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AI-Powered Bookmarking with Hoarder

Hoarder is an open-source, self-hosted bookmark manager powered by AI that helps you save and organize web content. Unlike traditional bookmark systems, Hoarder features AI tagging, full-page archiving, powerful search, and mobile apps to access your content from anywhere.

Hoarder main page

Prerequisites​

Hoarder offers several installation options, but using Docker Desktop is the easiest and most reliable way to get started. Docker Desktop includes both Docker and Docker Compose, which are required to run Hoarder.

If Docker Desktop isn’t installed yet, follow these steps to set it up:

  1. Download it from Docker's official website.
  2. Install Docker Desktop by dragging it to your Applications folder.
  3. Launch Docker Desktop and wait for it to fully start (the whale icon in your menu bar will indicate when it's ready).

Creating a directory for your Hoarder setup​

First, you'll create a dedicated directory to store all Hoarder-related files:

  1. Open Terminal.

  2. Create a new directory with this command:

    $ mkdir ~/hoarder-app

  3. Navigate into that directory:

    $ cd ~/hoarder-app

This creates the hoarder-app in your home directory, giving you a clean, organized place for your Hoarder installation.

Downloading the Docker Compose file​

The Docker Compose file defines all the services Hoarder needs to run properly.

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hoarder-app/hoarder/main/docker/docker-compose.yml

When you run this command, you should see progress information as the file downloads. This file contains the complete service setup for Hoarder, including database configuration and networking.

Setting up environment variables​

Environment variables help you configure your Hoarder installation without modifying the core files. Here's how to set them up:

  1. Create an .env file in your hoarder-app directory:

    touch .env

  2. You'll need to generate two secure random strings. In your Terminal, run this command twice:

    $ openssl rand -base64 36

  3. Open the .env file with your favorite text editor, and add the following configuration:

    HOARDER_VERSION=release
    NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your_first_random_string_here
    MEILI_MASTER_KEY=your_second_random_string_here
    NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000

    What these variables do:

    • HOARDER_VERSION=release tells Docker to use the latest stable version of Hoarder.
    • NEXTAUTH_SECRET is used for securely encrypting session data.
    • MEILI_MASTER_KEY secures the search functionality.
    • NEXTAUTH_URL tells the authentication system where your app is located.

  4. Replace the placeholder values your_first_random_string_here and your_second_random_string_here with your random strings.

  5. Save and close the file.

Configuring AI tagging with OpenAI​

One of Hoarder's most powerful features is automatic AI tagging of your bookmarks. To enable this:

  1. You'll need an OpenAI API key. If you don't have one yet:

    • Go to OpenAI's platform.
    • Create an account if needed.
    • Navigate to the API keys section.
    • Create a new API key and give it a name like Hoarder app.
    • Copy the key (you won't be able to see it again!)

  2. Add the key to your .env file:

    OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here

OpenAI charges based on usage, but Hoarder's tagging uses minimal tokens, keeping costs very low. Most users spend only a few cents per month.

If you prefer to keep everything local, you can use Ollama instead. This runs AI models locally on your Mac, though it requires more system resources.

Launching Hoarder​

Now you're ready to start Hoarder:

  1. In Terminal, make sure you're still in your hoarder-app directory (cd ~/hoarder-app if needed).

  2. Run this command to start Hoarder in the background:

    docker compose up -d

This will download all the necessary images (this might take a few minutes the first time). You'll see progress information for each service. When complete, all Hoarder services will be running in the background.

To verify everything is running properly, you can check by running the following command:

$ docker compose ps

Accessing your Hoarder installation​

Once the services are up and running:

  1. Open your preferred web browser.

  2. Navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should see the Hoarder sign-in page.

Hoarder sign-in page

  1. Create your account and start hoarding your favorite content.

Why do I need to create an account in Hoarder, even when running it locally?​

Hoarder requires you to create a local account to manage your session and keep your data secure. Even if you're running Hoarder on your local machine without internet access, the authentication system helps:

  • Protect your bookmarks and personal data

  • Keep you logged in during your session

  • Support multiple users on the same installation (e.g. family or team members)

Your account is completely local—no data is sent to external servers, and all credentials are stored securely in your laptop’s local database.