blackvoid Standard Notes - Docker self-hosted alternative for all your note needs

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blackvoid Standard Notes - Docker self-hosted alternative for all your note needs

Standard Notes - Docker self-hosted alternative for all your note needs

Not another one of those notes apps am I, right? I mean we have Synology Note Station, a globally popular Evernote, Apple Notes, Bear app, and a million others, so what makes Standard Notes special?

Notes? Who needs a notes app...?​


Before I write a bit why this article should make sense, in case you are not interested in what I have to say and are looking for the know-how of running this on your own Docker (Synology) platform, jump down to the "Requirements" section.

Standard Notes - Docker self-hosted alternative for all your note needs

Key features of Standard Notes
Standard Notes - Docker self-hosted alternative for all your note needs

More features can be unlocked with extensions (also free and covered by this tutorial)

As you can see from the images above, SN offers a lot. From a modern minimalistic look to a full mobile and desktop app, along with 2FA support, FaceID, and super fast sync service that just works.

You can host it yourself, preserving the data 100% on-site, access it anywhere from a web browser app connected to your server. Brilliant, just as Bitwarden setup is for passwords.

SN offers also a paid solution unless you don't feel up to it hosting it yourself and offers about 30 extensions at the moment to make your instance even more powerful than a simple notes app.

With its spartan looks and features, out of the box, you get a free note-taking app with sync. More than enough for the majority of people. If you are looking a bit more, like support for markdown, code, themes, 2Fa, etc, then you will need to either pay a small monthly fee or host them yourself.

This article will show you how to make it all happen and run it inside Docker on your Synology NAS along with (also free and open-source) all extensions that SN offers.


Continue reading...
 
Regarding using editors that support image embed feature with SN FileSafe feature. FileSafe can also be self-hosted (haven't tried it yet) considering that the "official" one is again linking to SN's own FS instance.

It will allow you to link your instance with DB, GDrive, Amazon, and WebDAV in general. Still, if you do not wish to use their FS relay you can host it yourself.

On top of this, if you see no reason to host it and already have a service that will allow you to get to your image using a web URL (like Drive for example) you can simply use the Markdown editor extension and use the <img> tag to insert the image in the body of the note.

Screenshot 2020-10-09 at 13.55.30.png


and in "view" form it will look like this:

Screenshot 2020-10-09 at 13.56.00.png
 
@Rusty When installing extensions: Is there a reason why I've to specify my Git account and create a token? Is this necessary at all? Does installing those extension require downloading files from Git?
 
@Rusty When installing extensions: Is there a reason why I've to specify my Git account and create a token? Is this necessary at all? Does installing those extension require downloading files from Git?
Build_repo.py file lines 31 and 32 require it
 
By any chance, could the extensions repository be installed into the Web App docker container somehow?

Since all parts of the SN installation, MySQL, SN itself, phpMyadmin are running inside a docker container, the repository is hosted on Synology's own webserver.

I would prefer a complete Docker only installation...
 
By any chance, could the extensions repository be installed into the Web App docker container somehow?

Since all parts of the SN installation, MySQL, SN itself, phpMyadmin are running inside a docker container, the repository is hosted on Synology's own webserver.

I would prefer a complete Docker only installation...
 
With SN it works like I said, multiple notes are generated and you decide which one to keep.
Thank you for the clarification. I often edit the same note while both devices (iPhone and iPad) are offline. So I was wondering what will SN do when they both come online. Some apps commit suicide :)
So it keeps both versions as you say. Not bad.

I’ll try to install it. I’m still trying to find something with manual syncing where I tell it when to sync.
Don’t judge me, I have my reasons :)
 
One thing that is unclear to me is notes potability. What options exist to migrate from Standard Notes.

All I've been able to glean is that you can export text files, but that would ignore embedded media (graphics, video), links, and formatting.

I left Note Station largely for this reason. Presently my preferred note app is Joplin, which is synced via my NAS using WebDAV.
 
