📖 Grav Helios Open Reader Plugin

Designed to accompany the Helios Open Reader Skeleton

Publish open textbooks, course readers, student projects, and other OER on the web – with content in portable Markdown files you fully control.

A free, open-source plugin that transforms the Grav Premium Helios theme into a structured site for open educational content — open textbooks, readers, and student projects — built on Grav CMS with Markdown file-based content, a built-in Admin panel, and no database required. Purchasing the Helios theme also directly supports Grav's open-source development.

What Sets It Apart

Built for open education from the ground up — CC license display, OER attribution footer, callout blocks (Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways, Examples, Exercises), and a section structure designed for open textbooks, course readers, and OER.
Readers never lose their place — Keep My Place records the last page visited and surfaces a "Continue reading" strip on return. Most open textbook and reader platforms don't offer this at all.
Content you own and can take anywhere — everything lives as portable Markdown files on your server, fully independent of any platform or service. Switch tools, migrate hosts, or open a pull request — your content travels with you, not with the platform.
Embeds cleanly into any LMS — one URL parameter displays content only, without surrounding navigation; internal links carry it forward automatically. No LTI configuration or institutional integration required.
No build pipeline, ever — edit in the browser-based Admin panel and changes go live immediately. Unlike static site generators for open textbooks, there's nothing to install locally and no commit → push → build → deploy cycle.
An Admin Panel that keeps getting better — Helios-inspired refresh today, with a ground-up redesign coming as part of Grav's next major release.
A CMS and Git, not a choice between them — most platforms give you one or the other: a browser editor that locks content in a database, or a Git workflow that requires technical setup. Helios Open Reader gives you both: browser-based editing and automatic Git Sync with GitHub or Codeberg.
Plain text export for open access — optionally publish all reader content as structured plain text, portable and format-neutral, ready for search indexing, ebook pipelines, and any tool that can read a URL.
Bring your Pressbooks content with you – the companion Pressbooks Converter (Beta) transforms a Pressbooks XHTML export into a complete Open Reader in minutes: sections, chapters, learning objectives, cover image, license, and OER attribution all carried across automatically.

When is Grav Helios Open Reader a Good Candidate?

Grav Helios Open Reader is a strong fit when you:

Need a structured reader layout with sections and sub-pages, auto-detected from your folder naming, with a configurable section label (Chapter, Project, Unit, Module, or any custom term)
Want callout blocks (Learning Objectives, Key Takeaways, Examples, Exercises, Definitions, Reflections, Case Studies) without coding
Need to embed reader pages directly into an LMS (Canvas, Moodle, Brightspace) as clean iframes, with flexible Table of Contents positioning
Need rich content embedding (H5P, iFrames, Google Slides, PDFs, Embedly) without coding
Want dark mode, mobile-friendly design, and keyboard-accessible navigation out of the box

Other publishing tools might be better candidates when you:

Need packaged export formats (PDF, ePub, DOCX) for offline distribution — browser print-to-PDF works, but no dedicated export pipeline is included
Need built-in math/LaTeX rendering for STEM content (requires a separate Grav MathJax plugin)
Need social annotation or inline commenting features (e.g. Hypothesis integration)
Need zero-server, instant publishing directly from GitHub without any hosting setup
Prefer a large ecosystem of themes and plugins beyond what Grav currently offers

Still unsure? Install the skeleton package on almost any Web server, replace the demo content with your own, and your reader is ready. Your content stays in portable Markdown files you own completely, and those same files work with other tools if your needs change. For zero-setup publishing directly from GitHub or Codeberg without a Web server, Docsify-This is a natural companion.

Quick Start

The recommended starting point is the pre-configured Grav Helios Open Reader Skeleton, which includes this plugin, demo content, and all required configuration.

Download and install the Grav Helios Open Reader Skeleton package
Enter your licenses – your Helios and complimentary SVG Icons license keys (or import an existing license file), then install and activate the theme

The skeleton comes pre-configured in multi-publication mode with two demo publications, and is ready to use after licensing the Helios theme.

To install the plugin manually on an existing Grav + Helios site, see the Installation and Demo Content sections below.

Installation

Typically a plugin should be installed via GPM (Grav Package Manager):

$ bin/gpm install helios-open-reader

Alternatively it can be installed via the Admin Plugin.

