BookStack
NOW MANAGED ON CODEBERG
BookStack is a self-hosted, open-source wiki platform for teams to write and organize documentation in a simple books-chapters-pages structure, designed so anyone can start contributing content without technical skills.
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.
Where it fits
- Set up a private internal wiki for your team to store procedures, runbooks, and guides on a server you control.
- Organize project documentation in a clear books-chapters-pages hierarchy without any technical writing tools.
- Replace a hosted wiki subscription with a self-hosted alternative to keep sensitive documentation private.