# sheshbabu/zen

Selfhosted notes app. Single golang binary, notes stored as markdown within SQLite, full-text search, very low resource usage

Repository: https://github.com/sheshbabu/zen
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sheshbabu-zen
Homepage: https://www.sheshbabu.com/zen/
Language: JavaScript
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: markdown, notes, preact, sqlite, mcp-server
Last push: 2026-08-24T12:39:22+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 65/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 41
- inputs: {"age_days": 580, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1166, forks 62 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:50.230998+00:00)

## What it is
Zen is a self-hosted note-taking application distributed as a single Go binary or Docker Compose deployment, storing notes as standard Markdown in a local SQLite database. It offers full-text search with BM25 ranking, flexible tag-based organization, image support, and an experimental MCP server for AI-assisted note access.

## Use cases
- self-host a lightweight notes app
- take markdown notes without vendor lock-in
- search notes with full-text search
- run a low-resource note server on a VPS
- access my notes from an AI assistant via MCP
- import notes from other services and export portable markdown

## When to choose
- you want a minimal, single-binary self-hosted notes app with very low resource usage
- you value data portability with standard Markdown and SQLite storage
- you prefer tag-based organization over folders
- you want MCP integration to let AI tools read your notes

## When to avoid
- you need real-time multi-user collaboration
- you want a plugin ecosystem or rich third-party integrations
- you need a hosted sync service across devices out of the box
- you require active community maintenance, as it is a personal project

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: search-engine, markdown, self-hosted, mcp
- domain: developer-tools, self-hosted, web-development
- platform: self-hosted, windows
- tags: notes-app, markdown-notes, sqlite, knowledge-base, pwa, go-binary, full-text-search, web-server, docker, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- sheshbabu/zen (main) score 65

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:50.230998+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:29:18.239250+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sheshbabu/zen (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:50.230998+00:00, sha 2ee977800446)
  - homepage: https://www.sheshbabu.com/zen/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:35:23.580921+00:00, sha d291cb9a27a8)
  - site_page: https://www.sheshbabu.com/zen/documentation (fetched 2026-08-29T12:35:23.589879+00:00, sha 87873462dd7d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.