diff --git a/src/lib/actions/bionicReading.js b/src/lib/actions/bionicReading.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..152a28c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/actions/bionicReading.js
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// src/lib/actions/bionicReading.js
+
+function applyBionic(node) {
+  const walker = document.createTreeWalker(node, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT);
+  const textNodes = [];
+  let current;
+  while ((current = walker.nextNode())) textNodes.push(current);
+
+  for (const textNode of textNodes) {
+    const words = textNode.textContent.split(/(\s+)/);
+    if (words.length <= 1 && !words[0].trim()) continue;
+
+    const fragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
+    for (const word of words) {
+      if (!word.trim() || word.length < 2) {
+        fragment.appendChild(document.createTextNode(word));
+        continue;
+      }
+      const boldLen = Math.min(3, Math.ceil(word.length / 2));
+      const b = document.createElement('b');
+      b.textContent = word.slice(0, boldLen);
+      fragment.appendChild(b);
+      fragment.appendChild(document.createTextNode(word.slice(boldLen)));
+    }
+    textNode.parentNode.replaceChild(fragment, textNode);
+  }
+}
+
+function stripBionic(node) {
+  const bolds = node.querySelectorAll('b');
+  for (const b of bolds) {
+    const text = document.createTextNode(b.textContent);
+    b.parentNode.replaceChild(text, b);
+  }
+  node.normalize(); // merge adjacent text nodes
+}
+
+export function bionicReading(node, enabled) {
+  let observer = null;
+
+  function refresh() {
+    // Disconnect observer while we mutate, to avoid infinite loop
+    if (observer) observer.disconnect();
+    stripBionic(node);
+    if (enabled) applyBionic(node);
+    if (observer) observe();
+  }
+
+  function observe() {
+    observer.observe(node, { childList: true, characterData: true, subtree: true });
+  }
+
+  // MutationObserver catches Svelte re-rendering DOM content underneath us
+  // (new transcript segments, task name edits, etc.)
+  observer = new MutationObserver(refresh);
+
+  if (enabled) applyBionic(node);
+  observe();
+
+  return {
+    update(newEnabled) {
+      enabled = newEnabled;
+      refresh();
+    },
+    destroy() {
+      if (observer) observer.disconnect();
+      stripBionic(node);
+    }
+  };
+}