Burkmak

What Burkmak is

Burkmak is a self-hosted read-it-later app for collecting links, reading articles, highlighting passages and keeping notes. Its clean reader view extracts articles, while tags, read states and favorites help organize searchable libraries for individual users. Links can be saved from the web app, Android share sheet or a desktop browser bookmarklet. An iOS share extension is listed as a follow-up.

Readers can send material to Kobo through an OPDS catalog, which offers EPUB and KEPUB downloads, or use native store-protocol sync with reading-state write-back. Native Kobo sync requires HTTPS, and the physical-device pass is still pending. An Obsidian plugin sends article notes, highlights and metadata to a vault through Burkmak’s export API.

The project is MIT licensed and free. Its Docker Compose deployment uses backend and web containers, with a data volume for the SQLite database, cached articles, images and EPUBs; published images support amd64 and arm64. Product requirements say there are no third-party analytics and that server-fetched content stays on the self-hosted instance. The intended audience includes self-hosters, Kobo readers and note-takers who want highlights in Obsidian. The design is for one self-hosted instance, with horizontal scaling and multi-instance high availability outside its stated goals.

Who it suits

Burkmak suits self-hosters who want a searchable library for saved articles, along with Kobo readers who want reading-state sync or EPUB and KEPUB downloads. It also fits note-takers who want article notes, highlights and metadata synced into an Obsidian vault.

Limits

The free Self-hosted plan is for a single instance and a small number of accounts. The product requirements exclude horizontal scaling and multi-instance high availability; native Kobo sync also requires HTTPS, and its physical-device pass is pending.

Getting started

1. Open the Burkmak GitHub website.
2. Deploy the backend and web containers with the provided Docker Compose setup.
3. Use the data volume for the database, cached articles, images and EPUBs.
4. Save links from the web app, Android share sheet or desktop browser bookmarklet.
5. Connect Kobo or configure the Obsidian plugin if those integrations fit your workflow.

Verdict

Choose Burkmak if you want to host your own read-it-later library and connect saved articles with Kobo or Obsidian. Its free, MIT-licensed setup includes article reading, highlights and notes. Look elsewhere if you need horizontal scaling or multi-instance high availability.