explaingit

atomtanstudio/scrollback

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

0TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

A self hosted app for archiving X posts, RSS articles, and media into a private, searchable library with optional AI enrichment and semantic search.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Scrollback))
    Capture
      Browser Extension
      RSS Sync
    Search
      Keyword Search
      Semantic Search
      Agent Memory Index
    AI Enrichment
      Summaries
      Tags
      Translation
    Tech
      Next.js
      Prisma
      PostgreSQL
      SQLite

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Save X posts, threads, and linked articles with a browser extension for later reference, without relying on a third party service.

USE CASE 2

Archive RSS or Atom feeds into a searchable personal library that updates on a schedule.

USE CASE 3

Use semantic search to find saved content by meaning rather than exact keywords.

USE CASE 4

Build an AI agent search surface over your personal archive using the built in pgvector powered index.

What is it built with?

Next.jsReactTypeScriptPrismaPostgreSQLpgvectorSQLiteTailwind CSS

How does it compare?

atomtanstudio/scrollback0xradioac7iv/tempfsabboskhonov/hermium
Stars000
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatemoderate
Complexity4/53/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Node.js 22.x, an onboarding wizard handles database, AI provider, and extension setup after first run.

In plain English

Scrollback is a self hosted personal archive for saving X, formerly Twitter, posts, threads, article links, RSS feeds, media, and AI art prompts into a private, searchable library that you run on your own machine or server. Nothing is stored on a third party service, all saved content lives in a database you control. Content gets into Scrollback through two main paths. A browser extension lets you capture X posts and threads with one click while browsing, and an RSS or Atom feed syncer pulls articles into your library on a schedule. Once content is saved, you can search it with regular keyword search, or with semantic search when the app is set up with a vector database, meaning you can find items by their meaning rather than exact matching words. Optionally, you can connect an OpenAI or Google Gemini API key to get AI generated summaries, tags, categories, translated text, and image descriptions attached to saved items. Media files can be stored locally on disk or in Cloudflare R2 storage. The app also exposes a remote query API so other tools or scripts can pull from your archive without touching the database directly, and it can build a searchable index meant for AI agents to query your saved content. For bulk importing X activity like Likes and Bookmarks, the README recommends using an official X API bearer token rather than relying only on the browser extension's page based capture, since page based capture depends on X's web app behavior and carries more account risk. The tech stack is Next.js 16, React 18, Prisma 7, Tailwind CSS, and either SQLite for fast local installs or PostgreSQL with pgvector for hosted installs and vector powered semantic search. It requires Node.js 22.x. An onboarding wizard walks through database setup, admin account creation, optional AI provider setup, optional X API setup, and browser extension pairing after the first run.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to self host a personal content archive with both keyword and semantic search. Walk me through setting up PostgreSQL with pgvector for this.
Prompt 2
Explain how to build a browser extension that captures posts from a social media site with one click and sends them to a backend for storage.
Prompt 3
How do I set up an RSS feed syncer in Next.js that pulls new articles on a schedule and stores them in a database?
Prompt 4
Show me how to add optional AI enrichment, like generating summaries and tags, to items saved in a Prisma backed database, using either OpenAI or Gemini.
Prompt 5
I need a remote query API so external tools can read from my personal archive without direct database access. What is a safe way to design that endpoint?

Frequently asked questions

What is scrollback?

A self hosted app for archiving X posts, RSS articles, and media into a private, searchable library with optional AI enrichment and semantic search.

What language is scrollback written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes Next.js, React, TypeScript.

How hard is scrollback to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is scrollback for?

Mainly developer.

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