Getting Started

Arivu is an AI-native bookmarking app that turns saved pages into searchable, summarized knowledge. This guide covers everything from first launch to your first AI-generated summary.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• A Gemini API key from Google AI Studio
• A modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari)

1. Clone and Configure

git clone https://github.com/glnarayanan/arivu.git
cd arivu.app
cp .env.example .env

Open .env in your editor and set two required values:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key_here
SECRET_KEY=generate_with_openssl_rand_hex_32

Generate a secure secret key:

openssl rand -hex 32

2. Start the Stack

docker compose up -d

This launches five services: the marketing site, React frontend, FastAPI backend, MongoDB, and Redis. The full stack is ready when all containers report healthy:

docker compose ps

3. Access Arivu

Open your browser and navigate to:

• Landing page: http://localhost
• Sign up / Sign in: http://localhost/auth
• Dashboard: http://localhost/dashboard

Create your account on the auth page. If you set ADMIN_EMAILS in .env, that account gets admin access to the API Keys configuration panel.

4. Save Your First Bookmark

From the dashboard, press Q or click the Quick Add button. Paste any URL and submit. Arivu will:

1. Save the bookmark immediately (non-blocking)
2. Fetch the page content in the background
3. Generate an AI summary (one-sentence, bullet points, and long-form)
4. Extract key highlights and quotes
5. Suggest relevant tags automatically

The bookmark card updates in real-time as AI processing completes.

5. Explore Key Features

Search

Press / or F to focus the search bar. Arivu supports keyword search across titles, URLs, summaries, and tags.

Collections

Organize bookmarks into collections from the sidebar. Create collections for projects, topics, or reading lists.

Knowledge Graph

Navigate to Knowledge Graph in the sidebar to see AI-extracted entities and relationships across your bookmarks. The graph reveals hidden connections between content.

Analytics

Visit Analytics to see reading stats, topic distribution, and AI-generated insights about your bookmarking habits.

Resurfacing

The dashboard sidebar shows resurfacing suggestions — bookmarks you should revisit based on spaced repetition algorithms. The Memory Jogger surfaces a daily forgotten gem.

6. Install the Browser Extension

For one-click bookmarking from any page:

1. Open chrome://extensions/ (Chrome) or about:debugging (Firefox)
2. Enable Developer Mode
3. Load the extension/ directory from the cloned repo
4. Click the Arivu icon on any page to save instantly

See Browser Extension Setup for custom domain configuration.

7. Keyboard Shortcuts

Press ? on the dashboard to see all shortcuts:

Next Steps

• Self-Hosting Arivu — Production deployment guide
• Environment Variables — Full configuration reference
• Import & Export — Migrate from Pocket, Raindrop.io, or browser bookmarks
• Knowledge Graph — Understand the AI knowledge mapping system