🌿 LeafWiki
Self-hosted wiki. Single Go binary. SQLite + Markdown stored on disk.
For engineers and self-hosters who want structured, long-lived documentation. No Node.js, no Redis, no Postgres — just a binary and a data directory.
If you've looked at Wiki.js or Outline and thought "this is too much to operate for what I need" — this could fit for you.
→ Try it without installing: demo.leafwiki.com · Ctrl+E edit · Ctrl+S save · resets hourly
→ If it fits, a star helps others find it.
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docker run -p 8080:8080 -v ~/leafwiki-data:/app/data \
ghcr.io/perber/leafwiki:latest \
--jwt-secret=yoursecret --admin-password=yourpassword --allow-insecure=true
→ All install options (Docker Compose, Linux installer, binary)
Table of Contents
Features
Operations:
- Single Go binary — no external database, no runtime dependencies
- Markdown on disk — page content is readable outside the app, backup is
cp -r (stop the app first)
- Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Raspberry Pi (x86_64 and ARM64; 32-bit x86 Linux via standalone binary)
- Reverse-proxy friendly with
--base-path
- Reverse-proxy authentication via trusted HTTP header (v0.10+)
- API keys for programmatic and agent access, admin-managed, scoped by role — in development, not yet ready for use
- Three access modes: fully internal, public read with login-only editing, or open editing without login (see Operating Modes)
- Roles: admin, editor, viewer
Core functionality:
- Tree navigation — explicit hierarchy, not flat note feeds
- Manual page ordering — sort order is explicit, not driven by filename (see Sorting Pages)
- Full-text search across titles and content, with tag-based filtering
- Tags on pages — searchable and filterable across the wiki
- Backlinks and link status per page (incoming, outgoing, broken links), with a dedicated admin view for auditing broken links
- Built-in Markdown editor with live preview, keyboard shortcuts, and autocomplete for internal page links
- Optimistic locking for concurrent edits
- Markdown: tables, task lists, footnotes, callouts (
:::info / :::warning), collapsible blocks (:::collapsible / :::collapsed), Mermaid diagrams, KaTeX math blocks ($$...$$, inline $...$ not supported), sanitized inline HTML, embedded PDFs (, optionally opened on a specific page with )
Customization:
- Custom stylesheet (
--custom-stylesheet, v0.8.5+)
- Inject HTML/JS into
<head> for analytics or custom CSS
- Branding: logo, favicon, site name
- Dark mode and mobile-friendly UI
- Translated UI — ships in English, German, and Spanish;
--default-language picks the default. Contributions of other languages are very welcome — see docs/i18n.md
Opt-in via feature flags:
- Revision history (
--enable-revision)
- Automatic link rewriting when pages are renamed or moved (
--enable-link-refactor)
- Email via SMTP for password reset and user invitations (
--smtp-host, v0.13.0)
- Git backup — push wiki content to a remote Git repository via SSH or HTTP(S) (
--git-backup, v0.11.3, experimental)
Markdown import:
- ZIP-based importer for editors and admins
- Supports Obsidian-style wiki link rewriting on import
- Best results with a reasonably clean folder structure; not a fully automatic converter for all source formats
Mobile:
Good fit / not a fit
Good fit:
- Personal wikis, engineering notebooks, and runbooks
- Internal team or homelab documentation
- Existing Markdown or Obsidian vaults that need a structured wiki UI
- Small teams that want tree navigation over flat note feeds
- Self-hosted environments with low operational overhead
Probably not a fit:
- Organizations needing complex enterprise permissions or approval workflows
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Teams looking for a Confluence or Notion replacement
LeafWiki is intentionally narrower than those systems. That focus is part of the value.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
