Documize

Documize Community is a modern, enterprise‑grade knowledge management platform that bundles both customer‑facing and internal documentation into a single self‑hosted system. From a developer standpoint, the product is engineered as a single statically compiled binary written in Go, with an Ember.js frontend that is bundled during the build process. This design eliminates runtime dependencies on a Node or JavaScript engine, allowing operators to run Documize as a lightweight service across Linux, Windows, macOS, and even ARM‑based Raspberry Pi devices. The Go runtime serves the RESTful API layer while Ember delivers a SPA that communicates over JSON/HTTP, providing a clear separation of concerns and making the stack approachable for teams familiar with either language.

Architecture & Technical Stack

• Backend: Go 1.25+ with a custom web framework that exposes a REST API, authentication middleware, and an event bus for real‑time updates. The binary includes all dependencies, so deployment is a single file plus a database.
• Frontend: Ember.js 3.12, compiled to static assets and served by the Go server. The SPA consumes the API, handles routing, state management, and rendering of markdown/HTML content.
• Persistence: Supports PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL/MariaDB/Percona variants. Full‑Text Search (FTS) is mandatory, leveraging the native FTS engines of each database for efficient query performance.
• Authentication: Email/password plus optional LDAP, Active Directory, Keycloak, or CAS. Dual‑auth is supported for AD/LDAP users who also need password fallback.
• Internationalization: Built‑in i18n with support for 10+ languages; additional locales can be added via JSON translation files.

Core Capabilities & APIs

Documize exposes a RESTful API for CRUD operations on documents, spaces, labels, and categories. The API supports:

• Versioning: Each document change is stored as a new revision; the API allows retrieval of historical versions and diffing.
• Workflows: Content approval workflows can be triggered via API endpoints, enabling integration with CI/CD pipelines or custom approval engines.
• Webhooks & Events: External services can subscribe to activity streams (e.g., document creation, edits) via configurable webhooks.
• Export: PDF and HTML exports are available through API calls, useful for generating reports or embedding in other systems.
• Search: Full‑text search is exposed as a query endpoint, with support for facets on labels and categories.

Deployment & Infrastructure

The single binary simplifies containerization: a minimal Dockerfile can copy the executable and mount a database volume. Kubernetes operators or Helm charts are straightforward to create, given the stateless nature of the Go server aside from database persistence. For high availability, multiple instances can be load‑balanced behind a reverse proxy (NGINX/Traefik) with sticky sessions if needed. The application scales horizontally by adding more Go instances; the database becomes the primary scaling bottleneck, but PostgreSQL and MySQL both support read replicas and sharding strategies.

Integration & Extensibility

Documize’s plugin architecture is primarily exposed through its API and webhook system rather than a traditional plug‑in SDK. Developers can extend functionality by:

• Writing custom middleware in Go to intercept requests or augment responses (e.g., add telemetry).
• Creating frontend extensions by contributing to the Ember codebase or building separate SPA modules that consume the API.
• Leveraging authentication providers via LDAP/AD or SAML by configuring the server, enabling seamless SSO with existing corporate directories.
• Hooking into content lifecycle events to trigger external processes (e.g., CI builds, notification services).

Developer Experience & Community

The project is released under GNU AGPL v3, ensuring that modifications remain open source. Documentation resides in the repository’s docs/ folder and includes API references, deployment guides, and contribution guidelines. The community is active on GitHub issues and a dedicated help desk email; response times are typically within two working days. For enterprise users, the Community+ edition adds advanced workflow and analytics features while maintaining the same open‑source core, providing a clear upgrade path without breaking existing integrations.

Use Cases & Advantages

• Product Teams: Centralize product plans, release notes, and customer feedback in a single searchable hub. The approval workflow ensures only vetted content reaches customers.
• IT & Ops: Store runbooks, SOPs, and infrastructure diagrams with version control and audit logs for compliance.
• Developer Portals: Expose internal APIs, SDK docs, and onboarding materials to external partners via a secure, self‑hosted portal.
• Compliance Audits: Leverage audit logs and version history to prove content integrity during regulatory reviews.

Developers favor Documize for its performance‑oriented Go backend, the ease of deploying a single binary, and the ability to integrate deeply with existing authentication systems. Its open‑source license guarantees no vendor lock‑in, while the optional Enterprise edition offers a paid path for advanced workflows and support. Overall, Documize delivers a robust, extensible knowledge platform that aligns with modern DevOps practices and enterprise security requirements.