Trilium is a notebook for everything you want to remember, organised as a tree of notes that can grow as deep as you like. It's for one person's knowledge base, kept on your own server.
On this page
At a glance#
- What it is
- Notes & Knowledge Management Knowledge
- Where it opens
- Notes Interface
On its own port at
http://your-server:port, ornotes.your-domainonce you have a domain - Updates
- Automatic A backup is taken first, and it rolls back if the update fails
- Backups
- Included Part of the daily backup when that's switched on
- Copies
- As many as you like Run several copies, each with its own data
What it's good for#
Trilium suits people who collect things: recipes, how you fixed the boiler last winter, notes from a course, the plot of the novel you're writing. Notes live in a tree, so a note can hold other notes beneath it, as many levels deep as you like. A note can also sit in two places in the tree at once (Trilium calls that cloning), so "Christmas" can live under both "Recipes" and "Family".
Notes can be text, checklists, code, images, drawings and more, and they link to each other. Individual notes can be protected, which encrypts them with your password so they're unreadable even to someone holding the server's files.
It's a personal notebook: one password, one person. For notes a team edits together, or a wiki, BookStack is the better fit.
Signing in#
Trilium has a password and no username. Upstream, a new Trilium asks whoever opens it first to choose that password, which would let a stranger claim yours. LibrePortal doesn't allow that: it sets the password itself during the install, checks it works, and only then lets anyone else reach Trilium. Until then, Trilium only answers on the server itself (why).
The password is in the Login Details shown when the install finished; press Welcome on the app's page to see it again. Open Trilium with the Notes Interface button and sign in with it.
If the install couldn't set the password
If something went wrong (Trilium didn't answer within two minutes, say), the install says so and leaves Trilium reachable from the server only, so nobody else can reach its setup page. The simplest fix is to uninstall it and install it again. Only restart it to open it up once you know the password is set.
Installs made before 0.4.7 left the password to whoever opened Trilium first. If an older Trilium still has no password, LibrePortal sets the generated one the next time it starts after the update, and it appears in the Login Details. If you'd already chosen your own, nothing changes, and the password in Login Details isn't the one Trilium uses: keep using yours.
Change the password in Trilium, not in LibrePortal
LibrePortal's copy of the password is only used for that first setup. To change it, use Trilium's own Options → Password. After that, the Login Details show the old password, so make a note of the new one somewhere safe. Protected notes can only be opened with the current password, so don't lose it.
Getting started#
The tree down the left is everything. Right-click a note to add a note inside it or beside it, drag notes to move them, and use the search at the top to find anything.
On other devices#
- On a phone, open the same address in the browser. Trilium has a layout made for small screens.
- On a computer, you can also install the Trilium desktop app and have it keep its own copy of your notes, synced with your server. The first time it starts, choose to set up sync with a server, and give it your Trilium's address and password. The desktop copy works offline and catches up when it's back in reach.
Good to know#
- It starts private. Only your trusted places and devices on the LibrePortal VPN can open it, which suits a personal notebook. With a domain, it's at
notes.example.com. - Backups include your notes. Trilium keeps everything in one database in its data folder, and that's in the nightly backup. Protected notes stay encrypted in it.
- Updates are automatic.
- More than one copy is possible, say one for you and one for someone else in the house, each with its own password.
Addresses and ports#
Trilium has one port. LibrePortal picks a free port number for each when you install, so yours will differ from anyone else's. The Config tab's Network section shows them, and the app's Open button uses the right one.
| What it is | Who can reach it | With a domain |
|---|---|---|
| Notes Interface | Trusted places only | notes.your-domain |
Settings#
In its config file#
Trilium's own settings aren't on the Config tab yet. They live in the app's config file, described here so you know they exist. How to change them.
| Setting | What it does | Starts as |
|---|---|---|
NameCFG_TRILIUM_DISPLAY_NAME |
What this app is called on your dashboards. Leave empty to use its usual name | Empty |
Show on the LibrePortal DashboardCFG_TRILIUM_SHOW_ON_DASHBOARD |
Whether this app gets a shortcut on the front page of the LibrePortal WebUI, separate from any Dashy dashboard Choices: true, false |
true |
Works with#
These are the other apps Trilium knows how to work with. Once it's installed, its page shows the same list with whether each one is connected. How this works.
- Grafana: Shows dashboards for the apps that have one. works with every app
- Prometheus: Collects metrics from the apps that can export them. works with every app
- Uptime Kuma: Watches your apps and shows when one goes down. works with every app
Privacy and security#
Worth knowing Trilium is a personal notebook that keeps your notes on your server and shows no tracking. We are still checking whether it looks for updates in the background.
What leaves this server#
- Not yet confirmed whether it checks GitHub for updates
- Map notes load tiles from a public tile server when used
What LibrePortal turns off#
Nothing needed switching off.
Licence: AGPL-3.0. Audited: 21 October 2026. See the privacy of every app and the Promise.
Sources#
Under the hood#
- It runs this image:
triliumnext/trilium:v0.106.0@sha256:be93e82699b12950ac4e2e7b565ce092fe215b8dd6ddfc47921e37b49e6a0e8b. - It can sit behind Authelia's sign-in once Authelia is installed.
- Its own project and documentation: github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium
Ports, settings, tools and connections on this page are read from LibrePortal v0.10.97's app catalogue each time the guide is built.