Demo Content

The _demo folder in this plugin contains a default Helios Open Reader site that can be used as a starting point. The default demo uses multi-publication mode with two publications:

00.readers/ – Readers home (reader-list.md)
01.open-reader-guide/ – Publication 1: Grav Helios Open Reader (with section-list.md home and five sections)
02.open-education-essentials/ – Publication 2: Open Education Essentials (with section-list.md home and three sections)
readme/ – In-site README page

A single-publication demo is also included in _demo/single-publication/ for reference.

To use the demo content, copy the contents of _demo/pages/ into your Grav user/pages/ folder.

Helios Theme Configuration

Note

This section is only needed when installing the plugin manually. The Grav Helios Open Reader Skeleton includes all of the following configuration automatically.

Add the following to user/config/themes/helios.yaml to configure the reader structure and search. The version_pattern detects both section-N and part-N-section-M folder names automatically.

versioning:
  version_pattern: '/^(section-?\d+|part-\d+-section-\d+)/i'
  labels:
    section-1: 'Introduction to the Subject'
    section-2: 'Core Concepts'
    section-3: 'Advanced Topics'
search:
  placeholder: 'Search reader...'

Note: Labels are required — without them, Helios falls back to a raw slug display. Add one key: 'Title' entry per section folder. Labels can also be edited via Admin → Themes → Helios → Versioning tab → Version Labels.

Tip

After adding or renaming a section folder, clear the Grav cache via the Clear Cache button in the Admin panel if the change does not appear immediately.

If disabling the plugin, manually restore the following Helios theme defaults in user/config/themes/helios.yaml:

versioning:
  version_pattern: '/^v?\d+(\.\d+)*$/'
  labels:
    v1: "v1 (Legacy)"
    v2: "v2 (Stable)"
    v3: "v3 (Latest)"
search:
  placeholder: 'Search documentation...'

Features

Helios Open Reader provides a ready-built site for open educational content — open textbooks, readers, and student projects — using portable Markdown files you fully control. Highlights include a configurable sections structure, multi-publication support, a full set of callout blocks, Keep My Place navigation, and optional Git Sync for open collaborative authoring.

Reader Structure

Sections structure — top-level folders named section-N are auto-detected as sections and render as section cards on the reader home
Multi-publication — group multiple publications (books, guides, essays, reports) under a single readers home page; publication cards show the title, subtitle, authors, edition, and optional last updated date from each publication home; publications can be organized under labeled group headings on the readers list; publication folders using section-list.md at root level are auto-detected; the sidebar shows links back to the readers list and the current publication home; by default chapters list directly in the sidebar — add nested_section_nav: true to a publication's section-list.md to show a collapsible section home parent instead
Optional parts grouping — rename section folders to part-N-section-M (e.g. part-1-section-1, part-2-section-1) to group sections into parts; part headings appear automatically on the reader home, and Prev/Next navigation and reading progress are scoped per part
Section N header — section pages automatically display their section number and configurable label in the page header (e.g. Chapter 1, Project 2, Unit 3); inherits correctly for all sub-pages within a section. Set via Admin → Pages → Reader Home → Section Label
Section sub-pages — sections can contain any number of sub-pages, all shown in the sidebar and navigable with Prev/Next controls
Publication home page with cover image, title, subtitle, authors, edition, and CC license badge

Callout Blocks

Learning Objectives — [objectives]...[/objectives] (green); also available as frontmatter (learning_objectives:) for automatic rendering at the top of a section landing page
Key Takeaways — [key-takeaways]...[/key-takeaways] (blue)
Example — [example]...[/example] (purple)
Exercise — [exercise]...[/exercise] (amber)
Definition — [definition]...[/definition] (blue)
Reflection — [reflection]...[/reflection] (green)
Case Study — [case-study]...[/case-study] (red)
Announcement — [announcement]...[/announcement] (purple by default; configurable type)
Project Brief — [project-brief]...[/project-brief] (amber); frames the assignment or challenge prompt
Feedback Requested — [feedback-requested]...[/feedback-requested] (purple); flags content awaiting review — useful in student projects and draft OER alike
Process Note — [process-note]...[/process-note] (blue); documents iterations, decisions, or pivots during a project
All callouts accept an optional title="..." parameter and support Markdown content
Five built-in GitHub-style callouts via the github-markdown-alerts plugin: > [!NOTE], > [!TIP], > [!IMPORTANT], > [!WARNING], > [!CAUTION]

