Self-Hosting on Arivu

Complete Pages, Preserved Quietly

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Saving a web page should not depend on whether its useful content happened to be present in the first HTML response.

Arivu now has a complete background capture path for pages that need rendering. Safe direct extraction and an isolated browser service can work at the same time. Direct evidence becomes readable as soon as it is ready, while rendered evidence can replace it only when the rendered result is genuinely stronger.

Processing Failures Have a Recovery Path

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A background failure should not leave a self-hoster choosing between guessing, editing the database, and pretending the work never happened.

Arivu Administration now makes processing failures visible and recoverable. The API Usage view lists durable failed jobs and failed summaries with the context needed to decide what to do next: the owner, affected bookmark, attempts, timestamps, provider and model context where relevant, safe error information, and recorded failure details.

Failures Stay Attached to the Work

Failed jobs and failed summaries are shown separately because they answer different operational questions. A background job may have exhausted all of its attempts. A summary may have failed evidence or validation checks without exhausting the surrounding job.

Your Second Brain, Your Model Provider

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The model connected to your second brain should be your choice. Arivu now supports Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible services, and local or custom-compatible endpoints through runtime Admin Settings.

You can change the provider without rebuilding the app or editing deployment files. Admins choose a preset or compatible endpoint, select the model, and add credentials when that provider requires them. Local services can be keyless where supported.

One Workflow, Different AI Layers

Hosted providers can offer stronger generated summaries and synthesis. A local endpoint can keep more processing inside infrastructure you control. An OpenAI-compatible endpoint can connect another service that follows the expected interface. The right choice depends on your privacy, quality, cost, and operational needs.

Safer Self-Hosting, Less Guesswork

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Context, 2026-07-13: Upgrades are additive-safe, preserve executable permissions under restrictive defaults, and provide useful activation diagnostics when a replacement cannot start. Existing data and configuration remain in place.

Update, July 11, 2026: The installer no longer requires GitHub CLI. Piped bootstrap keeps interactive prompts TTY-safe, DNS mismatches produce actionable warnings, and newer Ubuntu releases are tolerated rather than rejected only for being newer. Upgrades now verify and transactionally activate the matching app and installer binaries, roll both back if activation fails, and prompt browsers to revalidate embedded frontend assets. Tagged releases report the exact release version; development builds may report development metadata. Public HTTPS can still require correct DNS, firewall, or shared-proxy configuration.

Your Knowledge, Yours to Keep

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A second brain is only trustworthy if you can walk out with everything in it. This update makes Arivu’s data flow both ways: richer imports on the way in, and real, portable exports on the way out. Since then, imports and backups have grown to include documents, transcripts, and knowledge objects too. Along the way, capture got easier and search got a single source of truth.

Context, 2026-07-13: Installer-managed host backups now include the SQLite snapshot and adjacent asset store, plus a versioned size/hash manifest that restore verifies. Full JSON remains the portable account-level export and restore format described below.

Quieter Admin, Stronger Guarantees

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Before we ship a wave of new features, we wanted the operating layer underneath them to be solid. This update rebuilds the admin experience on the app’s own storage, makes provider configuration a runtime concern instead of a restart concern, and adds a clear audit trail for sensitive actions.

None of this changes what Arivu looks like day to day. It changes how confidently you can run it.

A Native Admin Dashboard

The admin dashboard now runs entirely on the app’s own SQLite storage. Admins listed in ADMIN_EMAILS get an /admin area with sections for overview, API usage, users, system status, recent activity, collections, and an audit log.

A Smoother Browser UI

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We spent this session tightening the browser UI that ships inside the self-hosted Arivu app.

The work was not about adding a flashy new feature. It was about making the existing interface feel more dependable: easier to sign back into, clearer when something goes wrong, calmer to look at, and faster after the first load.

Better Account Recovery

The account screens now handle recovery and invited-user entry points more directly. If you need to get back into your account, the path is visible from the sign-in experience instead of feeling hidden. Invited users also get a clearer handoff into the app.

Arivu Is Simpler to Self-Host Now

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Arivu is moving in a simpler direction.

Update, July 2026: Since this post, Arivu added a first-party Linux VPS installer with plan, backup, restore, upgrade, reconfigure, and shared-proxy modes. The Go and SQLite runtime shape below is still current, but the recommended production path is now covered in Safer Self-Hosting, Less Guesswork and the guided self-hosting guide.

The app is now rebuilt around one Go application that serves the web UI, API, background workers, CLI commands, and migration tooling. The shipped frontend is embedded into the binary. Persistence is SQLite. Provider integrations use direct HTTP calls. The result is a self-hosted Arivu that has fewer pieces to run, fewer dependency trees to audit, and a clearer operational model.

Arivu From the Terminal

Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Arivu started as a web app and browser extension because that is where most bookmarking happens. But a second brain should not disappear the moment you leave the browser. Research, writing, operations work, and development all move through the terminal too.

The new Arivu CLI brings the same intelligence layer to command-line workflows. You can save links, search by meaning, inspect bookmarks, import exports, check reading stats, manage local profiles, explore graph connections, and boot a local Arivu stack without switching context.

Arivu Is Now Open Source

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Historical note, July 2026: This post describes the first open-source self-hosting setup. Arivu has since been rebuilt as a Go application with embedded frontend assets and SQLite persistence, and AI provider configuration is optional rather than required for the core workflow. See Arivu Is Simpler to Self-Host Now and the current self-hosting guide for the supported deployment model.

Arivu is open source. The entire application - backend, frontend, browser extension - is now available on GitHub under the MIT license. You can read the code, run it on your own server, and contribute back.