bookstackapp/bookstack

📈 Trending★ 18,763PHPAudience · pm founderComplexity · 3/5ActiveLicenseSetup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((BookStack))
    What it does
      Wiki-style documentation
      Hierarchical organization
      Team collaboration
    How it works
      Books contain chapters
      Chapters contain pages
      Self-hosted on your server
    Use cases
      Team procedures and guides
      Internal knowledge base
      Reference documentation
    Tech stack
      PHP backend
      Web server required
      Self-hosted deployment
    Audience
      Non-technical teams
      Small to medium orgs
      Privacy-conscious users

mindmap root((BookStack)) What it does Wiki-style documentation Hierarchical organization Team collaboration How it works Books contain chapters Chapters contain pages Self-hosted on your server Use cases Team procedures and guides Internal knowledge base Reference documentation Tech stack PHP backend Web server required Self-hosted deployment Audience Non-technical teams Small to medium orgs Privacy-conscious users

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Create an internal knowledge base for your team's procedures, policies, and best practices.

USE CASE 2

Build a self-hosted documentation site for your product or service that stays private on your own server.

USE CASE 3

Organize company onboarding materials, training guides, and reference docs in one searchable location.

USE CASE 4

Set up a wiki for open-source projects or communities without relying on third-party platforms.

Tech stack

PHPMySQLLaravelDocker

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Docker Compose setup required; MySQL database initialization needed before first run.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice and license text.

In plain English

BookStack is an open-source platform for storing and organizing information and documentation, built for teams and individuals who want an easy-to-use wiki-style system. The project is written in PHP and hosted on Codeberg (the GitHub mirror is now archived). It uses a hierarchical structure, books contain chapters, which contain pages, giving teams a clear place to store procedures, guides, and reference material without needing technical skills to write content. The design philosophy is deliberately opinionated: new users should find it intuitive, with only basic word-processing skills required to start creating content. More advanced power features exist for those who want them, but they don't disrupt the simple core experience. BookStack is self-hosted, meaning you run it on your own server, which keeps your documentation private and under your control. Setting up BookStack requires a web server environment. The project has a strong translation community managed through Crowdin, with support for many languages. Development is steady and incremental, prioritizing a stable upgrade path over rapid change. The project is MIT-licensed and supported through donations, with several corporate sponsors helping fund ongoing development.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I install BookStack on my own server using Docker?

Prompt 2

Show me how to set up user roles and permissions in BookStack so different team members can edit different sections.

Prompt 3

What's the best way to structure a BookStack instance for a 50-person company with multiple departments?

Prompt 4

How do I migrate existing documentation from Confluence or Notion into BookStack?

Prompt 5

Can I customize the BookStack interface with custom CSS or branding for my organization?

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.