Karakeep

Karakeep is a self‑hosted, full‑stack bookmark and link management platform that blends traditional CRUD operations with modern AI‑powered enrichment. At its core, the application ingests URLs, PDFs, images, and notes, then automatically extracts metadata, performs OCR, and indexes content for full‑text search. The system exposes a robust REST API that can be consumed by web, mobile, or browser extensions, enabling developers to build custom front‑ends or integrate Karakeep into existing workflows.

Key Features

• Automatic enrichment: title, description, image extraction, OCR for images, and full‑page archival via monolith.
• AI tagging & summarization: GPT‑style models or local Ollama instances can generate tags and summaries on ingestion.
• Rule engine: Declarative rules for auto‑categorization, tagging, and archival decisions.
• Bulk & sync operations: Importers for Chrome, Pocket, Linkwarden, and Floccus‑based bookmark sync.
• Multi‑platform clients: Native iOS/Android apps, Chrome & Firefox extensions, and a web UI.

Technical Stack

• Backend: Go (Golang) microservice, leveraging the Gin web framework for routing and gorm for ORM.
• Database: PostgreSQL, with optional extensions (pg_trgm) for fuzzy search; the schema is fully managed by migrations.
• Search: ElasticSearch or Meilisearch can be swapped in; the Go client communicates via HTTP.
• AI integration: OpenAI API or local Ollama models accessed through a lightweight client; AI tasks run asynchronously via background workers.
• Containerization: Docker Compose and Helm charts are provided; images are built with multi‑stage builds for minimal size.
• Deployment: Can run on any Linux host, Kubernetes cluster, or as a Docker stack; supports persistent volumes for data and AI models.

Core Capabilities & APIs

• REST API: CRUD endpoints for bookmarks, lists, tags, and highlights; supports pagination, filtering, and WebSocket notifications.
• Webhook support: External services can subscribe to events (e.g., new bookmark, tag added).
• CLI tooling: karakeepctl for administrative tasks such as import, export, and migration.
• Plugin architecture: Developers can register custom processors (e.g., a new OCR engine) via Go plugins or by extending the rule language.
• OAuth & SSO: Built‑in support for OpenID Connect providers, making it easy to integrate with existing authentication infrastructures.

Deployment & Infrastructure

Karakeep is designed for self‑hosting with minimal external dependencies:

• Docker Compose: Single docker-compose.yml pulls official images for the API, database, and search backend.
• Kubernetes: Helm chart exposes ConfigMaps for environment variables, secrets for credentials, and PersistentVolumeClaims for data.
• Scalability: Stateless API pods can be horizontally scaled; PostgreSQL and the search engine are the primary stateful components.
• High Availability: Replication for PostgreSQL (via Patroni or built‑in Postgres replication) and search clustering are recommended for production.

Integration & Extensibility

• Browser Extensions: Direct API calls from the Chrome/Firefox add‑ons allow instant bookmarking without a UI.
• Mobile SDKs: iOS and Android apps communicate over the same REST API; developers can fork the native clients or build their own.
• Webhook & Event System: External services (e.g., CI/CD pipelines, monitoring tools) can react to bookmark events.
• Custom Rule Engine: Rules are expressed in a JSON‑based DSL, enabling developers to add new triggers or actions without code changes.
• OpenAPI Spec: Auto‑generated Swagger UI and client libraries in multiple languages are available, easing integration.

Developer Experience

• Documentation: The official docs cover installation, configuration, security, and development setup with clear examples.
• Community: Active Discord channel for support; contributors are welcomed via GitHub issues and pull requests.
• Licensing: MIT license gives full freedom to modify, redistribute, or commercialize the code.
• Testing: Unit and integration tests are written in Go with coverage reports; CI pipelines enforce linting and security checks.

Use Cases

1. Enterprise Knowledge Base – Embed Karakeep behind a corporate SSO to collect internal links, documents, and meeting notes with AI summarization for quick retrieval.
2. Personal Research Archive – Sync browser bookmarks, PDFs, and screenshots; use OCR and AI tags to create a searchable research library.
3. Developer Toolchain – Expose the REST API as a microservice within an internal tooling ecosystem; automate ingestion from issue trackers or code reviews.
4. Content Curator – Use the bulk importers and rule engine to curate newsletters, RSS feeds, and video archives for a community portal.

Advantages Over Alternatives