SHSelfHostIndex
ZK

zk

Plain-text note-taking and Zettelkasten assistant

Wikis & Documentation ★ 2.8k stars Easy setup GPL-3.0

zk is a command-line tool that helps maintain a Zettelkasten or personal wiki composed of plain Markdown files. It links notes together, supports full-text search, and can power a personal knowledge base.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Zettelkasten linking
  • Plain Markdown notes
  • Full-text search
  • Command-line driven

Strengths

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Go

Is zk secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for zk's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

zk replaces

Self-hosted Roam Research alternativesSelf-hosted Obsidian alternatives

Health badge

Maintain zk? Add its health score to your README. The badge links back to this page.

SelfHostIndex: 87 · excellent

Markdown
[![SelfHostIndex health score for zk](https://selfhostindex.com/badge/zk-zettelkasten.svg)](https://selfhostindex.com/app/zk-zettelkasten/)
HTML
<a href="https://selfhostindex.com/app/zk-zettelkasten/"><img src="https://selfhostindex.com/badge/zk-zettelkasten.svg" alt="SelfHostIndex health score for zk"></a>
reStructuredText
.. image:: https://selfhostindex.com/badge/zk-zettelkasten.svg
   :alt: SelfHostIndex health score for zk
   :target: https://selfhostindex.com/app/zk-zettelkasten/

The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

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