Navigation & Reading Experience

Keep My Place — records the last section page visited in localStorage; a dismissable "Continue reading" strip appears on the publication home page on return, linking directly to the last section read
Reading progress indicator — shows current page position (e.g. Page 4 of 22) with an accessible progress bar above the Prev/Next navigation on section pages
Prev/Next navigation — configurable position: top, bottom, or both
TOC scroll spy — active heading highlighted in the Table of Contents as the reader scrolls
Start button — on the reader home; links directly to the first section. Button text is configurable (e.g. Start Reading, Browse Projects, View Guides)
Search across the full reader via the simplesearch plugin

LMS Embedding

Append ?embedded=true (or ?chromeless=true) to any page URL to display only the page content — no sidebar, header, or pagination. Designed for embedding Helios Open Reader pages in an LMS iframe (Canvas, Moodle, Brightspace, etc.).

All internal links automatically carry the ?embedded=true parameter forward, so navigating between pages stays in embedded mode
Combine with ?toc_position=hidden to also hide the Table of Contents
Combine with ?toc_position=left or ?toc_position=right to reposition the Table of Contents to suit surrounding LMS navigation
Combine with ?edit_link=false (or ?hidegitlink=true) to hide the "Edit this Page" link

Example iframe:

<iframe src="https://yoursite.com/section-1?embedded=true" width="100%" height="600" style="border:none;"></iframe>

Authoring & Customization

Git Sync plugin for syncing reader content with GitHub, Codeberg, or similar Git hosting
Automatic "Edit this Page" link via the Helios theme, defaulting to View Page Markdown for open access to reader content; optionally configurable to direct editing for contributors with repository access
OER attribution block — display a CC license statement in the footer, drawn from reader home page frontmatter
Plain text version (disabled by default) — optionally generate /llms.txt (structured index) and /llms-full.txt (full content) endpoints for open access to all reader content in a portable, format-neutral form; useful for ebook generation (e.g. Pandoc), search and indexing tools, and AI-compatible tools; a configurable footer link with optional icon is included
Customize CSS and JavaScript via the bundled plugin assets
Print stylesheet with page break control, absolute link URLs displayed inline, and consistent page margins across browsers

If you prefer not to write Markdown directly, the optional Grav Premium Editor Pro provides a visual block editor for editing pages.

Reader Setup

A publication is a titled reader with its own home page, authors, sections, and optional parts.

The skeleton ships pre-configured in multi-publication mode with two demo publications.

Default Setup (Multi-Publication)

00.readers/              ← readers home (reader-list.md)
01.open-reader-guide/         ← Publication 1 — Grav Helios Open Reader
  section-list.md             ← publication home
  01.section-1/               ← section 1 (section.md)
    01.intro/                 ← sub-page (section-page.md)
  02.section-2/               ← section 2 (section.md)
02.open-education-essentials/ ← Publication 2 — Open Education Essentials
  section-list.md             ← publication home
  01.section-1/
  02.section-2/

The readers home auto-detects all publication folders at root level and displays them as cards. Section names in the sidebar are drawn from each section page's title field — no versioning.labels configuration is needed.

To add a new publication, create a numbered folder at root level with a section-list.md — set at minimum a title — and your section folders inside.

Tip

After adding, renaming, or removing a section folder, clear the Grav cache via the Clear Cache button in the Admin panel.

To hide a publication from the list while keeping its URL accessible, set visible: false in the publication's section-list.md frontmatter.

Single-Publication Alternative

If you only need a single publication and prefer a simpler root-level folder structure, you can convert the skeleton to single-publication mode:

Remove the 00.readers/ folder
Move your publication folder's contents (section-list.md and section folders) to root level
Update home.alias in user/config/system.yaml to point to your reader home (e.g. /open-reader-guide)

00.my-publication/    ← reader home (section-list.md)
01.section-1/         ← section 1 (section.md)
  01.intro/           ← sub-page (section-page.md)
02.section-2/         ← section 2 (section.md)
03.section-3/         ← section 3 (section.md)

Tip

In single-publication mode, add a versioning.labels entry in user/config/themes/helios.yaml for each section folder — this sets the section name shown in the sidebar and browser tab title.

