Notex

中文 | English

A privacy-first, open-source alternative to NotebookLM

An AI-powered knowledge management application that lets you create intelligent notebooks from your documents.

Project URL: https://github.com/smallnest/notex

• Python clone: pynotex

✨ Features

• 📚 Multiple Source Types - Upload PDFs, text files, Markdown, DOCX, and HTML documents
• 🤖 AI-Powered Chat - Ask questions and get answers based on your sources
• ✨ Multiple Transformations - Generate summaries, FAQs, study guides, outlines, timelines, glossaries, quizzes, mindmaps, infographics and podcast scripts
• 📊 Infographic Generation - Create beautiful, hand-drawn style infographics from your content using Google's Gemini Nano Banana
• 🎙️ Podcast Generation - Create engaging podcast scripts from your content
• 💾 Full Privacy - Local SQLite storage, optional cloud backends
• 🔄 Multi-Model Support - Works with OpenAI, Ollama, and other compatible APIs
• 🎨 Academic Brutalist Design - Distinctive, research-focused interface

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23 or later
• An LLM API key (OpenAI) or Ollama running locally

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/smallnest/notex.git
cd notex

# Install dependencies
go mod tidy

# Run the server
go run . -server

Open your browser to http://localhost:8080

⚙️ Configuration

Notex uses environment variables for configuration. The recommended way to configure the application is to create a .env file.

Step 1: Create Configuration File

Copy the example configuration file to create your local configuration:

cp .env.example .env

Step 2: Configure Your LLM Provider

Edit the .env file and configure one of the following LLM providers:

Option A: Using OpenAI (Cloud-based)

OpenAI provides high-quality models but requires an API key and charges per usage.

1. Get an API key from https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
2. Edit .env and configure:

# OpenAI Configuration
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-actual-api-key-here
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1
OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
EMBEDDING_MODEL=text-embedding-3-small

Available OpenAI Models:

• gpt-4o-mini - Fast and cost-effective (recommended)
• gpt-4o - Most capable
• gpt-3.5-turbo - Legacy option

Tips:

• You can also use compatible OpenAI APIs like Azure OpenAI or other providers by changing OPENAI_BASE_URL
• For example, to use DeepSeek: OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.deepseek.com/v1 and OPENAI_MODEL=deepseek-chat

Option B: Using Ollama (Local, Free)

Ollama runs locally on your machine and is completely free, but requires a capable computer.

1. Install Ollama from https://ollama.com
2. Pull a model (e.g., ollama pull llama3.2)
3. Start Ollama: ollama serve
4. Edit .env and configure:

# Ollama Configuration
OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434
OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3.2

Available Ollama Models:

• llama3.2 - Recommended balance of speed and quality
• qwen2.5 - Excellent for Chinese content
• mistral - Good English performance
• codellama - Specialized for code

Tips:

• Ollama models run entirely on your machine - no data leaves your computer
• Make sure Ollama is running before starting Notex
• Larger models require more RAM and CPU

Step 3: Optional Google Gemini (for Infographics)

To use the infographic generation feature with Google's Gemini Nano Banana:

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-google-api-key-here

Get your key from https://makersuite.google.com/app/apikey

Step 4: Run the Application

After configuring your .env file, simply run:

go run . -server

The application will automatically load your .env configuration and start at http://localhost:8080

Build and Run (Optional)

If you prefer to build a binary instead of using go run:

go build -o notex .
./notex -server

📖 Usage

Creating Notebooks

1. Click "New Notebook" in the header
2. Enter a name and optional description
3. Click "Create Notebook"

Adding Sources

You can add content to your notebook in three ways:

File Upload

• Click the "+" button in the Sources panel
• Drag and drop or browse for files
• Supported: PDF, TXT, MD, DOCX, HTML

Paste Text

• Select the "Text" tab
• Enter a title and paste your content

From URL

• Select the "URL" tab
• Enter the URL and optional title

Chatting with Sources

1. Switch to the "CHAT" tab
2. Ask questions about your content
3. Responses include references to relevant sources

Transformations

Click any transformation card to generate:

Transformation	Description
📝 Summary	Condensed overview of your sources
❓ FAQ	Common questions and answers
📚 Study Guide	Educational material with learning objectives
🗂️ Outline	Hierarchical structure of topics
🎙️ Podcast	Conversational script for audio content
📅 Timeline	Chronological events from sources
📖 Glossary	Key terms and definitions
✍️ Quiz	Assessment questions with answer key
📊 Infographic	Hand-drawn style visual representation of your content
🧠 Mindmap	Visual hierarchical diagram of your sources using Mermaid.js

Or use the custom prompt field for any other transformation.

Additional Configuration Options

For advanced users, the .env file supports additional configuration options:

# Server Configuration
SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0
SERVER_PORT=8080

# Vector Store (default: sqlite)
# Options: sqlite, memory, supabase, postgres, redis
VECTOR_STORE_TYPE=sqlite

# RAG Processing
MAX_SOURCES=5          # Maximum sources to retrieve for context
CHUNK_SIZE=1000        # Document chunk size for processing
CHUNK_OVERLAP=200      # Overlap between chunks

# Document Conversion
ENABLE_MARKITDOWN=true  # Use Microsoft markitdown for better PDF/DOCX conversion

# Podcast Generation
ENABLE_PODCAST=true
PODCAST_VOICE=alloy    # Options: alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, shimmer

# Feature Flags
ALLOW_DELETE=true
ALLOW_MULTIPLE_NOTES_OF_SAME_TYPE=true

🔧 Development

Running Tests

go test -v ./...

Building

go build -o notex .

Code Quality

# Format
go fmt ./...

# Lint
golangci-lint run

# Vet
go vet ./...

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📄 License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Google's NotebookLM
• Built with LangGraphGo
• Inspired by open-notebook

📞 Support

• Report issues on GitHub
• Join discussions in the Notex community

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Notex - A privacy-first, open-source alternative to NotebookLM https://github.com/smallnest/notex