A lightweight, tree-based Markdown wiki – no database, just a single Go binary.

LeafWiki is designed for teams and individuals who want a clean, fast, and self-hosted knowledge base — with full control over structure, content, and deployment.

MVP released – actively developed LeafWiki is already powering real documentation workflows — but it’s still in early development. It's not yet production-ready for mission-critical teams.

Expect active development, some rough edges, and fast iteration.

Want to try it and help shape it? You’re more than welcome.

LeafWiki now builds and runs natively on:

• Linux (x86_64 and ARM64)
• Windows (x86_64)
• Raspberry Pi (tested with 64-bit OS)

• 🧾 Markdown-first with live editor + preview
• 🌲 True tree-structured pages (nested folders)
• 🔒 Role-based access (admin / editor)
• 🧠 no DB required
• 📂 Per-page assets with upload support
• 🖼️ Embed images and files with Markdown
• ⚙️ Single statically-linked Go binary (no dependencies)
• 🚀 Easily self-hosted (Docker or standalone)
• 🔁 Session auth with JWT tokens + refresh
• 🔍 Search functionality for page titles and content
• 📱 Mobile-friendly design
• 🌐 Public pages (viewable without login)

After trying out tools like Wiki.js, Confluence, and DokuWiki, I wanted something simpler: no database, easy to host, Markdown-based, and truly Git-friendly.

• Why use a database just to store Markdown?
• Why should setup be a weekend project?
• Why can't a wiki just be file-based and fast?

LeafWiki was born out of that frustration — and the desire to have:

• 🧾 Clean Markdown files, organized in folders
• 🧠 A real tree structure, not a flat list
• ⚙️ A single binary with no external dependencies
• 🛠️ Something teams can actually self-host without DevOps pain

It’s not trying to be everything — just a solid, minimal wiki for people who want clarity over complexity.

# Download the latest release from GitHub
chmod +x leafwiki
./leafwiki --jwt-secret=yoursecret

Default port is 8080, and the default data directory is ./data. You can change the data directory with the --data-dir flag.

✅ Native ARM64 builds are available in the Releases section.

The first time you run LeafWiki, it will create an admin user with the default password admin.

You can change this password later in the admin settings or by using the CLI:

./leafwiki --admin-password=newpassword --jwt-secret=yoursecret

Note: --admin-password (or the LEAFWIKI_ADMIN_PASSWORD env var) is only used on first startup, when no admin user exists yet.

If you need to reset the admin password, you can do so by running:

./leafwiki reset-admin-password

Instead of CLI flags, you can also configure LeafWiki using environment variables:

These environment variables override the default values and are especially useful in containerized or production environments.

# 1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/perber/leafwiki.git
cd leafwiki

# 2. Install frontend dependencies

cd ui/leafwiki-ui
npm install
npm run dev   # Starts Vite dev server on http://localhost:5173

# 3. In another terminal, start the backend

cd ../../cmd/leafwiki
go run main.go

• Tree-based page structure
• Markdown file creation
• Slug + file path mapping
• Move / rename / delete logic
• Markdown editor with preview
• File/image uploads per page
• Simple page title search
• Asset management (images, files)
• Basic JWT auth (session-based)

• Use CodeMirror for Markdown editing
• Add Toolbar with common actions like bold, italic, links, etc.
• Allow Undo/Redo actions

• Allow uploading multiple files at once
• Allow renaming of uploaded files
• Fix caching issues with uploaded assets
• Fix syntax highlighting in preview
• Fix favicon not displayed
• ARM64 support for Raspberry Pi and other ARM devices (thanks @nahaktarun)

• Add Search functionality for page titles and content
• Add Mobile optimizations for better usability
• Allow Public Pages (viewable pages without login)
• Add shortcuts in the editor (e.g. Ctrl+S to save, Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+Z for undo, ...)
• Smaller improvements and bugfixes in the UI

• Static pages (Required for SEO and public pages)
• Dogfooding (using LeafWiki to document LeafWiki)
• Showcase release

• Automatic import of existing Markdown files
• Optimistic locking (conflict resolution)
• Versioning (history)
• Git integration
• Automatic update of links

• Simple to run: No container, no DB, just Go
• Simple to host: You know where your data is
• Simple to trust: Markdown is portable & future-proof

Contributions, discussions and feedback are very welcome.
This project is still early – feel free to open issues or ideas!

We now have an official Discord server → ask questions, get help, contribute, or just say hi.

Main channels:

• #welcome – Say hi, introduce yourself
• #general – General discussion about LeafWiki (ideas, feedback, off-topic, ...)
• #support – Help with issues, questions, or troubleshooting
• #release-announcements – Updates on new releases, features, and improvements
• #questions – Any questions about the code, structure, roadmap, or contributing

More updates coming soon.
Watch the repo or drop a star ⭐ if you’re curious!