Grouping Sections into Parts

Parts grouping applies in single-publication mode. To group sections into parts on the reader home page, use the part-N-section-M folder naming pattern instead of section-N:

00.my-publication/
01.part-1-section-1/    ← Part 1, Section 1 (section.md)
02.part-1-section-2/    ← Part 1, Section 2 (section.md)
03.part-2-section-1/    ← Part 2, Section 1 (section.md)
04.part-2-section-2/    ← Part 2, Section 2 (section.md)

Parts are detected automatically — no additional configuration required. Part headings ("Part 1", "Part 2") appear above each group of section cards on the reader home page, Prev/Next navigation stops at part boundaries, and the reading progress indicator counts pages within the current part only.

Tip

After switching to the part-N-section-M folder naming pattern, update versioning.labels in user/config/themes/helios.yaml (or via Admin → Themes → Helios → Versioning → Version Labels) to add the new folder names as keys — this ensures section labels display correctly in the sidebar and browser tab title.

To use custom part titles instead of the auto-generated "Part 1", "Part 2" labels, add a parts block to section-list.md:

parts:
  - id: part-1
    label: 'Foundations of Open Education'
  - id: part-2
    label: 'Applying Open Practices'

Also update version_pattern in user/config/themes/helios.yaml to detect both naming conventions:

versioning:
  version_pattern: '/^(section-?\d+|part-\d+-section-\d+)/i'
  labels:
    part-1-section-1: 'Introduction'
    part-1-section-2: 'Core Concepts'
    part-2-section-1: 'Advanced Topics'
    part-2-section-2: 'Publishing & Sharing'

Multi-Publication Settings

Readers List (`reader-list.md`)

Global settings for section label, Prev/Next position, and OER attribution are set here and apply to all publications; individual publications can override them in their own section-list.md.

Field	Description
`title`	Publications list title displayed in the header
`subtitle`	Optional collection tagline displayed below the title
`prev_next_position`	Prev/Next position on section pages: `both` (default), `top`, or `bottom`
`show_oer_attribution`	Show CC license footer on all pages
`section_label`	Section label for all publications (e.g. `Chapter`). Overridable per publication.
`license`	CC license label
`license_url`	License URL
`attribution_text`	Full attribution statement
`cards_per_row`	Publication cards per row (1–3); default is 2
`card_icon`	Default icon for reader cards
`card_image_layout`	Card image position: `side` or `top` (default: `top`)
`card_description_lines`	Max description lines per card

Publication Home Settings (`section-list.md`)

These fields apply when section-list.md is used as the publication home (recommended). These fields are set in the publication's section-list.md.

Field	Description
`title`	Publication title
`subtitle`	Optional subtitle shown below the title; also used as the description on the publication card in the readers list
`cover_image`	Cover image filename for this publication
`authors`	Author name(s); also shown on the publication card in the readers list
`edition`	Optional edition label; also shown on the publication card in the readers list
`last_updated`	Optional date displayed on the publication card in the readers list. Set via the Last Updated field in the Admin panel.
`group`	Optional group label for organizing this publication under a heading on the readers list (e.g. `Textbooks`, `Guides`). Publications without a group appear first.
`license`	CC license badge
`start_button_text`	Start Reading button label. Leave empty to hide.
`section_label`	Override the section label for this publication only
`prev_next_position`	Override Prev/Next position for this publication
`show_oer_attribution`	Override OER attribution display for this publication
`cards_per_row`	Section cards per row (1–3); default is 1
`card_icon`	Default icon for section cards
`card_image_layout`	Card image position: `side` or `top` (default: `side`)
`card_description_lines`	Max description lines per card

Reader Home Settings

The section-list.md frontmatter controls the publication identity and card layout. In single-publication mode it is the reader home; in multi-publication mode it is the publication home inside each publication folder.

