mdump

A self-hosted, web-based markdown note-taking app. Notes are stored as plain .md files on disk — no database, no lock-in. Runs as a single Docker container.

Features

• WYSIWYG editor powered by Milkdown Crepe (ProseMirror + Remark)
• Flat-file storage — notes are standard .md files, editable by any text editor
• Multiple tabs with auto-save and dirty state tracking
• Full-text search across all notes
• Document outline panel — clickable h1–h6 heading list in the sidebar
• File attachments — upload images and files alongside notes
• Split editing — WYSIWYG, source, or side-by-side view
• Customisable toolbar — reorder, show/hide buttons
• Theming — 33 DaisyUI themes, custom editor fonts, font size, spacing
• HTTPS — native TLS support without a reverse proxy
• Single-user auth with bcrypt-hashed password

Quick Start

docker run -d \
  --name mdump \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -e SESSION_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32) \
  -v mdump-notes:/data/notes \
  -v mdump-config:/data/config \
  ghcr.io/troglobitten/mdump:main

Open http://localhost:8080 and create your account on first run.

Docker Compose

services:
  mdump:
    image: ghcr.io/troglobitten/mdump:main
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - mdump-notes:/data/notes
      - mdump-config:/data/config
    environment:
      # Optional: provide your own secret. If unset, mdump generates a random
      # one and persists it under /data/config on first run.
      - SESSION_SECRET=${SESSION_SECRET:-}
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  mdump-notes:
  mdump-config:

Data

Everything lives under /data:

Path	Persist?	Contents
/data/notes	Yes	Markdown files and attachments
/data/config	Yes	Settings, sessions, auth, generated session secret
/data/.image-cache	Optional	Resized-image cache (regenerated on demand; safe to discard)

Mount volumes for notes and config (the examples above do). The image cache is ephemeral — give it a volume only if you want resized thumbnails to survive restarts. The search index (/data/.search-index.json) is also regenerated automatically.

Attachments live in hidden .{notename}/ folders alongside each note (e.g. meeting-notes.md → .meeting-notes/).

Backup & restore

To back up, stop the container and copy the notes and config volumes (config holds your credentials and session secret). The image cache and search index can be ignored — they rebuild automatically.

docker run --rm \
  -v mdump-notes:/notes -v mdump-config:/config \
  -v "$(pwd):/backup" alpine \
  tar czf /backup/mdump-backup.tar.gz -C / notes config

Restore by extracting the archive back into the same two volumes.

HTTPS / TLS

mdump supports native HTTPS without a reverse proxy. Set both variables to enable it:

Variable	Description
TLS_CERT	Path to the TLS certificate file (inside the container)
TLS_KEY	Path to the TLS private key file (inside the container)

    volumes:
      - /path/to/certs:/data/certs:ro
    environment:
      - TLS_CERT=/data/certs/cert.pem
      - TLS_KEY=/data/certs/key.pem

For a self-signed cert (local testing):

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj '/CN=localhost'

Behind a reverse proxy

If you terminate TLS at a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik, …) instead of using the built-in TLS, set TRUST_PROXY=1 so secure cookies and per-client rate limiting work correctly. Make sure the proxy forwards WebSocket upgrades for /ws (e.g. nginx proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; and proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";).

Development

pnpm install
pnpm dev        # runs client (port 5173) and server (port 8080) concurrently

pnpm --filter client build   # production client build
pnpm --filter server build   # production server build

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js 20, Express 4, TypeScript
• Frontend: Vue 3 (Composition API), Vite, Tailwind CSS 3, DaisyUI 4
• Editor: Milkdown Crepe 7 (ProseMirror + Remark)
• Package manager: pnpm (monorepo)

Disclaimer

Built with the help of Claude (Anthropic). Use at your own risk.

License

MIT