ReadWise mobile app was created in 2019. It has a very basic, hacky-looking UI with janky performance, animations, and most of all, dated design that felt unprofessional. We've completely redesigned it to match the design standards that ReadWise deserves. The whole app—from coloring and fonts to animations and functionality—has been completely revamped. The pain it solves is that while people love the UX and functionality of the ReadWise app, the look and feel has been completely dated. That extends to some of the functionality too. For an app you use every day, the ReadWise app just feels very dated and janky. We've had a lot of demand from users who have lamented this. Some people don't have a taste for mobile apps and just like the functionality, but a lot of people get really annoyed at how janky the ReadWise mobile app feels. We definitely get hate about this on Reddit and Twitter requests. Tens of thousands of people pay us just for the original ReadWise app. Thousands use it every day with long streaks doing the daily review. I would say this feature is primarily about retention and conversion. When a new person signs up, they're much more likely to convert with this new, cool-feeling app. I'd say conversion first, retention second, and acquisition third. Hopefully we can make a splash with this campaign and drive new users. The people who are retained are probably pretty happy even with the janky UI, but it's definitely more likely to keep them retained and make them feel like we're improving the app. Most of all, I think new users who hear about ReadWise will be much more likely to become paying customers with this new design. The wow moment for social media could be a sexy screen share video. Flighty is a benchmark app that does this really well. I think the best moment is seeing the home screen of the app in a cool frame in a video with music, or seeing functionality like the daily review with cool graphics at the end. One other big part of this launch is the new functionality. It's not just the look and feel. The search is completely revamped and much faster and better at finding stuff. We also have new ways to save highlights using the camera, text input, and voice, which never existed before. Primarily, it's the look and feel and delightfulness, but there's also real substance there. I don't think we'll be able to ship this for at least a couple of weeks. My goal is to announce it sometime mid-April, and definitely before the end of April. I want to include it in the next Reader public beta update by April because it's been so long since December's last one. Launching on both iOS and Android simultaneously.

Campaign Brief: Readwise 2.0 Web

Overview

• Feature name: Readwise 2.0 Web
• Product: readwise
• Launch date: late April–May 2026
• Status: inspiration

What It Is

A complete redesign of the Readwise web app to match the new design standards established by the Readwise 2.0 mobile launch. The web app gets the same visual overhaul — updated colors, fonts, layout, and interactions — plus functional improvements to search and manual highlight input. The result is a consistent, modern experience across mobile and web.

Why We Built It

The Readwise web app feels dated and painful to use, especially for things like search and manual highlight entry. After launching the redesigned mobile app, having the web app stuck in the old design creates an inconsistent experience. This brings the web up to the same standard and completes the Readwise 2.0 story.

User Demand

• Signal strength: medium
• Evidence: Less vocal demand than the mobile app redesign, but the same underlying frustrations apply — the web app feels old and clunky. Completing the redesign across both platforms is a natural expectation after the mobile launch.
• Who wants this most? Users who primarily interact with Readwise on the web (desktop reviewers, manual highlight creators, people who manage their library from a browser).

Success

• Primary goal: conversion
• What does success look like? New users evaluating Readwise on the web see a polished, modern product that feels worth paying for. The web app stops being a friction point in the conversion funnel.
• Secondary goals: Retention — existing users feel the momentum of continuous improvement. Acquisition — a second launch event creates another wave of attention and social sharing.

The "Wow" Moment

A before-and-after comparison showing the old dated web app transforming into the sleek new design — instant visual proof of how far it's come.

Target Audience

Existing Readwise users, especially desktop/web-primary users. Secondary: potential new users who encounter the web app during signup and evaluation.

Launch Constraints

Must launch after the Readwise 2.0 mobile campaign. Intentionally split from mobile to create two distinct launch events. Engineering timeline means late April at earliest, May more likely.

