HedgeDoc is an open-source, real-time collaborative Markdown editor built for ideas that grow better together. Born from the CodiMD community, it lets teams, communities, classes and personal projects write notes, docs, slides and diagrams side by side in the browser, with everything offered under a permissive license you can self-host. It is a direct open alternative to HackMD-style proprietary note services.

Key Features

• Real-time collaborative Markdown — multiple people edit the same document live, with every change synced to every connected browser.
• Rich Markdown authoring — full CommonMark support plus extensions for tables, task lists, footnotes, mention autocomplete and code blocks with syntax highlighting.
• Built-in diagrams — render Graphviz, mermaid and PlantUML diagrams right inside your notes.
• Presentation mode — turn any Markdown document into a slide deck without leaving the editor.
• Flexible access control — public, private and limited-access notes with optional passwords for guests.
• Self-hosted and sovereign — runs on your own infrastructure with Docker or Node.js, keeping your notes entirely under your control.
• Open licensing — AGPL-3.0, with an active community and a full rewrite (HedgeDoc 2) in development.

Why Use HedgeDoc?

HedgeDoc is ideal when you want the collaboration of a hosted note pad without surrendering your data to a proprietary service. Because it is self-hostable and open source, it suits communities that publish shared meeting notes, classrooms running collaborative exercises, and teams that want a lightweight docs layer that stays within their own governance.

Use Cases

• Community meeting minutes and shared public notes.
• Collaborative lesson plans and classroom note-taking.
• Team documentation and internal knowledge sharing.
• Quick diagramming and presentation from Markdown.

Platform

Server: Linux (Node.js, with official Docker image). Access: any modern web browser.

Licence

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0)

Website

hedgedoc.org