Features

• Rich Text Editor - Create and edit notes with powerful formatting (bold, italic, underline, highlights, headings, lists, checkboxes), or type / to pick a format
• Offline First - All edits work offline with local database
• Note Sharing - Share notes with other users (viewer or editor)
• Note History - Read earlier versions of a note and put one back
• Tags System - Organize notes with custom tags and colors
• Attachments - Attach images and audio to notes
• Note Backgrounds - Customize notes with solid colors and patterns
• Pin Notes - Pin important notes for quick access
• Archive Notes - Archive notes for later reference
• Reminders - Set a time on any note and get a notification on your phone, once or repeating
• Search - Search notes locally by title or content, archived notes included
• Share to Anchor - Save text, links and pictures from other apps on your phone
• Trash - Soft delete notes with recovery period
• Automatic Sync - Sync changes across devices when online
• Import & Export - Back up your full library, move notes in and out as plain Markdown, or bring them over from Google Keep
• Home Screen Widget - Quick access to your notes from the Android home screen
• Admin Panel - User management, registration control, and system statistics
• OIDC Authentication - Sign in with OpenID Connect providers (Pocket ID, Authelia, Keycloak, etc.)

Screenshots

Web App

Mobile App

Self Hosting With Docker

Option 1: Using Pre-built Image (Recommended)

1. Create a docker-compose.yml file:

   services:
     anchor:
       image: ghcr.io/zhfahim/anchor:latest
       container_name: anchor
       restart: unless-stopped
       ports:
         - "3000:3000"
       volumes:
         - anchor_data:/data
   
   volumes:
     anchor_data:
   

2. (Optional) Configure environment: Add environment variables to the environment section. Most users can skip this step - defaults work out of the box.

   Available options:

   Variable	Required	Default	Description
   APP_URL	No	http://localhost:3000	Base URL where Anchor is served
   JWT_SECRET	No	(auto-generated)	Auth token secret. Min 16 characters when set
   DATA_DIR	No	/data	Root directory for persisted uploads
   CORS_ORIGINS	No	(allow all)	Comma-separated allowlist of CORS origins
   PG_HOST	No	(empty)	External Postgres host (leave empty for embedded)
   PG_PORT	No	5432	Postgres port
   PG_USER	No	anchor	Postgres username
   PG_PASSWORD	No	password	Postgres password
   PG_DATABASE	No	anchor	Database name
   USER_SIGNUP	No	(not set)	Sign up mode: disabled, enabled, or review. If not set, admins can control it via the admin panel
   OIDC_ENABLED	No	(not set)	Enable OIDC authentication
   OIDC_PROVIDER_NAME	No	"OIDC Provider"	Display name for the login button
   OIDC_ISSUER_URL	When OIDC enabled	(not set)	Base URL of your OIDC provider
   OIDC_CLIENT_ID	When OIDC enabled	(not set)	OIDC client ID
   OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET	No	(not set)	OIDC client secret. Omit for public client (PKCE)
   DISABLE_INTERNAL_AUTH	No	false	Hide local login form when OIDC is enabled (OIDC-only mode)

3. Start the container:

   docker compose up -d
   

4. Access the app: Open http://localhost:3000

Pre-release (Beta) Image

To test upcoming features before they are officially released, use the next tag:

services:
  anchor:
    image: ghcr.io/zhfahim/anchor:next
    container_name: anchor
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - anchor_data:/data

volumes:
  anchor_data:

Warning: The next image is built from the next branch and may contain incomplete features or breaking changes. Do not use it in production. Back up your data before switching.

Option 2: Building from Source

If you want to build from source or customize the image:

1. Clone the project:

   git clone https://github.com/zhfahim/anchor.git
   cd anchor
   

2. Start the container:

   docker compose up -d
   

   The docker-compose.yml file will build the image from source automatically.

Mobile App

The mobile app works with your Anchor server. Set up the server first, then sign in with its address.

Android

Each GitHub release has these APK files:

• Universal APK (anchor-{version}.apk) - Recommended for most users, works on all devices
• Architecture-specific APKs - Smaller file sizes for specific CPU architectures

iPhone and iPad

The iOS app is in beta on TestFlight. Install TestFlight from the App Store, then open the Anchor beta link on your iPhone or iPad.

