konbu

Try It

• Cloud -- Use instantly at konbu-cloud.codenica.dev (free, no setup)

• Self-hosted -- Run on your own server with Docker (see below)

Related MCP server: Bruin

What is konbu?

konbu is a personal digital planner — a Filofax-style system planner, digitized. A self-hostable Go binary that binds your memos, todos, schedule, and structured tables into one notebook, kept by an AI butler, and surfaces everything from a single search interface. It's yours alone — nothing is ever shared out. Not a replacement for Notion + Todoist + Calendar — a replacement for the act of searching four apps to find one thing.

What's different:

• Native MCP server + CLI client -- Two parallel routes for the AI butler (Claude / Cursor / any MCP client) or shell / scripts to operate your planner.

• Cross-resource full-text search -- One query across memos, todos, events, and structured tables. This is the core UX, not a side feature.

• Structured tables (= table-memo, planned) -- Track blood pressure, household budgets, or inventory. Markdown can't express these; tables can.

• BYOK AI chat -- Bring your own OpenAI/Anthropic API key, or use the included free tier.

• Personal by design -- One notebook, for you only. Pulls in from outside (Google Calendar), never leaks out.

• Self-hostable -- One Go binary, Docker compose, or use the hosted version.

End the state of having your day scattered across four different apps.

Features

• Cross-resource Full-text Search -- Search across memos, todos, events, and structured tables in one query (core UX)

• CLI & MCP Server -- Built-in CLI client and MCP server. AI agents like Claude and Cursor can read and write your data directly

• AI Agent Chat -- "Add groceries to my todo" "What's on my schedule tomorrow?" in natural language. BYOK supported, free tier included

• Memos -- Markdown notes with tagging, live preview

• ToDo -- Inline task creation with due dates, tags, and notes

• Calendar -- Monthly view with event CRUD and iCal import (personal, owner-only)

• Structured Tables (= table-memo, planned) -- Track structured data (blood pressure, household budget, inventory) as rows × columns

• Export/Import -- JSON export, Markdown ZIP export, iCal import

• i18n -- English and Japanese

Quick Start

cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8080 and create your account. The dev compose file sets DEV_USER=dev@local to skip registration.

Production (with Traefik)

# Edit .env with real credentials and your domain
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Native (without Docker)

# Prerequisites: Go 1.25+, Node.js 22+, PostgreSQL 16+

# Build frontend
cd web/frontend && npm ci && npm run build && cd ../..

# Build server
go build -o bin/server ./cmd/server

# Start (runs all SQL migrations automatically on boot)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://..." SESSION_SECRET="..." ./bin/server

Configuration

Reminders / notifications

When the SMTP_* variables above are all set, the server starts a single in-process sweep loop that sends email reminders for upcoming events and due ToDos. Each user opts in via Settings (user_settings.notifications.enabled = true) and can override the recipient email, lead time, due-time, and timezone.

Notifications are a server-only feature — they run inside the API server process and require PostgreSQL. The MCP --standalone mode (SQLite) does not send reminders.

Docker Compose (prod) variables

CLI

The CLI is a standalone client that connects to a remote konbu server via API. Server code is not included in the CLI binary.

go install github.com/krtw00/konbu/cmd/konbu@latest

Setup

# Set environment variables (recommended: add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc)
export KONBU_API=https://konbu.example.com
export KONBU_API_KEY=your-api-key

# Or pass as flags
konbu --api https://... --api-key your-key memo list

Generate an API key in Settings > Security on the web UI.

