NoteDiscovery

What is NoteDiscovery?

NoteDiscovery is a lightweight, self-hosted note-taking application that puts you in complete control of your knowledge base. Write, organize, and discover your notes with a beautiful, modern interface—all running on your own server.

🎯 Who is it for?

• Privacy-conscious users who want complete control over their data
• Developers who prefer markdown and local file storage
• Knowledge workers building a personal wiki or second brain
• Teams looking for a self-hosted alternative to commercial apps
• Anyone who values simplicity, speed, and ownership

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✨ Why NoteDiscovery?

vs. Commercial Apps (Notion, Evernote, Obsidian Sync)

Feature	NoteDiscovery	Commercial Apps
Cost	100% Free	$xxx/month/year
Privacy	Your server, your data	Their servers, their terms
Speed	Lightning fast	Depends on internet
Offline	Always works	Limited or requires sync
Customization	Full control	Limited options
No Lock-in	Plain markdown files	Proprietary formats

Key Benefits

• 🔒 Total Privacy - Your notes never leave your server
• 📴 No CDN Required - The app and its shared links serve every browser library locally, so they work on air-gapped networks — see documentation/THIRD_PARTY.md
• 🔐 Optional Authentication - Simple password protection for self-hosted deployments
• 💰 Zero Cost - No subscriptions, no hidden fees
• 🚀 Fast & Lightweight - Instant search and navigation
• 🎨 Beautiful Themes - Multiple themes, easy to customize
• 🔌 Extensible - Plugin system for custom features
• 📱 Responsive - Works on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• 📂 Simple Storage - Plain markdown files in folders
• 🧮 Math Support - LaTeX/MathJax for beautiful equations
• 📄 HTML Export & Print - Export notes as standalone HTML or print
• 🕸️ Graph View - Interactive visualization of connected notes
• ✏️ Drawing editor - In-app sketches as drawing-*.png next to your notes — see documentation/DRAWING.md
• ⭐ Favorites - Star your most-used notes for instant access
• 📑 Outline Panel - Navigate headings with click-to-jump TOC
• 🤖 AI Assistant Ready - MCP integration for Claude, Cursor & more

🤖 AI-Powered Note Management

NoteDiscovery includes a built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, letting AI assistants directly interact with your notes:

What AI Can Do	Example
🔍 Search & Discover	"Find all my notes about Docker deployment"
📝 Create & Edit	"Create a meeting notes template for tomorrow"
📁 Organize	"Move all project notes to the archive folder"
🏷️ Tag & Categorize	"List all notes tagged with #urgent"
📊 Explore Connections	"Show me the knowledge graph of my notes"
✍️ Append Ideas	"Add this thought to my daily journal"

One-line setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, and other MCP-compatible tools:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notediscovery": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "-e", "NOTEDISCOVERY_URL=http://host.docker.internal:8000", "ghcr.io/gamosoft/notediscovery:latest", "python", "-m", "mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

🌐 Prefer a URL? Set MCP_ENABLED=true and point your client at http://your-server:8000/mcp (Streamable HTTP).

💡 See MCP.md for complete setup instructions and all available tools.

🧪 Want a fully local setup with a bundled LLM? OLLAMA-STACK.md spins up NoteDiscovery + Ollama + Open WebUI with one command.

📺 Watch the tour

🚀 Quick Start

Quick Setup

Linux/macOS:

mkdir -p notediscovery/data && cd notediscovery
docker run -d --name notediscovery -p 8000:8000 \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data \
  ghcr.io/gamosoft/notediscovery:latest

Windows (PowerShell):

mkdir notediscovery\data; cd notediscovery
docker run -d --name notediscovery -p 8000:8000 `
  -v ${PWD}/data:/app/data `
  ghcr.io/gamosoft/notediscovery:latest

Open http://localhost:8000 — done! 🎉

💡 Your notes are saved in ./data/. Themes, plugins, locales and default configuration values are included in the image.

Using Docker Compose

Two docker-compose files are provided:

File	Use Case
docker-compose.ghcr.yml	Recommended - Uses pre-built image from GitHub Container Registry
docker-compose.yml	For development - Builds from local source
docker-compose.ollama-stack.yml	Bundled local AI stack (NoteDiscovery + Ollama + Open WebUI) — see OLLAMA-STACK.md

Option 1: Pre-built image (fastest)

Linux/macOS:

mkdir -p notediscovery/data && cd notediscovery
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gamosoft/notediscovery/main/docker-compose.ghcr.yml
docker-compose -f docker-compose.ghcr.yml up -d

Windows (PowerShell):

mkdir notediscovery\data; cd notediscovery
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gamosoft/notediscovery/main/docker-compose.ghcr.yml -OutFile docker-compose.ghcr.yml
docker-compose -f docker-compose.ghcr.yml up -d

Option 2: Build from source (for development)

git clone https://github.com/gamosoft/notediscovery.git
cd notediscovery
docker-compose up -d

See Advanced Docker Setup for volume details.

