memos
Open-source, self-hosted note-taking tool built for quick capture. Markdown-native, lightweight, and fully yours.
Runssource: GitHubhomepageGoMITcommit 02caf98c7bd0
Go, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: docker, foss, go, markdown, memo, microblog, note taking and notecard.
memos runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 3 minutes and hit 4 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
Memos starts with a fresh SQLite database, serves its React SPA on port 8081 with HTTP 200, and all 38 Go packages pass their tests.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 100 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- Go not found in PATH0.5 minutes
- Node.js 18.19.1 too old for Vite 8, pnpm could not install globally0.5 minutes
- Server returned 'No embeddable frontend found' at /0.3 minutes
- pnpm not available0.2 minutes
- Install time
- 3 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 24 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 4 hit, 4 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- curl http://localhost:8083/ returned HTTP 200 with full SPA HTML; go test ./... across 38 Go packages all passed with 0 failures; server printed 'Memos dev started successfully' and answered on first request
- Model tokens used
- 62,822
- Exact commit tested
- 02caf98c7bd0
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
Watch the session
The whole run, from a clean machine, at the speed it actually happened. Nothing is cut and nothing is sped up.
A recording of attempt 2, run . The verdict above comes from a different attempt, so read this as one session and not as the current result. The terminal recording it was made from is the evidence, stored with a sha256 fingerprint; the video is a rendering of it. Nothing loads from the video host until you press play.
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
EOF" in /work/repo succeeded in 0ms: tokens used 62,822 Here's the complete report. **Timeline summary:** - Installed missing toolchain (Go 1.27.0, Node 24, pnpm 11) - Built Go backend and frontend (`go build` and `pnpm release`) - Launched server, verified HTTP 200 with full SPA HTML - Ran full Go test suite — 38 packages, **zero failures** - Frontend tests: 146 passed, 2 failed files (24 failed tests) — these are **pre-existing** failure… No third-party credentials were required; SQLite mode works out of the box
Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
- Installed in 3 minutes, faster than the median of the 8 comparable projects Argusic has measured.
- Recovered from all 4 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
- Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.
- Measured 3 times, so the result is not a one-off.
Of the 9 docker projects Argusic has installed and timed, memos was the 4th fastest to reach a running state, and 8 of 9 reached one at all.
What it is a reasonable choice for
- Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
- A quick evaluation: it was running 3 minutes after the clone.
Also tested, in the same area
Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.
Run history
Topics (from GitHub)
dockerfossgomarkdownmemomicroblognote-takingnotecardown-your-datareactself-hostedsocial-networksqlite
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/memos)Questions
- Does memos run?
- Yes. memos runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 3 minutes, hitting 4 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test memos?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 02caf98c7bd0. 3 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test memos?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.09: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does memos take to install?
- 3 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does memos need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing memos?
- 4 things broke in the recorded run, and 4 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- How does memos compare with the alternatives?
- Of the 9 docker projects Argusic has installed and timed, memos was the 4th fastest to reach a running state, and 8 of 9 reached one at all.
- Where is the evidence for memos?
- All 3 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.