Colanode
Open source, local-first Slack and Notion alternative that puts you in control of your data with offline support and end-to-end encryption.
Colanode is an open source, local-first collaboration suite that combines a Notion-style knowledge base with a Slack-style team chat in a single desktop application. It is built on CRDTs (Yjs) and SQLite, so every change is replicated locally first and then synced peer-to-peer or through a self-hosted server.
Pages, databases, channels, and threads are all stored in a local SQLite database on each user’s machine, meaning you can keep working fully offline. The desktop client is built with Electron, while the server component is small and can be self-hosted on a Raspberry Pi or a small VPS.
Colanode is released under Apache-2.0 and is well suited to small teams and communities that want the productivity of Notion and Slack while keeping conversations, documents, and data on hardware they control.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does "local-first" mean in Colanode?
Colanode is built around a local-first architecture: every change you make is written to a local SQLite database on your device, then synced to the self-hosted server in the background. This means the app stays usable offline and reconciles your changes once connectivity returns. Reads also happen locally, so the UI is responsive even when the server is slow or unreachable.
How does Colanode handle real-time multi-user editing?
Concurrent edits are resolved using Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) implemented with the Yjs library. Multiple users can edit the same page or database row simultaneously without overwrites, similar to Notion's collaborative editing. A single Colanode app can also connect to multiple servers, each containing its own set of workspaces.
What features does Colanode include beyond documents?
Colanode bundles four products in one app: real-time chat (1:1 and channels), rich-text pages, structured databases with table, kanban, and calendar views, and file management. The Notion-like editor is paired with a chat and file workspace so teams can keep everything inside a single self-hosted instance. Both web and Electron-based desktop clients are available.
What can I self-host, and under what license?
Colanode is released under the Apache License 2.0 and consists of a self-hostable server plus a web or Electron desktop client. You retain full control of your data because everything syncs to your own server rather than a vendor cloud. The stack is TypeScript and Go-based, with around 5,000 stars on GitHub at the time of writing.
Repository details
Updated 8/6/2026, 3:00:49 PM
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