Linkding

What it's good for#

Browser bookmarks get stuck in one browser on one computer, and after a few years they're a mess nobody searches. Linkding keeps them in one place on your server. Each bookmark can have tags, a note and a "read later" flag, and the search looks through titles, descriptions and tags, so "that article about sourdough" is a few letters away. It's quick and plain on purpose, and it runs happily on a small server.

Each person gets their own account and their own bookmarks. If you switch on sharing in Linkding's global settings, people can share individual bookmarks with the others on your server.

Your first account#

Linkding starts with no accounts at all and no sign-up page, so there's nothing for a stranger to claim while you're getting round to it. You make the first account from LibrePortal:

That first admin account is remembered. From then on its username and password are in the Login Details when you press Welcome on the app's page, and if you reset its password with Reset User Password, the one shown there changes too. Until you've made it, Login Details has nothing useful to show.

The same Create User Account tool adds everyone else; leave Make admin unticked for them. List Users, Set Admin Status and Delete User Account (which deletes that person's bookmarks too) cover the rest.

Saving bookmarks#

Signed in, you can add a bookmark from Linkding's own page, but the quicker ways are in the browser you're already using.

The browser extension. Linkding has an official extension for Firefox and for Chrome and the browsers built on it. Install it, and in its options give it your Linkding address and an API token. You'll find the token in Linkding under Settings → Integrations. After that, a click on the toolbar button saves the page you're on, and you can search your bookmarks from the address bar.

The bookmarklet. If you can't install extensions (on a work computer, say, or in Safari), the same Settings → Integrations page has a bookmarklet. Drag it to your bookmarks bar, and clicking it opens Linkding's "add" form with the current page filled in.

On your phone. There's no official app, but Linkding's own documentation lists community ones for Android and iPhone, such as Linkdy and LinkBuddy. Many of them add Linkding to your phone's share menu, which is the natural way to save a link on a phone. They sign in with the same address and an API token.

Bringing your old bookmarks#

Every browser can export its bookmarks as an HTML file (often called "Netscape bookmark format"). In Linkding, go to Settings → General and use Import. Running the import again later adds what's new and updates what's already there, rather than making duplicates. The Export on the same page saves everything back out in the same format, which is a handy extra copy to keep.

Reaching it from elsewhere#

Linkding is Public to start with, so the browser extension on your laptop and the app on your phone can save links wherever you are. That's safe enough because it has no sign-up and every account needs a password. If you only save links at home, you can make it private and use the LibrePortal VPN when you're out.

With a domain, Linkding is at bookmark.<your domain>. The extension and phone apps remember the address you give them, so if you're going to add a domain, it's easiest to do it before you set them up. To check: check signing in to Linkding over HTTPS through Traefik (domain, or HTTPS on its own port): Django may refuse the login form with 'CSRF verification failed' unless LD_CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS is set, and LibrePortal doesn't set it

Good to know#

• It's light. Linkding keeps everything in a single small database file and uses very little memory.
• Updates are automatic, with a backup taken first.
• It runs on your server's timezone from 0.4.7. Installs made with 0.4.6 or earlier run on UTC, because the setting never reached the app, and an update doesn't change the app's compose file where it lives. Press Update Configuration on its Config tab, without changing anything, and the compose is written afresh with the right timezone. Your bookmarks and accounts are kept.
• Backups include the database and Linkding's data folder, so your bookmarks, tags and settings are covered.
• Several copies. You can run more than one, for example to keep a work collection entirely apart from a personal one.
• Keeping a copy of the page. Linkding's Internet Archive integration, in each person's settings, asks the Wayback Machine to save a snapshot of every page you bookmark, so the link still leads somewhere after the site disappears. It means sending the Internet Archive the address of each page you save, so it's your choice. Linkding's own snapshots, made on your server, only come with its larger latest-plus image, which LibrePortal doesn't run.