AllCodex Core

Self-hosted lore database for worldbuilding. A server-only fork of TriliumNext/Trilium, stripped down to its core and rebuilt for writers, game masters, and world builders.

AllCodex stores your worldbuilding notes in SQLite and serves them over a REST API (ETAPI). It handles lore templates, GM-only secrets, world variable expansion, and public sharing out of the box.

AllCodex works alongside the other services in the AllKnower stack:

AllKnower calls AllCodex. The Portal calls AllCodex. AllCodex serves data.

• 21 lore templates with promoted attributes: Character, Location, Faction, Creature, Event, Timeline, Manuscript, Statblock, Item/Artifact, Spell/Magic, Building/Structure, Language/Script, Session, Quest, Scene, Organization, Race, Myth, Cosmology, Deity, Religion
• GM-only secrets: tag notes with #gmOnly or wrap HTML sections in class="gm-only" to hide them from shared pages
• World variables: write {{currency}} in a note and it expands to the value stored in your #worldVariables JSON note
• Public sharing: render any subtree as a public website at /share/
• Full REST API with interactive docs at /docs (Scalar) and a JSON spec at /etapi/openapi.json
• Search: query by attributes, labels, note content, or any combination (#loreType=character #status=alive)
• Note relationships: parent/child branches + typed relation attributes between notes
• Revision history: every edit is versioned
• Encryption: per-note protection with password-gated sessions

• Node.js 22.x (Node 26 breaks better-sqlite3 native bindings)
• pnpm 10+

git clone https://github.com/ThunderRonin/AllCodex.git
cd AllCodex
pnpm install
pnpm server:start

Server starts at http://localhost:8080. API docs at http://localhost:8080/docs.

docker compose up -d

Or build the image yourself:

docker build -t allcodex -f apps/server/Dockerfile .
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v allcodex-data:/home/node/allcodex-data allcodex

On first launch, you must initialize the database before performing any other operations. Follow these two steps in order:

Step 1: Create the database (no body required):

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/setup/new-document

Expected response: empty 200 OK.

Step 2: Set the password:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/set-password \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"password1": "yourpassword", "password2": "yourpassword"}'

Expected response:

{"success": true, "redirect": "login"}

If you skip step 1 and go directly to POST /set-password, the server redirects to /setup because the database does not exist yet. Once you set the password, any subsequent call to POST /set-password returns 400 Bad Request. To change the password later, use POST /api/password/change with current_password and new_password fields.

After initializing, create an API token via the options page at http://localhost:8080 or via the internal API. The Portal and AllKnower need this token to talk to AllCodex.

Interactive reference: http://localhost:8080/docs

OpenAPI spec (JSON): GET /etapi/openapi.json OpenAPI spec (YAML): GET /etapi/etapi.openapi.yaml

Common endpoints:

All endpoints require Authorization: <token> header except /docs, /etapi/openapi.json, and /etapi/etapi.openapi.yaml.

Lore entries are standard notes with attributes that categorize them:

#loreType=character       characters and NPCs
#loreType=location        places, regions, landmarks
#loreType=faction         organizations, states, religions
#loreType=creature        monsters and beasts
#loreType=event           historical events
#loreType=timeline        chronologies (book-type notes)
#loreType=manuscript      in-world documents
#loreType=statblock       D&D 5e stat blocks

Each type has a built-in template with promoted attributes (structured fields like "Race", "Population", "Danger Level", etc.) that appear as metadata on the note.

apps/
  server/              Express 5 + SQLite server
  server-e2e/          Playwright end-to-end tests
  build-docs/          TypeDoc generation
  db-compare/          DB comparison tool
  dump-db/             DB dump tool
  icon-pack-builder/   Icon pack generation

packages/
  commons/             Shared types and utilities
  codemirror/          Code editor bundle
  express-partial-content/   Range request support
  turndown-plugin-gfm/      Markdown conversion

pnpm server:start         # dev server with hot reload
pnpm server:build         # production build
pnpm test:all             # run all tests
pnpm typecheck            # TypeScript check
pnpm dev:linter-check     # ESLint

Contributions are welcome. If you're interested in working on AllCodex, here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repo and clone it locally
2. Run pnpm install to set up the monorepo
3. Start the dev server with pnpm server:start
4. Make your changes on a feature branch
5. Run pnpm test:all && pnpm typecheck before opening a PR

A few things to keep in mind:

• Keep PRs focused. One feature or fix per pull request. Avoid drive-by refactors in unrelated files.
• Test your changes. If you're touching ETAPI endpoints or the share renderer, write or update tests.
• Don't break existing APIs. ETAPI is consumed by the Portal and AllKnower. Changing endpoint signatures or response shapes needs discussion first.
• Templates go in hidden_subtree_templates.ts. If you want to add a new lore type or modify an existing one, that's the file.
• Share page rendering lives in apps/server/src/share/. Content processing (gmOnly, world variables) is in content_renderer.ts.

If you're not sure where to start, look for issues tagged good first issue, or open a discussion with your idea before writing code.

Forked from TriliumNext/Trilium (which itself continues zadam/trilium). The original client, desktop, and web-clipper apps have been removed. The server, data model, and ETAPI remain intact.

AGPL-3.0-only. See LICENSE.