Messaging Angle

"The Readwise redesign comes to web." Frame as the second chapter of the Readwise 2.0 story. Lean into before/after visuals — they're inherently shareable. Can reference the mobile launch reception as social proof. Tone: same confident energy as mobile, but can be slightly lighter since this is the follow-up, not the reveal.

Raw Notes

Okay, the next project is a follow-up to the ReadWise 2.0 mobile launch: the ReadWise 2.0 web launch. We're going to split up those announcements to get more launch events, and the engineering for web is going to take a while, so launching them at the same time seems too hard. We can obviously take a lot of inspiration and lessons from the ReadWise 2.0 mobile launch. This will basically be: "Hey, we've completely revamped the ReadWise web app." It's the original ReadWise app again, and I think it solves the same pains that the ReadWise 2.0 mobile app launch solved. The ReadWise web app feels dated—not as much as the mobile app was, but it's still pretty dated and hard to use. All the functionality feels painful, like search. We're revamping that and the manual highlight input. There's a little bit of real functionality too on the search and manual highlight input. It'll make the web app consistent with the mobile app's new design, which will be good. I think there's another chance to get some excitement over the redesign. Maybe in this case, we could also show before and after. I think the wow moment is something like the before and after. There's been more demand around the aesthetics of the ReadWise mobile app, but this should still be valuable as well. I think it's primarily about conversion, but it'll have secondary effects on retention and, if we do this campaign right, acquisition. The timing is definitely going to be after the mobile app launch, so I'm thinking probably end of April, but much more likely in May.

Campaign Brief: Readwise CLI

Overview

• Feature name: Readwise CLI
• Product: readwise
• Launch date: 2026-03-18 (already launched)
• Status: complete

What It Is

A command-line interface that makes everything you've saved in Readwise (highlights, articles, PDFs, books, YouTube, newsletters) accessible via the terminal. Install with npm install -g @readwise/cli, run readwise login, and your entire reading library is searchable, readable, and actionable from the command line. Includes semantic + full-text hybrid search across every word of every saved document (powered by turbopuffer), document retrieval in markdown, highlight management, feed triage, and full library export. Also ships with pre-built "skills" (one-command workflows) for triage, feed catchup, quiz, and more. Works natively with AI agents like Claude Code, Codex, and OpenClaw.

Why We Built It

The new wave of AI agents and coding tools live in the terminal. Readwise's data — everything you've read, highlighted, and saved — is incredibly valuable context for these agents, but there was no way to access it programmatically from the command line. The CLI makes Readwise the "content brain" for any terminal-based AI workflow.

User Demand

• Signal strength: high
• Evidence: The launch tweet got 1,154 likes, 165 RTs, 1,198 bookmarks, and 254K views. The AI/agent ecosystem is exploding and users were asking for programmatic access. The read-only mode follow-up ("by popular demand") shipped days later.
• Who wants this most? Terminal-native power users, AI agent builders (Claude Code, OpenClaw), developers who want to script their reading workflow.

Success

• Primary goal: acquisition
• What does success look like? Positions Readwise as AI-native infrastructure. Influencers and power users build workflows with the CLI and share them, driving signups from the developer/AI community. The launch tweet was one of Readwise's best-performing ever.
• Secondary goals: Retention — existing power users feel Readwise is on the cutting edge. Sets up the MCP launch as a fast follow.

The "Wow" Moment

Ask your AI agent a question and it searches across everything you've ever saved to Readwise — articles, books, PDFs, highlights — and gives you a grounded answer with citations.

Target Audience

Terminal-native developers and AI agent power users (Claude Code, OpenClaw, Cursor). Secondary: the broader PKM/productivity community who sees the demo and thinks "I need this."

Launch Constraints

Already launched 2026-03-18. This campaign is being documented retroactively. Video asset already recorded (37s demo). Fast follow: Readwise MCP for non-terminal users.

Messaging Angle

"Introducing the Readwise CLI." Simple, direct. Let the demo speak. The video shows: save from anywhere → your agent already knows. Implicit message: Readwise is the best "second brain for your agent" — full semantic search over every word of every document, not just bookmarks.