Field	Description
`title`	Title displayed in the header
`subtitle`	Optional subtitle shown below the title in italics
`authors`	Author name(s) shown below the subtitle
`edition`	Optional edition line (e.g. `First Edition, 2025`)
`license`	CC license label shown as a badge (e.g. `CC BY 4.0`)
`license_url`	URL for the license badge link
`attribution_text`	Full attribution statement shown in the footer when OER attribution is enabled
`cover_image`	Filename of a cover image uploaded to the reader home media folder
`start_button_text`	Label for the button linking to the first section (e.g. `Start Reading`, `Browse Projects`, `View Guides`). Leave empty to hide.
`prev_next_position`	Where to display Prev/Next navigation on section pages: `both` (default), `top`, or `bottom`
`show_oer_attribution`	Display the CC license and attribution text in the footer of every page (`true` or `false`)
`section_label`	Label used for sections throughout the reader (e.g. `Chapter`, `Unit`). Leave empty to use the language default (`Section`).
`part_label`	Label used for part headings on the reader home page when using the `part-N-section-M` folder naming pattern (e.g. `Theme`, `Project`). Leave empty to use the default (`Part`).
`parts`	Optional list of custom part titles — see Grouping Sections into Parts
`cards_per_row`	Number of section cards per row (1–3); default is 1
`card_icon`	Default icon for all cards (Tabler icon path)
`card_image_layout`	Card image position: `side` or `top` (default: `side`)
`card_description_lines`	Maximum description lines per card (2, 3, or 0 for no limit)

Page content written in section-list.md appears above the cards by default. To also display content below the cards, add === on its own line as a delimiter:

This text appears above the section cards.

===

This text appears below the section cards.

Reader Section Settings

The section.md frontmatter controls each section's landing page and card appearance.

Field	Description
`section_number`	Section number shown in the page header; inherits to all sub-pages within the section
`description`	Description shown on the section card
`icon`	Tabler icon path for the section card
`image`	Filename of a card image uploaded to this page's media folder
`author`	Author name(s) shown on the section card
`learning_objectives`	Markdown list rendered as a Learning Objectives block at the top of the section landing page
`badge_label`	Optional status badge label (e.g. `New`, `Draft`)
`badge_color`	Optional badge colour (`blue`, `green`, `yellow`, `red`, `purple`, `plain`)

Individual content pages within a section (section-page.md) have no custom frontmatter — add content directly in the editor.

---
title: What is Open Education?
section_number: 1
icon: tabler/school.svg
image: section-cover.jpg
author: Jane Smith
description: An introduction to open education principles and the 5Rs framework.
badge_label: New
badge_color: green
learning_objectives: |
  - Define open education and explain its core principles
  - Identify the 5Rs of open educational resources
---

Section Label and Part Label

The Section Label (default: Section) can be customized via Admin → Pages → Reader Home → Section Label. Examples: Chapter, Project, Unit, Module. For multi-language sites, the per-language default is set via SECTION_LABEL in user/plugins/helios-open-reader/languages.yaml.

The Part Label (default: Part) can be customized via Admin → Pages → Reader Home → Part Label when sections are grouped using the part-N-section-M folder naming pattern. Examples: Theme, Project.

Templates

reader-list – Readers home template displaying a card grid of all publications (multi-publication mode)
section-list – Reader home for single-publication mode and publication home in multi-publication mode; displays the reader header, resume reading strip, and section card grid
section – Section landing page with optional section number, Learning Objectives block, and card metadata (description, icon, image, badge); one per section folder
section-page – Individual section content page; no custom frontmatter — add content directly in the editor
default-toc – Content page with a right-column Table of Contents; set template: default-toc in any page's frontmatter to enable (requires the page-toc plugin, included)

Tip

The default-toc template is ideal for standalone content-heavy pages such as a preface, bibliography, or about page that benefit from in-page navigation but don't need the section structure.

Assets

helios.css – Theme styling (announcement blockquotes, heading typography, Font Awesome spacing, responsive containers)
reader.css – Reader-specific styles (callout block spacing, resume reading strip, reading progress indicator, top Prev/Next navigation styling)
helios.js – Embedly dark/light theme support, Keep My Place localStorage logic, HTMX content-loaded integration
print.css – Print stylesheet (hides navigation chrome, resets colors for light and dark themes, controls page breaks, displays absolute link URLs, sets consistent page margins)
admin.css – Helios-inspired Admin Panel styling (conditionally loaded based on the Helios-inspired Admin Styling setting)
admin.js – Admin panel JavaScript customizations

Shortcodes

Callout Blocks

All callouts accept an optional title="..." parameter and support Markdown content.

