Ultra RSS Reader
Your feeds, on your machine. A keyboard-first desktop RSS reader with offline full-text search and FreshRSS sync — no account, no cloud, no subscription.
macOS note: releases are currently ad-hoc signed (no Apple Developer ID), so Gatekeeper will
warn on first launch. Right-click the app → Open, or run
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Ultra RSS Reader.app".
Why Ultra RSS Reader?
All articles live in an embedded SQLite database on your machine. Full-text search (FTS5) works offline across everything you have ever fetched.
Connect a FreshRSS server via the Google Reader API. Read status and stars sync bidirectionally, with pending local changes protected from being overwritten by stale remote state.
Passwords and tokens go to Keychain / Credential Manager / Secret Service, never into the database.
j/k navigation, single-key actions, a ⌘K command palette that
jumps straight to any feed, and fully customizable bindings.
Web Preview embeds the publisher page inside the reading flow with dedicated browser controls.
Keyboard Shortcuts
All bindings are customizable in Settings. Defaults:
| Key | Action | Key | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| j / k | Next / previous article | m | Toggle read |
| h / l | Previous / next feed | s | Toggle star |
| Space / Shift+Space | Scroll article | a | Mark all read |
| v | Open in-app browser | b | Open external browser |
| / | Search | f | Cycle filter |
| ⌘1 / ⌘2 / ⌘3 | Unread / All / Starred | u | Focus sidebar |
| ⌘K | Command palette | ⌘\ | Toggle sidebar |
| Esc | Close / clear | ⌘, | Settings |
How it compares
There are a lot of good RSS readers, and the right one depends on what you want to optimize for.
Ultra RSS Reader is built for people who want their archive to live on their own machine and their hands to stay on the keyboard. Everything you have ever fetched stays in a local SQLite database and is searchable offline, and sync is optional — point it at your own FreshRSS server or run it with no account at all. It is free and MIT-licensed.
If you want a polished native reader on Apple platforms, NetNewsWire and Reeder are excellent. If you want a hosted service with mobile apps and discovery features, Feedly or Inoreader will serve you better. Ultra RSS Reader deliberately does none of the hosted parts.