Raw Notes

Assembled from: readwise.io/cli landing page, @readwise launch tweet (1.1K likes, 254K views), @homsiT co-founder tweets about hybrid search + turbopuffer, readwise-skills repo, existing readwise-for-openclaw campaign brief, Notion CLI documentation page. The CLI and MCP are functionally equivalent (same tools) — the CLI targets terminal users, the MCP targets ChatGPT/Claude/Perplexity users.

Campaign Brief: Readwise MCP

Overview

• Feature name: Readwise MCP
• Product: readwise
• Launch date: 2026-04-18 (this week)
• Status: complete

What It Is

The Readwise MCP server connects your entire Readwise library to the AI apps you already use. It's now available as a native ChatGPT app (install here) and works with every major AI app: Claude (chat + cowork), Perplexity, Cursor, and a growing long tail of MCP-compatible tools.

The headline capability: full semantic + full-text search across the entire content of your Reader library — every word of every document you've ever saved, instantly searchable through natural conversation. This isn't an agent crawling local files; it's server-side search across thousands of documents at a scale that simply isn't feasible with filesystem-based approaches. On top of search, users can triage their feed, organize documents, manage highlights, add tags, create visualizations, and more.

Why We're Launching Now

We already launched the Readwise CLI for terminal-powered use cases — Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw — and it was a hit. But most people interact with AI through apps like ChatGPT and Claude, not the command line. The MCP brings all the same power to everyone else. The timing is right: the MCP is approved as a ChatGPT app, MCP adoption is accelerating across the ecosystem, and users are already connecting from a wide range of AI apps.

Key Launch Pillars

1. Native ChatGPT app — One-click install from the ChatGPT app store. Seamless setup, no config.
2. Works everywhere — Claude (chat, cowork), Gemini, Perplexity, Cursor, Codex, Craft Docs, and many more.
3. CLI for the terminal, MCP for everything else — The CLI remains optimal for terminal-powered workflows (Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw). The MCP is for the broader universe of AI apps.
4. Full library search — Hybrid semantic + full-text search across every word of every document in your Reader library. Not just highlights — the full content, plus notes and tags for power users. Server-side indexing means instant results across thousands of documents with better relevance than keyword search alone, something no local-file agent can match.
5. Powerful use cases — Showcase real workflows: deep research across your saved library, feed triage, highlight management, data visualizations, and more.

User Demand

• Signal strength: high
• Evidence: MCPs are the hottest category in the AI ecosystem. The Readwise MCP has been heavily requested. The CLI launch (1.1K likes, 254K views) proved demand for AI-powered access to reading data. The MCP extends that to a much larger audience.
• Who wants this most? Mainstream AI app users (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) who are also readers/savers. Influencers and workflow builders who create and share AI workflows.

Success

• Primary goal: acquisition
• What does success look like? Meaningful installs from the ChatGPT app store. Influencers build and share workflows using the MCP, driving awareness and signups. Positions Readwise as essential infrastructure in the AI app ecosystem.
• Secondary goals: Retention — existing users feel Readwise is on the cutting edge and increasingly valuable in their daily AI workflow.

The "Wow" Moment

Ask ChatGPT or Claude a question about something you read months ago — and get an instant, accurate answer pulled from the full text of your saved documents. Not just highlights, not just titles — the actual content.

Target Audience

Mainstream AI app users (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Cursor) who are also readers/savers. Much broader than the CLI audience. Secondary: influencers and workflow builders who will create content showcasing Readwise MCP workflows.

Launch Constraints

Fast follow to the CLI launch. Frame as: "We launched the CLI for terminal users — now here's the MCP for everyone else." The MCP is approved as a native ChatGPT app. Leverage CLI launch momentum and existing assets.