[objectives]...[/objectives] – Learning Objectives block (green)
[objectives title="By the end of this section..."]...[/objectives] – With custom title
[key-takeaways]...[/key-takeaways] – Key Takeaways block (blue)
[example]...[/example] – Example block (purple)
[exercise]...[/exercise] – Exercise block (amber)
[definition]...[/definition] – Definition block (blue)
[reflection]...[/reflection] – Reflection block (green)
[case-study]...[/case-study] – Case Study block (red)
[announcement]...[/announcement] – Announcement notice (purple by default), supports Markdown
[announcement title="..." type="..."]...[/announcement] – With optional custom title and type (note, tip, important, warning, caution)
[project-brief]...[/project-brief] – Project Brief block (amber); frames the assignment or challenge prompt
[feedback-requested]...[/feedback-requested] – Feedback Requested block (purple); flags content awaiting review — useful in student projects and draft OER alike
[process-note]...[/process-note] – Process Note block (blue); documents iterations, decisions, or pivots during a project

Tip

For simple notices, the standard Markdown callout > [!IMPORTANT] is a zero-friction alternative to the [announcement] shortcode.

Blockquotes and Excerpts

Standard Markdown blockquote (> text) – short pull quotes with the default bold accent border
[excerpt]...[/excerpt] – for longer multi-paragraph passages; renders with a subtler grey left border and italic text, closer to how long quotations appear in print

Embedding

[iframe url="..."] – Responsive iframe embed, 16:9 by default
[iframe url="..." ratio="4:3"] – Responsive iframe embed at 4:3 ratio
[iframe url="..." title="..."] – Responsive iframe embed with accessible title (recommended for accessibility)
[googleslides url="..."] – Responsive Google Slides embed, 16:9 by default
[googleslides url="..." ratio="4:3"] – Responsive Google Slides embed at 4:3 ratio
[googleslides url="..." title="..."] – Responsive Google Slides embed with accessible title (recommended for accessibility)
[pdf url="..."] – PDF viewer via Google Docs, 16:9 by default
[pdf url="..." ratio="4:3"] – PDF viewer at 4:3 ratio
[pdf url="..." ratio="portrait"] – PDF viewer at portrait ratio (letter/A4)
[pdf url="..." title="..."] – PDF viewer with accessible title (recommended for accessibility)
[h5p url="..."] – H5P interactive content via full embed URL
[h5p id="..."] – H5P interactive content via Content ID (requires H5P Content Embed Source URL to be set in plugin settings)
[h5p url="..." title="..."] – H5P embed with accessible title (recommended for accessibility)
[embedly url="..."] – Embedly card with dark mode support
[linkpreviewcard url="..."] – Self-hosted link preview card (image, title, description) scraped directly from the page; an alternative to [embedly] that doesn't rely on the embed.ly service

Plugin Settings

The following settings are available in the Admin panel under Plugins → Helios Open Reader:

