Trilium Notes — Self-Hosted Hierarchical Knowledge Base

Introduction

Trilium Notes (continued as TriliumNext) is a self-hosted, hierarchical note-taking application designed for building large personal knowledge bases. It combines a tree-structured note hierarchy with powerful features like note cloning, relation maps, and a built-in scripting API.

What Trilium Does

• Organizes notes in an infinitely deep tree hierarchy with drag-and-drop reordering
• Supports cloning notes into multiple locations without duplication
• Provides a WYSIWYG editor with Markdown, code blocks, math, and file attachments
• Visualizes note relationships with interactive relation maps and link maps
• Includes full-text search with attribute-based filtering and saved searches

Architecture Overview

Trilium runs as a Node.js server with an SQLite database storing all notes, revisions, and metadata. The frontend is a single-page application. A sync mechanism allows a desktop instance and a server instance to stay synchronized over HTTPS. All data can be encrypted at rest with a password.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker with a single volume mount for persistent data
• Desktop apps available for Windows, macOS, and Linux for local use
• Enable sync between desktop and server by pairing with a sync token
• Configure HTTPS with a reverse proxy for secure remote access
• Set a protected session password to encrypt sensitive note branches

Key Features

• Note cloning lets a single note appear in multiple tree locations
• Built-in scripting with a JavaScript API for custom widgets and automations
• Revision history tracks every change with full diff support
• Web clipper browser extension saves pages directly into your knowledge base
• Relation maps let you visually connect notes and build concept diagrams

Comparison with Similar Tools

• SiYuan — block-level references; Trilium uses a tree hierarchy with cloning
• Obsidian — file-based vault; Trilium uses a database with richer metadata
• Joplin — simpler sync-focused notes; Trilium offers scripting and relations
• Logseq — outliner-first; Trilium is document-first with tree navigation
• BookStack — team wiki; Trilium is personal knowledge base focused

FAQ

Q: Is TriliumNext the same as Trilium? A: TriliumNext is the community-maintained continuation after the original creator archived the project. It receives active updates and new features.

Q: Can I access it on mobile? A: The web interface works on mobile browsers. There are also community-built mobile apps that sync with the server instance.

Q: How does sync work? A: You pair a desktop client with a server instance using a token. Changes sync bidirectionally over HTTPS with conflict resolution.

Q: Is my data encrypted? A: You can enable encryption at rest with a password. Individual note branches can be marked as protected, requiring the password to view.

Sources

• https://github.com/TriliumNext/Notes
• https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/