You've got notes scattered across Obsidian sync folders, a Notion workspace your team can't export cleanly, and a Google Doc titled "IMPORTANT READ THIS" that nobody has opened since March. What you wanted was one place where ideas link to each other — where a paragraph in a meeting note can point back to a spec from six months ago without copy-pasting URLs.
SiYuan (思源) is built for that. ~44k GitHub stars, TypeScript and Go under the hood, privacy-first, fully open source, and organized around blocks — not pages, not folders. Every paragraph, heading, and list item is its own block you can reference, embed, and link bidirectionally. Think Obsidian's graph energy with a polished WYSIWYG editor and a server you can run yourself.
What it actually does
SiYuan is personal knowledge management, not a quick scratch pad. Block-level references and two-way links mean you can type (( to connect any block to any other block — backlinks show up automatically. Zoom into a block to focus on one idea. Build outlines, databases (table views), flashcards with spaced repetition, and embed SQL queries against your own notes.
The editor handles Markdown WYSIWYG — math, charts, flowcharts, Gantt charts, sheet music notation, PDF annotation links, web clipping via browser extension. Export to standard Markdown with assets, PDF, Word, or HTML from the desktop app. Templates, JavaScript/CSS snippets, and a plugin marketplace extend it further.
AI features hook into OpenAI-compatible APIs for writing assistance and Q&A over your notes — optional, and the API key stays on infrastructure you control when self-hosted.
Data lives in a workspace folder on disk: notebooks as JSON .sy files, assets in assets/, plugins and templates alongside. No opaque cloud blob — back up the workspace directory and you have your library.
Why self-host a notes server?
Research and client work stay private. Legal memos, product specs, therapy journals, credentials-adjacent runbooks — PKM tools accumulate sensitive material. Self-hosting on a Canadian VPS means your block graph isn't sitting on someone else's US SaaS cluster.
Browser access from anywhere. Docker SiYuan serves the full web UI on port 6806. Open it from a laptop, tablet, or phone browser without installing another sync client — useful for teams who want a shared knowledge base behind an auth code and reverse proxy.
Most features are free. SiYuan's core — blocks, links, editor, export on desktop — is free even for commercial use. Paid membership unlocks cloud sync and some cloud-storage integrations through their official service; self-hosters typically don't need that tier if the workspace volume is the source of truth.
Not the same as Memos. We covered Memos as a lightweight timeline for quick capture. SiYuan is the opposite end: deep linking, large documents (million-word editing is a stated goal), and a learning curve. Pick Memos for "jot this down"; pick SiYuan when your notes are a system.
What running it takes
Official Docker image: b3log/siyuan. Mount a workspace volume and set an access auth code — the docs are explicit that you must change the default, or anyone who finds the URL reads your notes.
docker run -d \
-v /siyuan/workspace:/siyuan/workspace \
-p 6806:6806 \
b3log/siyuan \
--workspace=/siyuan/workspace/ \
--accessAuthCode=your-strong-code-hereMatch PUID/PGID to the host folder ownership if you hit permission errors. Put nginx or Caddy in front for HTTPS — and configure WebSocket proxying at /ws, or the editor will break silently.
Docker limitations to know upfront: the self-hosted server is browser-only. Desktop and mobile apps don't connect to your Docker instance — they sync through SiYuan's official cloud unless you use the web UI. Export to PDF, HTML, and Word, plus Markdown import, aren't available in Docker mode. If you need those workflows on self-hosted, run the desktop app with a local workspace and back up the folder yourself.
Don't point Dropbox or Google Drive at the workspace folder — SiYuan warns that third-party sync drives corrupt the data repo. Back up with rsync, restic, or volume snapshots instead.
Sizing: SiYuan is heavier than Memos. Plan 2 GB RAM minimum for comfortable editing; large libraries with many assets want more disk and periodic workspace backups. SQLite and local indexing live inside the workspace.
Who it's for (and who should skip it)
Good fit: researchers and writers building linked note systems, developers documenting architecture with block references, consultants who want a private second brain on Canadian infrastructure, teams okay with browser-based access behind VPN or SSO proxy.
Maybe skip it: if you want phone-native sync to your own server — Docker SiYuan won't give you that. If Memos-level simplicity is enough. If you're happy in Obsidian with git sync and don't need a web server. If nobody will maintain backups of the workspace folder.
Hosting it in Canada
We run SiYuan on Canadian Docker hosting — TLS with WebSocket support, workspace volume backups, and auth hardening so your block graph isn't public on port 6806. Pair it with Uptime Kuma if the team depends on it daily.
Tell us how many users and how big the library is — we'll size storage for assets and set up backup schedules that match how much you trust a single workspace folder.