Setting	Default	Description
Helios-inspired Admin Styling	Enabled	Apply Helios-inspired styling enhancements to the Admin Panel (rounded corners, transitions, improved typography)
Admin Font Size (Admin 1.7 only)	Large	Sets the Admin Panel font size: Default, Large, or Larger
Show Site Logo Icon	Enabled	Show or hide the icon square next to the Logo Text in the header when no logo image is set
Site Logo Icon	`tabler/notebook.svg`	Tabler icon path for the site logo icon square. Only applies when Show Site Logo Icon is enabled
Single Publication Site Logo Link	`single_publication` (default)	When only one publication is listed, the site logo links directly to that publication's home page. Set to Readers Home Page to always link to the readers list instead.
Show Plugin Credits	Enabled	Show or hide the "Built with Grav · Helios · Helios Open Reader" attribution line in the footer
Show Repository Host Icon Link in Header	Enabled	Show a GitHub or Codeberg icon link to the reader repository in the site header (requires GitHub Integration enabled in the Helios theme)
Git Link Icon	`tabler/file-text.svg`	Tabler icon path for the Git link icon shown in the page footer
Git Link Mode	View file	Whether the Git link opens the file for viewing (default, for open access) or editing (for contributors with repository access)
Repository Host	`github.com`	Repository hosting service for the Helios GitHub Integration (`github.com` or `codeberg.org`)
H5P Content Embed Source URL	`https://h5p.org/h5p/embed/`	Base URL for H5P embeds via Content ID (used with `[h5p id="..."]`)
Enable Plain Text Version	Disabled	Generate `/llms.txt` (structured index) and `/llms-full.txt` (full content) endpoints containing all reader content in plain text
Show Plain Text Version Link in Footer	Enabled	Show a plain text version link in the page footer. In multi-publication mode the link is scoped to the current publication; not shown on the readers list page. Only applies when Enable Plain Text Version is enabled
Plain Text Version Link Label	`Plain text version (llms-full.txt)`	Label for the plain text version footer link
Plain Text Version Link Icon	`tabler/book.svg`	Tabler icon path shown before the plain text version link label. Leave empty for no icon
Include Page Templates	`section-page`	Only pages using these templates appear in the plain text version
Image URLs in Plain Text Version	`Absolute URLs`	Controls how image references appear in the plain text version: Absolute URLs (recommended — makes images accessible to LLMs and AI tools), Suppress images (removes all image markdown for text-only output), or Relative paths (leaves paths unchanged; not recommended for remote LLM use)

Note: To apply the Helios-inspired Admin Panel colour scheme (zinc nav, accessible blue links, muted purple accents), go to Admin → Customization → Presets, select Helios, and click Save. When using the skeleton, this preset is pre-configured automatically.

Requirements

PHP >= 8.0
Grav CMS >= 1.7.0
Grav Premium Helios Theme – one license per site (Standard or Team)

Bring Your Pressbooks Content With You

The companion Pressbooks Converter (Beta) transforms a Pressbooks XHTML export into a complete Open Reader in minutes – sections, chapters, learning objectives, H5P activity links, cover image, license, and OER attribution all carried across automatically. Because Pressbooks exports follow a single, consistent format, conversions are typically a close, faithful match to the original book. Upload your export and browse the resulting Markdown files directly – no Grav or Helios installation needed to see what carries over.

Support

Contact and Support

Follow @hibbittsdesign@mastodon.social on Mastodon for updates
👩🏻‍💻🧑🏻‍💻 Join the Grav Discord and often find me there
Add a ⭐️ star on GitHub to the Helios Open Reader project repository
For bugs or feature requests, open an issue on GitHub

Professional Services

By leveraging his extensive UX design expertise and systems-oriented approach, Paul helps teams and individuals utilize open content in education and publication settings. Professional services include user experience and workflow consulting, premium support subscriptions, workshops, and custom development. Interested? Send a note to paul@hibbittsdesign.org.

License

MIT – Hibbitts Design

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
_demo		_demo
assets		assets
blueprints		blueprints
languages		languages
shortcodes		shortcodes
templates		templates
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
blueprints.yaml		blueprints.yaml
helios-open-reader.php		helios-open-reader.php
helios-open-reader.yaml		helios-open-reader.yaml
helios-preset.yaml		helios-preset.yaml
languages.yaml		languages.yaml

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📖 Grav Helios Open Reader Plugin

Designed to accompany the Helios Open Reader Skeleton

What Sets It Apart

When is Grav Helios Open Reader a Good Candidate?

Quick Start

Installation

Demo Content

Helios Theme Configuration

Features

Reader Structure

Callout Blocks

Navigation & Reading Experience

LMS Embedding

Authoring & Customization

Reader Setup

Default Setup (Multi-Publication)

Single-Publication Alternative

Grouping Sections into Parts

Multi-Publication Settings

Readers List (reader-list.md)

Publication Home Settings (section-list.md)

Reader Home Settings

Reader Section Settings

Section Label and Part Label

Templates

Assets

Shortcodes

Callout Blocks

Blockquotes and Excerpts

Embedding

Plugin Settings

Requirements

Bring Your Pressbooks Content With You

Support

Contact and Support

Professional Services

License

About

Resources

Code of conduct

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Readers List (`reader-list.md`)

Publication Home Settings (`section-list.md`)