Messaging Angle

"Your Readwise, in every AI app." Center on three things: (1) it's a native ChatGPT app now, (2) it works with basically every other AI app too, and (3) the full-content search across your entire library is the killer capability. Show workflows, not features. Tone: excited but grounded — this is genuinely powerful, not hype. Acknowledge the CLI for terminal users, position the MCP as the version for everyone else.

Raw Notes

The next project is the ReadWise MCP launch, which is another small project similar to the OpenClaw launch. It's basically a follow-up to the CLI launch. The ReadWise MCP and CLI are functionally equivalent—they have all the same tools, and we want to mention that in the launch. The MCP is less of a terminal agent thing and compatible with more AI apps. The big thing that the MCP works with that the CLI doesn't is the regular ChatGPT app, the regular OpenAI app, and many other long-tail AI apps that don't run in the command line. You can now get all the power of ReadWise and all the stuff from our CLI launch: listing your highlights, searching your highlights, searching your read documents, triaging reader documents, trashing your feed, and creating visualizations of your data. All that good stuff is now doable in your AI apps. This is a fast follow, and one big part of this is that our MCP server has been approved as a ChatGPT app, so people can use it very seamlessly in ChatGPT. This launch is basically: connect your ReadWise data to your favorite AI apps and get control through your favorite AI apps to do all those cool operations on your ReadWise data. Why did we build it? Because we're in this new AI wave, and these new AI apps are very powerful and allow you to build very cool, powerful workflows just with plain natural language. It allows users to organize their library or search through their library very conveniently in ways that wasn't possible before. Some pains it might solve: if a user really wants to find certain documents or highlights in their library. One big use case that was not possible before is that we have a full reader library search tool. We index every single word of every single document in your library, and you can do a hybrid semantic full-text search over that content. That's something people have always wanted to do. With these AI apps, they can do really powerful searches over their entire library and find stuff they remember reading or saving. How much demand have we had? We've actually hit a lot of demand for the MCP. It's been a very popular, well-requested feature because MCPs are just a very hot thing in this new AI world and people definitely want it. I would say it's primarily about acquisition. We're trying to position ReadWise as an AI app because there's so much hype about that. Hopefully influencers will make content about it. The hope is that with the MCP, users will be able to build and show off to other users powerful workflows, especially influencers who can hopefully make content about the workflows using our MCP server. It's primarily acquisition, but I also think it will be valuable for retention. Existing users will feel like ReadWise is on the forefront of AI and a useful tool for them in this new world. What is the WOW moment? I think it's very similar to our CLI. It's basically being able to talk to ChatGPT or Claude and get powerful search through all the stuff you save to ReadWise, then organize your library, organize your highlights, add tags to them, move documents, triage your feed, et cetera. Just showing off these powerful workflows will be wow, but again, very much like our CLI launch video, except focused a little bit more on mainstream users who would use something like Claude and less like command line. Any launch or timing constraints? I think the next week or two would be a good time to announce it as a fast follow to the CLI. The framing I'm imagining is: last week we announced the CLI. Now we're following up with the ReadWise MCP that will work with any of your AI apps, not just terminal ones. If you use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Poke, these apps will now work natively with your ReadWise. You have full access to your library to read it, search it, and organize it.

Campaign Brief: LaunchWise

Overview

• Feature name: RAMP
• Product: internal tool (standalone)
• Launch date: 2026-03-26
• Owner: @christina
• Status: complete

What It Is

LaunchWise is a Slack-based workflow and collaboration tool that helps the Readwise team coordinate product marketing campaigns from brief to distribution. It guides team members through a structured pipeline — campaign setup, inspiration gathering, video scripting, copy generation, and social distribution — turning what was a manual, ad-hoc process into a repeatable, bot-assisted workflow.

Why We Built It

Announcing new features and making users aware of them is a huge bottleneck for the company. Historically, only Tristan and Dan have done product marketing, and the process is manual, messy, and hard to stay on top of. LaunchWise exists to make launching features dramatically faster and to let more team members participate in the process without needing to reinvent the wheel each time.