OIDC Authentication

Anchor supports OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication for simplified credential management and streamlined multi-user deployments.

Features

• Support for standard OIDC providers (Pocket ID, Authelia, Authentik, Keycloak, etc.)
• Configuration via environment variables or admin settings UI
• OIDC only mode: disable local username/password login
• Support for public OIDC clients (PKCE, no client secret required)
• Auto create users on first login (if user signup is not disabled)
• Auto link existing users by email

Configuration

Mobile app and Public client

If you want to use OIDC in the mobile app, configure Anchor as a Public client (PKCE, no client secret) in your OIDC provider. Add this redirect URI in your OIDC provider:

anchor://oidc/callback

Required Callback URL (Web)

When configuring your OIDC provider for web login, add this callback/redirect URL:

{APP_URL}/api/auth/oidc/callback

For example, if your Anchor instance is at https://notes.example.com, the callback URL would be:

https://notes.example.com/api/auth/oidc/callback

Environment Variables

Configure OIDC via environment variables in your docker-compose.yml. Pocket ID example:

services:
  anchor:
    image: ghcr.io/zhfahim/anchor:latest
    environment:
      - OIDC_ENABLED=true
      - OIDC_PROVIDER_NAME=Pocket ID
      - OIDC_ISSUER_URL=https://pocketid.example.com
      - OIDC_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
      - OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret # Optional for public clients
      - DISABLE_INTERNAL_AUTH=false
      - APP_URL=https://notes.example.com

Admin UI Configuration

Alternatively, configure OIDC in the admin panel (Admin → Sign-in → Single sign-on) when the three env vars are not all set.

Backup and Restore

Log into your Anchor deployment, go to Settings, scroll to Import and export, click Export and choose Anchor backup (.zip).

The resulting anchor-export-YYYY-MM-DD.zip contains:

• manifest.json which includes the backup metadata, tags, notes, and attachment references in plain text
• the referenced attachments, stored within the attachments folder structure

To restore, go to the same section, click Import and pick that file. Import also takes Google Keep exports and Markdown files from Obsidian and Nextcloud Notes.

Troubleshooting & Collecting Logs

Anchor never collects any data. When you need to report a bug, you can collect logs yourself and share them with the maintainer.

Mobile app

1. Reproduce the issue.
2. Open Settings → Logs.
3. Tap •••, choose Save to a file, then attach the saved .log file to your bug report.

Sensitive values are stripped before anything is written to the log file. This includes authorization headers, passwords, tokens, refresh tokens, secrets, and email addresses, which are always replaced with ***.

Logs are stored locally on the device only (rolling, ~2 MB max).

Roadmap

Future planned features:

• Real-time collaboration

Tech Stack

• Backend: Nest.js, PostgreSQL, Prisma
• Mobile: Flutter (Android and iOS)
• Web: Next.js, TypeScript

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch:

   git checkout -b feature/your-feature
   

3. Make your changes
4. Ensure builds pass and code is linted:
   • Web: cd web && pnpm build && pnpm check
   • Server: cd server && pnpm build && pnpm check
   • Mobile: cd mobile && flutter analyze && flutter test
5. Commit changes:

   git commit -m "Describe your change"
   

6. Push and create a Pull Request

Code style

Linting and formatting are enforced in CI and by a pre-commit hook (.githooks/pre-commit) that checks staged files. Running pnpm install in either web or server enables the hook automatically (via the prepare script). To enable it manually:

git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Before committing, fix issues with pnpm check:fix in the relevant project.

Design tokens

The web app's colors, text sizes, spacing, corners, shadows and motion live in design/tokens/ (W3C Design Tokens format). web/app/styles/tokens.css, web/app/styles/notes.css and web/lib/design/tokens.ts are built from them, so change the tokens rather than those files. After changing a token, run this from the repository root (it reads icons from web/node_modules, so run pnpm install in web first):

node design/build/build.mjs

CI runs it with --check and fails if the built files are out of date.

Community

Questions, bugs or ideas? Join us on Discord or open an issue.

Support

If you find Anchor useful, consider supporting its development:

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors. Become a sponsor.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL v3) - see the LICENSE file for details.