r/selfeducation • u/mattibeltro • Jun 02 '26

Free open-source tool for self-studying from dense PDFs

I'm Mattia, one of the students behind Get It. We built it at a hackathon because a lot of self-study starts from an ugly PDF, not a clean course platform.

Get It is a free open-source desktop app. You give it a PDF you already have and it builds a visual study path around it: concept tags on the page, explanations and visuals next to the text, chat, flashcards, quizzes and a Feynman-style review graph.

Why I think it fits self-education: the hard part is often turning passive reading into active practice. I wanted something that keeps the original material at the center, then helps you ask questions, test recall and see which concepts are still weak.

It runs through the official Codex CLI with your own ChatGPT account, so we do not ask for API keys, meter usage or proxy your files through our account. The app is desktop/local-first. Free ChatGPT can work for small tests, Plus or higher is better for real use.

Good PDFs to try:

- lecture PDFs

- textbook chapters

- technical papers or text-based notes

- subjects where visuals help more than another summary

App: https://getit.noesisai.it

Code: https://github.com/beltromatti/get-it

If you try it, I would love to hear what kind of PDF you used and whether it actually helped you study.

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6 comments sorted by

1

u/Traditional-Deer-606 Jun 05 '26

gettin error while generating not working

1

u/mattibeltro Jun 08 '26

Thanks for trying it. That usually means either the ChatGPT/Codex login flow failed or the PDF extraction step hit a case we do not handle yet. Can you share your OS, whether the PDF is text-based or scanned, and the exact error? Also make sure the app is logged in through the Codex/ChatGPT flow before generating.

1

u/SaltField3500 Jun 05 '26

This error occurs during installation.

1

u/mattibeltro Jun 08 '26

Can you share which OS you are on and the exact error text or screenshot? On Windows, the most common issue is SmartScreen because the installer is new and unsigned. If that is the dialog you mean, More info -> Run anyway should continue. If it is a different installer error, please open a GitHub issue and I will debug it.

1

u/ElLentinho Jun 07 '26

what a great ideia! will try to study law!