# Outline — Fast Knowledge Base for Growing Teams > Outline is a beautiful, real-time collaborative knowledge base and wiki. Markdown editor, nested documents, integrations with Slack and Figma, and full-text search. ## Install Save as a script file and run: ## Quick Use ```bash git clone https://github.com/outline/outline.git cd outline cp .env.sample .env # Edit .env with your settings docker compose up -d ``` Open `http://localhost:3000` — login and create your first collection. ## Intro **Outline** is a fast, beautiful knowledge base and wiki designed for growing teams. It provides a Notion-like editing experience with real-time collaboration, nested document structure, full-text search, and integrations with tools like Slack, Figma, and Google Docs — all self-hostable for complete data ownership. With 38K+ GitHub stars and BSL license (converts to Apache-2.0 after 4 years), Outline is one of the most polished open-source wiki solutions, competing directly with Notion and Confluence on UX quality. ## What Outline Does - **Rich Editor**: Markdown-based editor with slash commands, embeds, and real-time collaboration - **Nested Documents**: Infinite nesting with drag-and-drop reordering - **Collections**: Organize documents into team spaces (Engineering, Product, HR, etc.) - **Full-Text Search**: Lightning-fast search across all documents - **Templates**: Create document templates for recurring content types - **Comments**: Inline and page-level commenting with @mentions - **Revision History**: Full version history with visual diff and restore - **API**: Complete REST API for automation and integration - **Integrations**: Slack, Figma, Loom, Diagrams.net, Google Docs embed ## Architecture ``` ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ Browser │────▶│ Outline │────▶│ PostgreSQL │ │ (React) │ │ Server │ │ (Data) │ └──────────────┘ │ (Node.js) │ └──────────────┘ └──────┬───────┘ │ ┌─────────┼─────────┐ │ │ │ ┌──────┴──┐ ┌───┴───┐ ┌───┴───┐ │ Redis │ │ MinIO │ │ OIDC │ │ (Cache) │ │(Files)│ │ (Auth) │ └─────────┘ └───────┘ └────────┘ ``` ## Self-Hosting ### Docker Compose ```yaml services: outline: image: outlinewiki/outline:latest ports: - "3000:3000" environment: DATABASE_URL: postgres://outline:outline@postgres:5432/outline REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379 SECRET_KEY: generated-secret-key UTILS_SECRET: generated-utils-secret URL: http://localhost:3000 FILE_STORAGE: local FILE_STORAGE_LOCAL_ROOT_DIR: /var/lib/outline/data # Auth (choose one): Slack, Google, OIDC, SAML OIDC_CLIENT_ID: your-client-id OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET: your-client-secret OIDC_AUTH_URI: https://auth.yourdomain.com/authorize OIDC_TOKEN_URI: https://auth.yourdomain.com/token OIDC_USERINFO_URI: https://auth.yourdomain.com/userinfo depends_on: - postgres - redis volumes: - outline-data:/var/lib/outline/data postgres: image: postgres:16-alpine environment: POSTGRES_USER: outline POSTGRES_PASSWORD: outline POSTGRES_DB: outline volumes: - pg-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data redis: image: redis:7-alpine volumes: outline-data: pg-data: ``` ## Key Features ### Slash Commands Editor Type `/` to access: ``` /heading — Insert heading (H1-H3) /list — Bullet or numbered list /todo — Task/checkbox list /table — Insert table /code — Code block with syntax highlighting /image — Upload or embed image /embed — Embed YouTube, Figma, Loom, etc. /diagram — Draw.io diagram /math — LaTeX math equation /notice — Info/warning/tip callout box /divider — Horizontal divider ``` ### Collections & Structure ``` Knowledge Base ├── 📘 Engineering │ ├── Architecture Decisions │ │ ├── ADR-001: Database Choice │ │ └── ADR-002: API Design │ ├── Runbooks │ │ ├── Deploy to Production │ │ └── Database Migration │ └── Onboarding │ ├── Day 1 Setup │ └── Week 1 Checklist ├── 📗 Product │ ├── PRDs │ ├── Research │ └── Roadmap └── 📕 Company ├── Handbook ├── Policies └── Benefits ``` ### Integrations | Integration | Feature | |-------------|---------| | Slack | Search wiki from Slack, post notifications | | Figma | Embed live Figma designs | | Loom | Embed video recordings | | Google Docs | Import/embed docs | | Diagrams.net | Draw diagrams inline | | Mermaid | Code-based diagrams | | GitHub | Embed code snippets | ### API ```bash # Search documents curl -X POST https://outline.yourdomain.com/api/documents.search -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"query": "deployment guide"}' # Create document curl -X POST https://outline.yourdomain.com/api/documents.create -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"title": "New Guide", "text": "# Getting Started Welcome!", "collectionId": "collection-uuid", "publish": true}' ``` ## Outline vs Alternatives | Feature | Outline | Notion | Confluence | Docmost | |---------|---------|--------|------------|---------| | Open Source | BSL (→ Apache) | No | No | Yes (AGPL) | | Self-hosted | Yes | No | Data Center | Yes | | Real-time collab | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Markdown | Native | Partial | No | Yes | | Slash commands | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | | API | Full REST | Full REST | REST | REST | | Integrations | Slack, Figma | 50+ | Atlassian | Basic | | UX quality | Excellent | Excellent | Good | Good | ## 常见问题 **Q: Outline 的 BSL 许可证意味着什么？** A: BSL（Business Source License）允许自由使用和修改，但限制作为托管服务提供给第三方。4 年后自动转为 Apache-2.0。对于自托管使用没有任何限制。 **Q: 必须用 SSO 登录吗？** A: 是的，Outline 需要 OAuth/OIDC 认证提供者（Slack、Google、自托管 OIDC 如 Keycloak/Authentik）。不支持简单的邮箱密码登录。这是设计决策，确保企业级安全性。 **Q: 可以从 Notion/Confluence 迁移吗？** A: 可以。Outline 支持从 Confluence（XML 导出）和 Notion（Markdown 导出）导入。也支持从 Markdown 文件批量导入。 ## 来源与致谢 - GitHub: [outline/outline](https://github.com/outline/outline) — 38K+ ⭐ | BSL - 官网: [getoutline.com](https://getoutline.com) --- Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/58efab21-34e1-11f1-9bc6-00163e2b0d79 Author: Script Depot