WikiJS
Updated
Wiki.js is a wiki for people whose documentation wants to live in Git. Pages are markdown, the page tree is a directory tree, and the two-way Git sync means an edit in the browser becomes a commit, while a commit pushed from your laptop becomes a page. That single feature is why most people choose it.
Around that it puts a genuinely good editing experience: a markdown editor with live preview, a visual editor for people who'd rather not, a full-text search engine, comments, and a permission system granular enough to run a public documentation site and a private internal section from the same instance.
Good fits: documentation for an open-source project, a technical handbook you want reviewable as diffs, or a personal knowledge base you'd like to keep in a repo you control.
Get a 7-day trial of ElfHosted WikiJS!
How do I access WikiJS?
WikiJS is available:
- From your dashboard: https://your-username.elfhosted.com
- Directly: https://your-username-wikijs.elfhosted.com
Signed-in users see their own URLs
The addresses above show the general pattern. Sign in and these become your personal, clickable links.
How do I use it?
First run
Wiki.js runs its database migrations before it starts serving, so the first launch takes a minute or two longer than later ones. When it comes up you'll get the setup wizard: create your administrator account, name the wiki, and you're in.
Setting up Git sync
This is the feature worth configuring on day one, under Administration β Storage β Git:
- Create an empty repository on GitHub, GitLab, or wherever you like.
- Generate a deploy key or personal access token with write access.
- Point Wiki.js at the repository URL and paste the credentials.
- Choose the sync direction. Bi-directional is the interesting one; push to origin alone is a decent backup story on its own.
Once it's running, every page save becomes a commit. Clone the repo and you have your entire wiki as markdown files, editable in whatever editor you like, and pushing back updates the wiki.
Sharing it with people who don't have ElfHosted accounts
By default Wiki.js sits behind ElfHosted's SSO (ForwardAuth), so its own login is a second layer on top and only you can reach it.
To publish your wiki, or open it to collaborators who aren't ElfHosted customers, use ElfBot to set wikijsexposed.enabled: true. That drops the ElfHosted auth layer, leaving Wiki.js's own login and permission model in charge.
Before you do that, go to Administration β Groups and check what the built-in Guests group can see. Wiki.js's defaults are sensible, but "sensible" still deserves a look before the internet gets a vote. Turn off self-registration under Administration β Auth unless you actively want it.
Editors
Each page picks its own editor, so a markdown page and a visual-editor page can live side by side. Markdown is the right default if you're syncing to Git, since it's what lands in the repo. Wiki.js also handles AsciiDoc and raw HTML.
Themes and navigation
The sidebar navigation can be automatic (mirroring the page tree) or hand-curated, which is worth switching to once you have more than a couple of dozen pages.
Wiki.js or BookStack?
- Wiki.js is markdown-native, Git-backed, and flexible about hierarchy. Best when docs sit alongside code and you want them version-controlled.
- BookStack is prescriptive (shelves, books, chapters), WYSIWYG-first, and has no Git. Best when your contributors aren't all developers.
Running both is a perfectly reasonable answer, and they're separate products here.
WikiJS also works with
How do I get support for WikiJS?
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For general use of WikiJS, refer to the official site or to one of the links in the resources section below.
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For specific support re your ElfHosted configuration / account, see the ElfHosted support options!
Sponsor WikiJS β€οΈ
You can contribute directly to the development of WikiJS using the following:
WikiJS resources
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