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How to Run Karakeep on ZimaOS

Overview

Karakeep is natively supported in the ZimaOS App Catalog. See the Karakeep App Store page for the latest app details.

Karakeep (previously Hoarder) is an open source “Bookmark Everything” app that uses AI to automatically tag and summarize the links, notes, and images you throw at it. Built with self-hosting as a first class citizen, it keeps your bookmark library on your own hardware instead of a browser vendor’s cloud.

Prerequisites

  • A running ZimaOS installation.
  • (Optional) An OpenAI-compatible API key. If you want to use a different AI provider (e.g. a local model for private inference), check out the different AI providers guide.

App Catalog

  1. Find Karakeep in the ZimaOS App Catalog. Open App Store → search for “Karakeep” → Install.

Karakeep app page in the ZimaOS App Store with the Install button

  1. It’s ready to use!

Karakeep icon with a New badge on the ZimaOS dashboard after installation

Open Karakeep and you can start bookmarking right away — paste a link, write a note, or drop an image into the NEW ITEM box.

Karakeep interface with the New Item box for pasting links, notes, or images

Karakeep home view with Get Started and Zima cards beside the New Item box

Optional: Set your domain (NEXTAUTH_URL)

By default, Karakeep assumes it is running at http://localhost:xxxx. If you open it from another device — or through a domain — links inside the app (including the logout button) will still point to localhost and fail.

To fix this, set the NEXTAUTH_URL environment variable to the exact address you use to open Karakeep (the IP address you use to log in to ZimaOS):

Karakeep environment variables with NEXTAUTH_URL set to the device address

Then save and restart the app.

Optional: Enable AI auto-tagging

Karakeep can automatically tag and summarize your saved links using AI. Open Manager and enter your OpenAI API key in Advanced.

Karakeep settings with the Advanced (Show more) section for the AI API key

Karakeep variables with the OPENAI_API_KEY entry filled in and highlighted

Now your Karakeep can handle automatic tagging and summarization — all you need to do is paste a link, write a note, or upload an image.

Karakeep overview page with auto-generated summary and tags on a saved link

Use a Local LLM Instead

Sending your links to a cloud API is optional. Karakeep supports OpenAI-compatible providers and Ollama, so you can keep tagging and summarization entirely on your own device.

Set these variables in the Karakeep container instead of a cloud API key:

OPENAI_API_KEY=ollama
OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://<your-zimaos-ip>:11434/v1
INFERENCE_TEXT_MODEL=gemma3
INFERENCE_IMAGE_MODEL=llava

Two things to get right:

  • The address must be reachable from inside the Karakeep container — use your ZimaOS IP, not localhost.
  • Pull the models on the Ollama server first, or tagging will fail when the first link arrives.

To run the LLM server itself on ZimaOS, see Local LLM Inference. For other providers and advanced model settings, see the official different AI providers guide.

Need Help?

If you run into any issues while installing or using Karakeep on ZimaOS, join the ZimaSpace Discord community. Our team and community members will be happy to help.