---
title: "Deploy Karakeep | Open-Source Bookmark Manager"
description: "Karakeep - The Bookmark Everything App | Save, Organize & Tag with AI"
category: "Other"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/karakeep-bookmark-manager
---

# Deploy Karakeep | Open-Source Bookmark Manager

Karakeep - The Bookmark Everything App | Save, Organize & Tag with AI

**[Deploy Karakeep | Open-Source Bookmark Manager on Railway](https://railway.com/template/karakeep-bookmark-manager)**

- **Creator:** Heimdall
- **Category:** Other
- **Total deploys:** 8

## Template content

### Meilisearch https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/meilisearch.svg

- **Image:** getmeili/meilisearch

### Karakeep https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/karakeep.svg

- **Image:** ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep:latest
- **Public domain:** Yes

### BrowserlessV2 https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/browserless-light.svg

- **Source:** railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2

## Documentation

![Karakeep logo](https://getumbrel.github.io/umbrel-apps-gallery/karakeep/2.jpg)

# Deploy and Host Karakeep on Railway

Deploy Karakeep on Railway to get a self-hosted bookmark manager with AI-powered tagging, full-text search, and browser extensions in under two minutes. Self-host Karakeep and own your data — bookmarks, notes, images, and PDFs stay on your infrastructure.

This template pre-configures three services: Karakeep (`ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep:release`) with embedded SQLite, Meilisearch (`getmeili/meilisearch:v1.41.0`) for full-text search, and Browserless v2 (Railway's official `railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2` build of `ghcr.io/browserless/chromium:latest`, fronted by Caddy for IPv6 + private-network support) for web crawling and screenshots.

![Karakeep Railway architecture](https://res.cloudinary.com/asset-cloudinary/image/upload/v1777812392/059ad38f-013b-40f1-a2e8-6f2c6d0e4728.png)

## Getting Started with Karakeep on Railway

Open the generated public URL after deployment completes. Create your first account — this becomes the admin user. Navigate to Settings to add your OpenAI API key for automatic tagging.

Install the browser extension from Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons, enter your server URL and API key in extension settings. Start saving links, images, or notes — Karakeep automatically crawls URLs, captures screenshots, and applies AI tags. Set `DISABLE_SIGNUPS=true` in Railway after creating your account to block further registration.

![Karakeep dashboard screenshot](https://res.cloudinary.com/asset-cloudinary/image/upload/v1777817318/3fd81495-2884-4149-a56b-a9daa3952104.png)

## About Hosting Karakeep on Railway

Karakeep (formerly Hoarder) is an open-source, self-hostable bookmark-everything application built for developers and researchers who want intelligent organization without cloud dependencies.

Key features:

- Bookmark links, notes, images, and PDFs in one place
- AI-powered automatic tagging via OpenAI or Ollama
- Full-text search powered by Meilisearch
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- RSS feed import, OAuth/OIDC, and REST API
- Rule-based auto-organization into lists

## Why Deploy Karakeep on Railway

Railway eliminates the complexity of orchestrating three services, volumes, and private networking.

- One-click deploy with pre-configured Meilisearch and headless browser
- Persistent volumes for SQLite database and search indexes
- Private networking — internal APIs never publicly exposed
- Automatic HTTPS with zero configuration
- Pay only for actual resource usage

## Common Use Cases for Self-Hosted Karakeep

- **Developer knowledge base** — save Stack Overflow solutions and docs with AI-tagged categories by language and framework
- **Research library** — collect papers and articles with full-text search across archived content
- **Design inspiration** — bookmark screenshots with OCR-extracted text becoming searchable
- **Team shared bookmarks** — collaborative link collection with auto-organization rules

## Dependencies for Karakeep on Railway

- **Karakeep** — `ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep:release` — web UI, API, and background workers
- **Meilisearch** — `getmeili/meilisearch:v1.41.0` — full-text search engine
- **BrowserlessV2** — `railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2` (GitHub repo build of `ghcr.io/browserless/chromium:latest` + Caddy reverse proxy) — headless Chromium with WebSocket Playwright endpoint and token auth

### Environment Variables Reference for Karakeep

| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| `NEXTAUTH_URL` | Public app URL (auto-set from Railway domain) |
| `NEXTAUTH_SECRET` | Session signing secret (auto-generated) |
| `MEILI_ADDR` | Internal Meilisearch URL |
| `MEILI_MASTER_KEY` | Shared Meilisearch auth key |
| `BROWSER_WEBSOCKET_URL` | Browserless v2 Playwright WebSocket endpoint with token |
| `BROWSER_CONNECT_ONDEMAND` | Connect to browser only when crawling (avoids idle timeout) |
| `DISABLE_SIGNUPS` | Block new user registration |
| `CRAWLER_NUM_WORKERS` | Parallel crawl worker count |
| `MAX_ASSET_SIZE_MB` | Max upload file size (MB) |

