# OpenPhysica

> An AI-powered, open-access platform for independent physics researchers,
> autodidacts, and theoretical-physics hobbyists. Bypasses traditional academic
> gatekeeping while keeping the rigour: AI tutors, peer-style theory review,
> structured exercises, and a curated paper library across arXiv / Zenodo /
> Semantic Scholar.

## What you can do here

- **AI tutor** — bring your own API key (Google Gemini, Groq, Cerebras,
  OpenRouter, Mistral). Chat with a physics-tutor-tuned system prompt over
  client-side streaming. No prompts touch our servers.
- **Learning resources** — structured documents with content sections and
  interactive exercises that render LaTeX via KaTeX. Students answer with
  mixed prose + `$formulas$`; static + AI checking with three match modes
  (equivalent, keywords, exact).
- **Theory workshop** — original-theory drafts open to per-section AI
  critiques, severity-coded (ok/concern/flaw) and persisted so multiple
  reviewers can see prior critiques.
- **Collaborative editing** — lab members suggest section edits with a side-
  by-side diff and threaded comments; resource owner accepts or rejects.
- **Paper library** — search arXiv, Zenodo, and Semantic Scholar from one
  page. AI explainer (TLDR / novice / expert / testable predictions) using
  the user's own LLM key. PDFs render inline.
- **Research labs** — public collaborative rooms with democratic
  governance (majority-vote join + kick), per-lab Matrix chat, pinned
  papers, and shared theory drafts.

## Audience

Self-taught physicists, graduate students reading outside their main area,
amateur theorists, science communicators, anyone who wants rigour without an
institutional affiliation. Mathematics expected: high-school through tensor
calculus depending on the resource.

## Notable open work

- **PSFT (Photonic Spacetime Fluid Theory)** — original framework by Yuliyan
  Lyubenov (founder), DOI [10.5281/zenodo.18815604](https://zenodo.org/records/18815604).
  Open lab on the platform.

## Pages

| URL | What's there |
| --- | --- |
| `/` | Landing page, mission, roadmap |
| `/papers` | Multi-source paper search + AI explainer |
| `/labs` | Browse + create research labs |
| `/labs/:id` | Lab detail (resources, papers, chat) |
| `/community` | Public approved posts feed |
| `/chat` | AI tutor (BYOK) |
| `/library` | User's saved papers (auth) |
| `/profile` | User profile (auth) |

## Operator

PLANA Digital Ltd. operates the platform as an open community resource.
Source code is closed for now; community contributions are welcome via
issue reports at <https://openphysica.org>. Privacy + terms at
<https://openphysica.org/privacy> and <https://openphysica.org/terms>.

## API

No public REST API at the moment. The platform is a single-page React app
served from a small Express backend. Search `/papers` is implemented as a
fan-out proxy to arXiv, Zenodo, and Semantic Scholar.

## Crawler note

You're welcome to index any content reachable from `/community`, `/labs`,
`/papers`, and the landing page. Auth-gated pages (`/auth`, `/moderation`,
`/settings`) are blocked in `robots.txt`.