Docker Hub
Thanks, looks promising! Just a quick question to the expert: The web page tells me about the command
Code:
docker pull moookino/snext
to request the docker file.

The description just mentions that the extensions will be available through port 8043. Is there a chance to switch to a different port as many other docker allow by specifying a port like -p 3001:8043? Did not test this myself beforehand, though.

Thanks!
 
The description just mentions that the extensions will be available through port 8043. Is there a chance to switch to a different port as many other docker allow by specifying a port like -p 3001:8043? Did not test this myself beforehand, though.
Haven't tested it myself still, didn't have time, and tbh, considering that I do use web station I think I will leave the extension as they are. When I get around to look at this docker version of extensions I'll post back.
 
What options exist to migrate from Standard Notes.
Good question.

Their support site has a few articles on backup and restores procedures - How do I create and import backups of my Standard Notes data? and the option to download an offline decryption tool so that you can access your data without the need to import it inside SN 1st.

Now, this can be an option to access your data and then migrate it to a new platform but like any other platform, they will not offer export to them out of the box unline import that they do support for some platforms. Guess import will be more or less manual labor. Regarding images and link, SN works with FileSafe addon that connects to Gdrive, DB, WebDav, etc so guessing it is in some way a separate was of accessing your data anyway. Meaning that using it in the new platform will be again more or less something that might work out of the box or you will have to adjust for rules that are used with the new platform.

Personally I will be linking images using a web URL from an already hosted service that has nothing to do with SN that will allow me, in case I do migrate, to have no problems getting to my images as long as the new platform support HTML/markdown.
 
Last edited:
Haven't tested it myself still, didn't have time, and tbh, considering that I do use web station I think I will leave the extension as they are. When I get around to look at this docker version of extensions I'll post back.
Have tested and I've used port 3001 pointing to 8043 as per -p 3001:8043 command line parameter.
-- post merged: --

Workes perfectly now, running inside a container....
-- post merged: --

Just played a bit with the Android app of standard notes. Obviously this app does not allow or offer any possibility to use extensions unless you registered for a paid account. Can sbdy confirm this?
 
Can sbdy confirm this?
Not true. I run all of them, selfhosted.

But haven’t you said you tried the docker image for extension and that it works?

Not sure what works now and how come you don’t see extensions?

All in all, I can confirm that extensions can be selfhosted with no paying options
 
Short recap:
I run MySQL, Standard Notes, and Extensions inside docker. The Windows application of SN works with all three, self hosted, containers. The extensions could be added there by using the local URL w/o any problems.

The Android app works with self hosted SN, but I see no possibility of adding the dockerized extensions anywhere.
 
Yes, SHOULD, but I couldn't find any setting to paste the URL to my extensions into, at least not for Android.
I assume further that when I login using an official account wiht paid subscription, i would find the extensions.
 
Yes, SHOULD, but I couldn't find any setting to paste the URL to my extensions into, at least not for Android.
I assume further that when I login using an official account wiht paid subscription, i would find the extensions.
Is it possible that you already have a registered extension so there is no option to register a new extension URL?
 
Is it possible that you already have a registered extension so there is no option to register a new extension URL?
Unfortunately, not that I'm aware of. I've installed the Android app before I've set up the extensions with the help of your link above. Hence, there was no chance of adding an extension URL beforehand so far.

Just installed the Windows application on a different PC and could successfully register the SN URL, pointing to my docker container, additionally I could add the URL for the extensions, again w/o any issues. So this works as expected.

I guess, I will now remove the SN app from my Android tablet and start over, I bet this won't change anything....
 
I guess, I will now remove the SN app from my Android tablet and start over, I bet this won't change anything....
If it doesn't then it's an app problem. Not sure you can do anything about it apart from building it yourself from the repository and publish it with any corrections needed. But then again, not something that I would know how to do.
 

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