Running Locally (Without Docker)

For development or if you prefer running directly:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gamosoft/notediscovery.git
cd notediscovery

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
python run.py

# Access at http://localhost:8000

Requirements:

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip (Python package manager)

Using Virtual Environments (Recommended for Arch/Fedora/Ubuntu 23.04+)

Modern Linux distributions enforce PEP 668, which prevents system-wide pip installs. Use a virtual environment instead:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gamosoft/notediscovery.git
cd notediscovery

# Create a virtual environment
python -m venv venv

# Activate it (choose your shell):
source venv/bin/activate        # Bash/Zsh (most Linux distros)
source venv/bin/activate.fish   # Fish (CachyOS, etc.)
source venv/bin/activate.csh    # Csh/Tcsh
.\venv\Scripts\activate         # Windows PowerShell

# Install dependencies and run
pip install -r requirements.txt
python run.py

⚠️ Warning

You'll need to activate the virtual environment (source venv/bin/activate) each time you open a new terminal before running the app

Advanced Docker Setup

The image includes bundled config, themes, plugins, and locales. To customize, you must:

1. Map the volume in your docker-compose or docker run command
2. Provide content - the file/folder must exist with valid content (empty = app might break!)

Volume	Purpose	Bundled?
data/	Your notes	❌ You must create
config.yaml	App settings	✅ Yes
themes/	Custom themes	✅ Yes
plugins/	Custom plugins	✅ Yes
locales/	Translations	✅ Yes

Dashboard Integration

An official icon for NoteDiscovery is now available on Dashboard Icons!
Use it in your self-hosted dashboards like Homepage, Homarr, Dashy, Heimdall, etc...

📚 Documentation

Want to learn more?

• 🎨 THEMES.md - Theme customization and creating custom themes
• ✨ FEATURES.md - Complete feature list and keyboard shortcuts
• ✏️ DRAWING.md - Built-in drawing editor (drawing-*.png), save behavior, and API notes
• 🏷️ TAGS.md - Organize notes with tags and combined filtering
• 📋 TEMPLATES.md - Create notes from reusable templates with dynamic placeholders
• 🧮 MATHJAX.md - LaTeX/Math notation examples and syntax reference
• 📊 MERMAID.md - Diagram creation with Mermaid (flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and more)
• 🔌 PLUGINS.md - Plugin system and available plugins
• 🧩 plugins/contrib/ - Optional community plugins and how to install them
• 🌐 API.md - REST API documentation and examples
• 🤖 MCP.md - AI assistant integration (Claude, Cursor, and more)
• 🔐 AUTHENTICATION.md - Enable password protection for your instance
• 🔧 ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES.md - Configure settings via environment variables
• 📦 THIRD_PARTY.md - Locally hosted browser libraries, licences, and how to update them

🌍 Multiple Languages

NoteDiscovery supports multiple interface languages via JSON locale files in locales/. Open Settings (gear icon) → Language to choose one; the list reflects whatever locales are installed (bundled files, mounts, or your own additions).

To add your own language: See the Contributing Guidelines for instructions on creating translation files.

Docker users: Mount your custom locales folder to add or override translations:

volumes:
  - ./locales:/app/locales  # Custom translations

💡 Pro Tip: If you clone this repository, you can mount the documentation/ folder to view these docs inside the app:

# In your docker-compose.yml
volumes:
  - ./data:/app/data              # Your personal notes
  - ./documentation:/app/data/docs:ro  # Mount docs subfolder inside the data folder (read-only)

Then access them at http://localhost:8000 - the docs will appear as a docs/ folder in the file browser!

🤝 Contributing

Before submitting a pull request, especially for major changes, please:

• Read our Contributing Guidelines
• Open an issue first to discuss major features or significant changes
• Ensure your code follows the project's style and philosophy

🔒 Security Considerations

NoteDiscovery is designed for self-hosted, private use. Please keep these security considerations in mind:

Network Security

• ⚠️ Do NOT expose directly to the internet without additional security measures
• Run behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy) with HTTPS for production use
• Keep it on your local network or use a VPN for remote access
• By default, the app listens on 0.0.0.0:8000 (all network interfaces)

Authentication

• Password protection is DISABLED by default (default password: admin)
• ⚠️ ENABLE AUTHENTICATION AND CHANGE THE DEFAULT PASSWORD if exposing to a network!
• See AUTHENTICATION.md for complete setup instructions
• To disable auth, set authentication.enabled: false in config.yaml
• Perfect for single-user or small team deployments
• For multi-user setups, consider a reverse proxy with OAuth/SSO

Data Privacy

• Your notes are stored as plain text markdown files in the data/ folder
• No data is sent to external services
• Regular backups are recommended

Best Practices

• Run on localhost or a private network only
• Use Docker for isolation and easier security management
• Keep your system and dependencies updated
• Review and audit any plugins you install
• Set appropriate file permissions on the data/ directory

TL;DR: Perfect for personal use on your local machine or home network. Enable built-in password protection if needed, or use a reverse proxy with authentication if exposing to wider networks.

📄 License

MIT License - Free to use, modify, and distribute.

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Made with ❤️ for the self-hosting community