### Deployment Dependencies

- **GitHub (Karakeep):** [karakeep-app/karakeep](https://github.com/karakeep-app/karakeep)
- **GitHub (Browserless template):** [railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2](https://github.com/railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2)
- **Docker:** [ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep](https://ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep)
- **Docs:** [docs.karakeep.app](https://docs.karakeep.app)

## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting Karakeep

| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2 cores | 4 cores |
| RAM | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Storage | 2 GB | 10 GB+ (scales with assets) |
| Runtime | Docker 20+ | Docker 24+ with Compose v2 |

Meilisearch needs ~500 MB RAM for indexing and Browserless v2 uses 300-500 MB per crawl session.

## Self-Hosting Karakeep with Docker Compose

Create a `docker-compose.yml`:

```
services:
  karakeep:
    image: ghcr.io/karakeep-app/karakeep:release
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - karakeep_data:/data
    environment:
      - DATA_DIR=/data
      - NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
      - NEXTAUTH_SECRET=change-me-to-random-string
      - MEILI_ADDR=http://meilisearch:7700
      - MEILI_MASTER_KEY=your-master-key
      - BROWSER_WEBSOCKET_URL=ws://browserless:3000/chromium/playwright?token=your-browser-token
      - BROWSER_CONNECT_ONDEMAND=true
    depends_on:
      - meilisearch
      - browserless
  meilisearch:
    image: getmeili/meilisearch:v1.41.0
    volumes:
      - meili_data:/meili_data
    environment:
      - MEILI_MASTER_KEY=your-master-key
      - MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS=true
  browserless:
    image: ghcr.io/browserless/chromium:latest
    environment:
      - TOKEN=your-browser-token
      - TIMEOUT=120000
volumes:
  karakeep_data:
  meili_data:
```

Then run:

```
docker compose up -d
```

## How Much Does Karakeep Cost to Self-Host?

Karakeep is open-source under the AGPL license — free forever. On Railway, expect $5-10/month on the Hobby plan. Karakeep Cloud costs $4/month with 50 GB storage, while self-hosting gives unlimited volume-based storage and no feature restrictions.

## Karakeep vs Raindrop.io vs Linkwarden

| Feature | Karakeep | Raindrop.io | Linkwarden |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Yes (AGPL) | No (SaaS only) | Yes (AGPL) |
| AI tagging | Built-in (OpenAI/Ollama) | No | Via plugins |
| Full-text search | Meilisearch | Built-in | Built-in |
| Image/PDF bookmarks | Yes | Limited | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS, Android | iOS, Android | PWA only |
| Database | SQLite (embedded) | Proprietary | PostgreSQL (required) |
| RSS feeds | Yes | No | No |

Karakeep uses lightweight SQLite instead of PostgreSQL, supports fully local AI via Ollama, and provides native mobile apps — the easiest self-hosted option to deploy.

## FAQ

**What is Karakeep and why self-host it on Railway?**
Karakeep is an open-source bookmark manager for links, notes, images, and PDFs with AI-powered auto-tagging and full-text search. Self-hosting on Railway gives you full data ownership and a pre-configured multi-service architecture that deploys in one click.

**What does this Railway template deploy for Karakeep?**
Three services: the main Karakeep application (web UI, API, workers with embedded SQLite), Meilisearch for full-text search, and Browserless v2 (Railway's official `railwayapp-templates/browserless-v2` build) for web crawling via the Playwright WebSocket protocol. Two persistent volumes store the database/assets and search indexes.

**Why does Karakeep need Meilisearch and a headless browser?**
Meilisearch provides sub-50ms full-text search across all bookmarked content. Browserless v2 ships a current Chromium build with Playwright support so Karakeep's crawler can render JavaScript-heavy pages, capture screenshots, archive HTML, and extract metadata for the search index. The connection is token-authenticated and stays on Railway's private network.

**How do I enable AI tagging in self-hosted Karakeep on Railway?**
Add your OpenAI API key as the `OPENAI_API_KEY` environment variable in Railway. For fully local AI, deploy Ollama and set `OLLAMA_BASE_URL`. AI tagging applies automatically to new bookmarks.

**Can I migrate from Pocket or Raindrop.io to Karakeep?**
Yes. Karakeep imports from Pocket (HTML export), Raindrop.io (CSV), browser bookmarks (HTML), and Omnivore via Settings > Import.

**How do I connect the Karakeep browser extension after deploying on Railway?**
Install from Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons, enter your Railway public URL, then generate an API key from Settings > API Keys and paste it into the extension.

**Is Karakeep suitable for team use with multiple users?**
Yes. Keep `DISABLE_SIGNUPS=false` for open registration or configure OAuth/OIDC for SSO. Shared lists enable team collaboration on curated link collections.


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Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/karakeep-bookmark-manager