a self hosted notes app

shizumu is a self hosted notes app where the notes never need a server. they live on your devices, and the one server in the picture, the sync relay, is small, optional, and yours to run.

where the notes live

the writing is a database on each device, on linux, windows and android. there is no account and nothing to host before you write. every page starts empty: you write to think, pin what matters, and a page on a trail gets back the pins you kept there. everything else stays in memory, searchable.

what you actually host

sync goes through a relay that passes sealed changes between your devices. it is one binary and one sqlite file, with no separate database service, no queue and no cache, and a raspberry pi is enough. attachments go to a plain disk, one more sqlite file, or any s3-compatible store such as minio, garage or r2. it is the same binary behind the hosted tier, not a cut-down version.

what the relay can read

none of your writing. every page is sealed on your device with xchacha20-poly1305 before it leaves, and the keys never leave your devices. the relay does see the size of each sealed blob, its hash, when it arrives, and which blobs belong together; it cannot see content, titles or filenames. that is written down in full: what the relay can and cannot see, and how sync is encrypted.

native apps and a relay, not a web app you host

if you want a browser interface served from your own box, this is a different shape. you install the app on each device, and your server only carries the sealed changes between them. that is what keeps the server simple, and what keeps it unable to read anything.

what it costs

the app is free. running your own relay is free too, with unlimited devices and storage. if you would rather not run a server, the hosted relay is free for your main device and a second one, and it is still end-to-end encrypted: pricing. the client is apache-2.0 and the relay agpl-3.0-or-later, and the relay source is on github.

setting it up

build the relay from a release tag with cargo, or build its docker image locally, write a short toml file, and give it https: it can fetch its own certificate, or sit behind a proxy like caddy. single-user mode is one account for all your devices. the steps, start to finish: self-deploy.

try it before you run anything

the app runs in your browser with a few weeks of writing already in it: try it. also worth a look: a joplin alternative, a notesnook alternative, and an open source journaling app.

try it in your browser download