User Demand

• Signal strength: high
• Evidence: Strong internal demand from Tristan, Dan, and Christina. The current launch process is widely acknowledged as a mess — no structure, no shared tooling, and heavy reliance on two people. This is a hackathon project born from real, felt pain.
• Who wants this most? The internal product marketing team (Tristan, Dan, Christina) and anyone at Readwise who ships features and wants them properly launched.

Success

• Primary goal: acquisition

- LaunchWise's whole purpose is to accelerate product marketing, which drives new usage and word-of-mouth growth by getting features in front of potential users.

• What does success look like? The team can take a feature from brief to distributed launch in a fraction of the time it takes today. More features get properly launched, leading to more awareness, more sign-ups, and more word-of-mouth.
• Secondary goals: Retention — existing users learn about new features they might have missed, keeping them engaged and subscribed.

The "Wow" Moment

The hackathon demo presentation — showing the sheer volume of polished product marketing work (briefs, video scripts, social copy, distribution) the team was able to churn through using LaunchWise in a single sitting.

Target Audience

Primary: The Readwise internal team (Tristan, Dan, Christina, and future team members involved in launches). Secondary: Readwise end users, who benefit from actually hearing about new features.

Launch Constraints

This is a hackathon project — needs to be demo-ready within the next hour or two. It's an internal tool, not a user-facing product launch. The "launch" is the hackathon demo presentation.

Messaging Angle

"Stop letting great features die in silence." LaunchWise turns the chaos of product marketing into a guided, collaborative pipeline — so every feature gets the launch it deserves.

Raw Notes

Okay, here's my ramble. This is a bit of a meta test project. I want us to launch LaunchWise. It's not really any of our normal products. It's a standalone internal tool for the team—a hackathon project. LaunchWise is a new workflow and Slack-based collaboration tool for collaboration between different members of the team to resolve the bottleneck we have in product marketing and getting new features launched. We built it because announcing and making our users aware of new features is a huge challenge for the company right now. Something only Tristan and Dan have really done manually for the company historically, and we want to make it a lot faster. The immediate users are going to be the team, and it's going to solve the pain that launching stuff is so manual, so messy, and so hard to stay on top of. For end users, they're actually going to find out about all the new stuff we're working on, which will be very valuable. I think there's a lot of demand from myself, Dan, and Christina because this process is a mess right now. Making it less of a mess will improve our lives a lot and allow the company to get more stuff done. Ultimately, this project is about acquisition. The whole point of product marketing and launching stuff is primarily to drive new usage and word-of-mouth growth. Secondarily, I think it will help with retention by letting our existing users know about all the valuable things we're building for them. The WOW moment will probably be our hackathon demo when we present it, or maybe just a cool screenshot or graphic we can include. For launch timing, I want this project specifically done in the next hour or two so we can move on to testing LaunchWise on more serious projects.

Campaign Brief: Test Project

Overview

• Feature name: Test Project
• Product: reader
• Launch date: TBD
• Status: copy
• Owner: @tristan

What It Is

A test campaign to walk through the full RAMP pipeline end-to-end. This exercises every stage — brief, inspiration, video script, asset creation, surfaces, copy, distribution, and dashboard — so the team can validate the process with readers and power users in mind.

Why We Built It

To test and refine the RAMP campaign workflow before running it on real launches.

User Demand

• Signal strength: internal
• Evidence: Team wants to validate the pipeline process.
• Who wants this most? The marketing team running RAMP.

Success

• Primary goal: process validation
• What does success look like? Every pipeline stage completes smoothly and the team is confident in the workflow.
• Secondary goals: Identify any friction points or improvements needed.

The "Wow" Moment

Seeing the full pipeline produce polished output from a simple brief.

Target Audience

Readers and power users.

Launch Constraints

Test campaign — no real launch date or external distribution required.

Messaging Angle

N/A — test campaign for internal process validation.

Raw Notes

Initiated by @tristan as a test run through the RAMP pipeline.