Does NoteDiscovery run?

Yes. NoteDiscovery runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 1 minutes, hitting 0 errors on the way, and recorded the session.

How did Argusic test NoteDiscovery?

On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 4e2a027a989e. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.

What did it cost to test NoteDiscovery?

The run that produced this verdict cost $0.03: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.

How long does NoteDiscovery take to install?

0.5 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 NoteDiscovery need a GPU?

Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.

What goes wrong when installing NoteDiscovery?

Nothing did, in the recorded run: zero errors between clone and running.

Where is the evidence for NoteDiscovery?

All 2 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.

NoteDiscovery

Your Self-Hosted Knowledge Base

Runssource: GitHub homepageJavaScriptMITcommit 4e2a027a989e

JavaScript, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: alternative, docker, evernote, fastapi, free, hosted, knowledge base and markdown.

NoteDiscovery runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 0.5 minutes and hit no errors on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.

NoteDiscovery v0.31.4 server starts on port 8000, serves the web UI, provides a full REST API (notes CRUD, search, tags, themes, templates, sharing), and runs an MCP server with 17 tools for AI assistant integration.
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

verdict: Runs
Argusic Score: 100 / 100
cost of the verifying run: $0.03 (measured)
recorded runs: 2
last tested: 2026-09-17
stars: 2,813
forks: 234
open issues: 3
watchers: 13
size: 6 MB
created: 2025-11-05
last push: 2026-09-22

Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed 2026-09-23. 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.

Install time: under a minute
Cold machine to finish: 5 minutes
Errors hit and fixed: 0 hit, 0 fixed with no human help
How the result was proved: curl http://127.0.0.1:8000 returned HTTP 200; 14/14 API integration tests passed covering root, config, notes CRUD, search, tags, themes, templates, index stats, login; MCP server responded to initialize/tools/list with 17 tools
Model tokens used: 100,307
Exact commit tested: 4e2a027a989e
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 2026-09-03. 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.

100,307
All vendor assets downloaded completely (13 MB, 9 libraries). Now let me compile the final summary.
**Here's my report:**
I installed and verified NoteDiscovery v0.31.4 (Python 3.12). No errors were encountered during the…
**What was done:**
- **Dependencies installed** via `python3 -m venv venv` + `pip install -r requirements.txt` — no is…
- **Vendor frontend assets downloaded** automatically (13 MB across 9 JS/CSS libraries: tailwindcss…
- **App launched** with `uvicorn backend.main:app` — started on 0.0.0.0:8000 with no errors
- **API verification** — 14/14 tests passed (GET `/`, `/api/config`, `/api/notes`, POST create note…
- **MCP server verified** — responds to stdio protocol with 17 tools and proper initialization
- **No real third-party credentials needed** — auth is disabled by default; all features work local…
No errors to fix. The project installed, built, and ran first-time without any issues.

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 0.5 minutes.
Nothing broke on the way: zero errors between clone and running.
Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.
Measured 2 times, so the result is not a one-off.

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 0.5 minutes after the clone.
Following its own README: the documented path worked with nothing to fix.

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

tested by	attempt	outcome	score	cost USD	when
Argusic Runner	2/3	Runs	100.00	0.03	2026-09-17 22:21 UTC
Argusic Runner	2/3	Runs	100.00	0.06	2026-09-03 09:48 UTC

Topics (from GitHub)

alternative docker evernote fastapi free hosted knowledge-base markdown note note-taking notion obsidian onenote open-source privacy python second-brain self-hosted zettelkasten

Embed the badge

Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.

[![Tested by Argusic](https://argusic.com/badge/NoteDiscovery.svg)](https://argusic.com/subject/notediscovery)

Questions

Does NoteDiscovery run?: Yes. NoteDiscovery runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 1 minutes, hitting 0 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
How did Argusic test NoteDiscovery?: On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 4e2a027a989e. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
What did it cost to test NoteDiscovery?: The run that produced this verdict cost $0.03: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
How long does NoteDiscovery take to install?: 0.5 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 NoteDiscovery need a GPU?: Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
What goes wrong when installing NoteDiscovery?: Nothing did, in the recorded run: zero errors between clone and running.
Where is the evidence for NoteDiscovery?: All 2 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.