Commands

All commands support --json flag for machine-readable output.

konbu memo list                        # List memos
konbu memo show <id>                   # Show memo content
konbu memo add "title" -c "content"    # Create memo (-c - for stdin)
konbu memo edit <id> --title "new"     # Update memo
konbu memo rm <id>                     # Delete memo

konbu todo list                        # List todos
konbu todo show <id>                   # Show todo details
konbu todo add "task" -t "tag1,tag2"   # Create todo
konbu todo add "task" -d 2025-04-01    # Create with due date
konbu todo edit <id> --desc "notes"    # Update todo
konbu todo done <id>                   # Mark done
konbu todo reopen <id>                 # Reopen
konbu todo rm <id>                     # Delete

konbu event list                       # List events
konbu event show <id>                  # Show event details
konbu event add "title" -s <RFC3339>   # Create event
konbu event edit <id> --title "new"    # Update event
konbu event rm <id>                    # Delete

konbu tag list                         # List tags
konbu tag rm <id>                      # Delete tag

konbu search "query"                   # Cross-search

konbu api-key list                     # List API keys
konbu api-key create "key-name"        # Create API key
konbu api-key rm <id>                  # Delete API key

konbu export json -o backup.json       # Export as JSON
konbu export markdown -o backup.zip    # Export as Markdown ZIP
konbu import ical calendar.ics         # Import iCal file

Short IDs (first 8 chars) can be used in place of full UUIDs.

MCP Server

konbu can run as a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server in two modes — pick whichever fits.

Standalone mode (SQLite, no server required)

If you just want konbu as a local MCP backend for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client, install the CLI and run it with --standalone. No PostgreSQL, no web server, no API key — everything is stored in a local SQLite file.

go install github.com/krtw00/konbu/cmd/konbu@latest
konbu mcp --standalone

Data is persisted at ~/.konbu/konbu.db by default. Override with --db /path/to/db.sqlite if needed.

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "konbu": {
      "command": "konbu",
      "args": ["mcp", "--standalone"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor accepts the same config at ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or via the settings UI).

Docker

A multi-arch image (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) is published to GitHub Container Registry. Pull it directly — no build step needed:

docker pull ghcr.io/krtw00/konbu-mcp:latest

For reproducible setups, pin to a release tag instead — e.g. docker pull ghcr.io/krtw00/konbu-mcp:v0.2.0.

Then point your MCP client at it. Data persists in a named volume:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "konbu": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "-v", "konbu-data:/data", "ghcr.io/krtw00/konbu-mcp:latest"]
    }
  }
}

Prefer building from source? docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.mcp -t konbu-mcp . from the repo root produces the same image (CGO-free, distroless static, ~22 MB).

Standalone mode exposes memo / todo / calendar event CRUD plus cross-resource search. Tags, attachments, and AI chat are server-only (use the connected mode below for those).

Connected mode (talk to a konbu server)

If you're running a konbu server (self-hosted or konbu Cloud), point the MCP server at it over HTTP. You get the full feature set: tags, attachments, and AI chat.

1. Install the konbu CLI binary (see CLI section above)

2. Generate an API key in Settings > Security on the web UI

3. Add konbu to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "konbu": {
      "command": "konbu",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "KONBU_API": "http://localhost:8080",
        "KONBU_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage examples

After restarting your MCP client, interact with konbu in natural language:

• "What's on my schedule tomorrow?"

• "Add a dentist appointment next Friday at 1pm"

• "Create a todo to buy groceries with tag 'shopping'"

• "Show me notes tagged 'meeting' from last week"

• "Mark the 'review PR' todo as done"

API

Base path: /api/v1

Development

# Start PostgreSQL
docker compose up -d postgres

# Frontend dev server
cd web/frontend && npm run dev

# Run server
DEV_USER=dev@local go run ./cmd/server

# Build CLI
go build -o bin/konbu ./cmd/konbu

# Run tests
go test ./...
cd web/frontend && npm test
cd web/frontend && npm run test:e2e

Project Structure

cmd/
  server/       # API server
  konbu/        # CLI client
internal/
  handler/      # HTTP handlers
  service/      # Business logic
  repository/   # DB access (sqlc)
  middleware/   # Auth, logging
  client/       # API client (used by CLI)
  mcp/          # MCP server
web/frontend/   # React + Vite SPA
sql/            # Schema and migrations
docker/         # Dockerfile

Roadmap

• Browser push reminders (email reminders are already supported when SMTP_* env is configured)

• Mobile UI improvements

• CI test coverage

• AI chat enhancements (context improvements, new model support)

Sponsors

If you find konbu useful, consider sponsoring the project.

License

MIT