7.4k stars · AGPL-3.0 · 1.12.0, read from /releases/latest as '21 Aug' with no year; ungh.cc dates the same tag 2026-08-21 with the year present · Track this in Scout
A shared notepad in the browser where several people write the same document at the same time.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
A web application, descended from CodiMD and HackMD, that stores Markdown documents and synchronises edits between everyone who has the page open. It supports diagrams, mathematics, embedded media, and a presentation mode that turns a document into slides.
What it is good for. Meeting notes written by the people in the meeting, a shared plan that two people edit at once, a draft passed between reviewers. The problem it removes is the emailed document that comes back in four versions. Compared with a full wiki, there is nothing to organise: a note is a link, and the link is the whole of it.
- Real-time editing with several people, which is the feature almost every self-hosted note tool skips.
- A note becomes a slide deck with one setting, so the meeting notes and the presentation are the same file.
- Actively released: 1.12.0 landed on 21 August 2026.
- AGPL-3.0, the same condition as #3 and #5.
- Version 1.12.0 requires Node 20.17 or later. The project dropped Node 18 because its security support ended, so an older server will not run it.
- Notes are flat. There are no folders, so a hundred notes need a naming habit or they become unfindable.
- outline/outline
It also edits documents together in real time, but as a structured team knowledge base; it ships under the Business Source License, which is not open source.
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BookStackApp/BookStackIt organises documentation into books and chapters, which is the opposite trade: a shape you can hold, and no live collaborative editing. Its development has moved to Codeberg.
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usememos/memosIt is for short notes written alone in five seconds rather than long documents written together.
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docker run -d --name hedgedoc \ -p 3000:3000 \ -e CMD_DB_URL=postgres://user:password@database:5432/hedgedoc \ -e CMD_DOMAIN=localhost \ -e CMD_URL_ADDPORT=true \ -v /path/to/uploads:/hedgedoc/public/uploads \ quay.io/hedgedoc/hedgedoc:1.12.0
