Self hosted, searchable bookmark application

Question

I actually have come across something similar, but I can't remember what it was called, and its install process wasn't well documented. My use case is very simple - I need something I can chuck interesting links into, say why they were interesting, and pull them up in a reasonable manner as needed

Basic requirements

• web based access
• self hosted
• can be run on any reasonable linux host. I'd be fine with something that uses a common database, and either runs its own server, or is in php. I don't really need it to run on shared hosting or anything, just not have super odd requirements
• has sensible install documentation

Functional requirements

• Needs to allow me to paste in a link, annotate it, and add tags. In short, I want to be able to classify them by tags, or search them by how I remember them
• needs to be searchable by keyword (either based on the link, or annotation), tag or date

Stuff that would be nice to have

• firefox extension
• looks good

Answer 1

I'm using Wallabag for this. It is written in PHP using Symfony2, the database can be anything from SQLite to MySQL to PostgreSQL.

From the feature requirements, it can do all what you want. The only let down I can see, which annoys me, is that you can't add tags when you store a link. You have to go to the link and add them there. There is an issue for that.

Answer 2

My absolute favorite is SemanticScuttle here's why I think you'll like it to:

web based access

SemanticScuttle is primarily web based .

self hosted and can be run on any reasonable linux host. I'd be fine with something that uses a common database, and either runs its own server, or is in php. I don't really need it to run on shared hosting or anything, just not have super odd requirements

It built on PHP and MySQL/PostgreSQL so it should run almost anywhere even shared hosting.

has sensible install documentation

I don't consider myself a web guy by any means but their install docs were pretty easy. It takes 6 steps to get it up and running

Needs to allow me to paste in a link, annotate it, and add tags. In short, I want to be able to classify them by tags, or search them by how I remember them

You set tags for each bookmark when you add it and you can browse by tags as well.

needs to be searchable by keyword (either based on the link, or annotation), tag or date

There is a built in search feature for finding bookmarks.

firefox extension

I'm not sure if they have an extension or not but they do have a bookmarklet. Basically you add it to your browsers bookmark bar them you can use it to add bookmarks to your site. PROTIP: If you're using the bookmarket it will auto fill the url with the page you're on and if you have text selected on the page that will be used to autopopulate the link description.

looks good

The default theme looks ok but it's also easy to customize. Below is a picture of my Bootstrapped version.

Also supports importing from Delicious and other bookmark sources. You can change privacy for each bookmark and set the default to whatever you want. The bookmarklet is awesome. I've tried a couple different bookmark sites both self hosted and not and SemanticScuttle is by far the best I've seen.

Answer 3

I've been looking at this on-and-off for years (sad but true), and finally decided to look more closely and get on with it (project waiting that could use this treatment).

I ended up opting for Shaarli (explicitly licensed as "Free Software") which seems to me to meet all (or almost all) of OP's criteria admirably:

Basic

• web based access
• self hosted

• can be run on any reasonable linux host

  Yes to all of the above: it installed painlessly in a few minutes on my shared (PHP) hosting; it uses a file (not db) and really is very, very fast.

Functions

• paste in a link, annotate it, and add tags. In short, I want to be able to classify them by tags

• needs to be searchable by keyword (either based on the link, or annotation), tag or date

  Again, yes to all of the above: there is tagging, and tags are editable; searches can be tag, text search, or date. Also allows private links if you use Shaarli for sharing (like Delicious).

Nice

• firefox extension

• looks good

  There is a FF extension, although there are also bookmarklets (my preference) which work very well. "Looks good" is a matter of personal preference, and although the current default theming (v. 0.8.4) isn't to my taste, there are a number of other · decent · themes available. The screenshot above is the (responsive) layout shipping from the 0.9.0 release, IMO a real improvement on the earlier default theme.

Shaarli is a great self-hosted bookmarking app, and I'm only suprised it isn't better known.