Collaboration & Productivity

HedgeDoc

Real-time collaborative Markdown editor, self-hosted

Official documentation

About HedgeDoc

HedgeDoc (formerly CodiMD) is an open-source, real-time collaborative Markdown editor (AGPL-3.0) designed for technical teams. Each note gets a unique shareable URL, multiple collaborators edit with visible cursors, and your data stays on your own infrastructure — no Google Docs, no Notion, no cloud dependency.

Deploy in under five minutes with Docker Compose: HedgeDoc + PostgreSQL spin up together, nginx proxies the WebSocket traffic, and TLS is handled by Certbot. Your team gets native Markdown with live split-screen preview, syntax-highlighted code blocks for 200+ languages, embedded Mermaid and PlantUML diagrams, LaTeX formulas via MathJax, and one-click PDF/HTML/Markdown export.

Access control is per-note: freely editable, editable by logged-in users only, comment-only, locked, or fully private. Multi-user accounts support team instances with per-user note isolation. OAuth logins (GitHub, GitLab, SAML) require no external identity server.

What gets installed

Ready when the VPS starts

Compatible OS
Choice of Linux distributions
Application
HedgeDoc
Tech stack
DockerNode.jsPostgreSQL
Minimum RAM
1 GB (2 GB recommended for teams)
Minimum CPU
1 vCPU
Default port
3000
Access
root over SSH

Key features

  • Real-time collaborative editing with visible cursors for all participants.
  • Embedded Mermaid, PlantUML, Vega-lite and flowchart diagrams rendered inline.
  • LaTeX math formulas via MathJax and one-click export to PDF, Markdown or HTML.
  • Per-note access control: freely editable, editable, comment-only, locked or private.
  • Presentation mode: transform note sections into fullscreen slides with --- separators.
  • OAuth logins: GitHub, GitLab, SAML — no external identity server required.

When to use this solution?

RFC and specification drafting

Host your technical design docs in HedgeDoc. Each RFC gets a URL shared with reviewers who can comment or co-edit in real time. Mermaid sequence diagrams, architecture graphs and decision tables render inline — no Confluence licence, no Google account required.

Team meeting notes

Replace Notion or Google Docs for your daily standups, sprint retros and on-call handoffs. HedgeDoc's timeline of edits lets you trace every change, export to PDF for archiving, and lock the note once it's final.

Open-source project documentation

Run a shared HedgeDoc instance for your open-source community. Contributors write in Markdown with the editor they know, diagrams render automatically, and external contributors can edit via a shareable link without creating an account.

Guide

Deploy HedgeDoc on your VPS

  1. Order a ServOrbit VPS

    A 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM plan on Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 is sufficient for small teams. For concurrent editing by 10+ users, 2 GB RAM is recommended.

  2. One-click deploy from the Marketplace

    Open your ServOrbit control panel, go to Marketplace → Collaboration → HedgeDoc, and click Deploy. A domain name or subdomain must be attached to the app — collaborative share links depend on it. The free ServOrbit subdomain ({app}.{slug}.servorbit-dns.com) works without a personal domain.

  3. Register your first account

    Open https://your-domain and click Sign up: choose your email and password. This first account becomes the Host (administrator). Once logged in, go to Settings → System and disable public registration to prevent unauthorised sign-ups.

  4. Create and share your first note

    Click New Note, write in Markdown — live preview appears instantly. Click the share icon to get a URL with the access level of your choice (edit, comment or read-only). Share it with your team: they can open it directly in their browser, no account required if you allow anonymous editing.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about HedgeDoc

← Back to Collaboration & ProductivityAll applications
HedgeDoc (formerly CodiMD) is an open-source, self-hosted Markdown editor for real-time collaboration. Each note has a unique shareable URL; multiple people edit simultaneously with visible cursors. It supports Mermaid diagrams, LaTeX formulas, code blocks for 200+ languages and one-click PDF/HTML export.

Embed the deploy button

Maintaining a project that uses HedgeDoc? This button lets your readers deploy it on a VPS in one click, without reading Docker documentation.

Deploy HedgeDoc on ServOrbit
Markdown
[![Deploy HedgeDoc on ServOrbit](https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg)](https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=hedgedoc&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=hedgedoc)
HTML
<a href="https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=hedgedoc&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=hedgedoc"><img src="https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg" alt="Deploy HedgeDoc on ServOrbit" height="40"></a>

The button points to a VPS order with the template preselected. The image is served from servorbit.com — nothing to host on your side.

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Need help?

Browse our help center and FAQ, or reach our team — callback, WhatsApp or email.

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