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Memos Interface

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What is Memos?

Memos is a privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge base for personal notes, team wikis, and knowledge management. Built with Go and React, it runs as a single binary with minimal resource usage. Whether you’re capturing quick thoughts, building a personal knowledge base, or sharing information with your team, Memos provides a clean, distraction-free environment for your content.

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Key Features

Privacy-First

Self-hosted on your infrastructure with zero telemetry, no tracking, and no ads. Your data never leaves your server.

Markdown Native

Full markdown support with plain text storage. Your data is always portable and never locked in.

Lightweight

Single Go binary with React frontend. Low memory footprint (~50MB), starts in seconds.

Easy Deployment

One-line Docker install. Supports SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL databases.

Developer-Friendly

Full REST and gRPC APIs. Connect RPC for browsers, gRPC-Gateway for external tools.

Rich Content

Attachments, code blocks with syntax highlighting, task lists, tables, and more.

Smart Organization

Auto-extracted tags from #hashtags, pinned memos, visibility control (Public/Private/Protected).

Clean Interface

Minimal design with dark mode, mobile-responsive layout, and masonry view for visual organization.

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Architecture Overview

Memos is built with modern technologies designed for performance and maintainability: 
// Single Go binary server
cmd/memos/
├── main.go              # Entry point with Cobra CLI
server/
├── router/api/v1/       # gRPC + Connect RPC services
├── auth/                # JWT + PAT authentication
store/
├── db/sqlite/           # SQLite (default)
├── db/mysql/            # MySQL support
└── db/postgres/         # PostgreSQL support
Dual Protocol Design: Memos uses Connect RPC for browser clients and gRPC-Gateway for REST compatibility, giving you type-safe APIs and HTTP/JSON support.

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Core Concepts

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Memos

A memo is a piece of content written in Markdown. Each memo has:
  • Content: Rich markdown with support for code blocks, tables, task lists, and more
  • Visibility: PUBLIC (anyone can view), PROTECTED (logged-in users), or PRIVATE (only you)
  • Tags: Automatically extracted from #hashtags in your content
  • Attachments: Images, videos, and files stored locally or in S3
  • Relations: Link memos together for knowledge graphs
  • Properties: Computed metadata (has links, has tasks, has code blocks)

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Users & Authentication

Memos supports multiple authentication methods:
  • Password-based auth with secure JWT access tokens (15-min expiration)
  • Personal Access Tokens (PAT) for API access and long-lived sessions
  • SSO providers via identity providers (OAuth2/OIDC)
The first user created automatically becomes an admin with full system access.

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Storage Options

Default and recommended for most users:
  • Zero configuration
  • Single file database
  • Perfect for < 10,000 memos
  • Automatic backups via file copy

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Getting Started

Ready to start capturing your thoughts? Follow our quickstart guide:

Quickstart Guide

Get Memos running with Docker in under 2 minutes

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Use Cases

Build your second brain with quick notes, bookmarks, code snippets, and learning resources. Auto-tagging and full-text search make retrieval effortless.
Capture thoughts throughout the day with timestamps. Private by default, share selectively with public links.
Collaborate with team members using protected memos. Share knowledge, document processes, and build institutional memory.
Store code snippets with syntax highlighting, document API endpoints, track bugs, and maintain dev logs.
Write blog posts, articles, and documentation in Markdown. Export to your publishing platform when ready.

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Community & Support

Discord

Join our community

GitHub

Star us and contribute

Live Demo

Try before you install

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Open Source & Privacy

Memos is fully open-source under the MIT License. We’re committed to:
  • No telemetry: Zero data collection, no phone-home
  • No tracking: No analytics, no usage monitoring
  • No ads: Your attention is yours
  • No subscriptions: Free forever
Your data stays on your infrastructure, under your control.
Read our full Privacy Policy and Security practices

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Next Steps

Quickstart

Deploy Memos in under 2 minutes

Installation Options

Docker, Kubernetes, binaries, and more

Configuration

Environment variables and settings

API Reference

Build integrations with our API

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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