Trilium Notes is a powerful and flexible open-source application for hierarchical note-taking that combines the features of a full-text editor, knowledge base, and personal information manager. The platform supports both WYSIWYG and Markdown editing, file attachments of any type, tagging, lightning-fast search, and versioning of every note. Built-in encryption keeps your data secure, while the sync engine lets you work seamlessly with the same note database on the desktop client, a mobile device, and the web interface simultaneously. Thanks to its API, WebDAV access, and extensive customization options, Trilium integrates easily into existing workflows and is suitable for both personal notes and team projects.

Server preparation

Installing Trilium

Create a directory for the app and enter it:

mkdir ~/trilium && cd ~/trilium

Create docker-compose.yml, specifying the desired Trilium version (here we use latest; you can pick any available tag):

version: '3.8'
services:
  trilium:
    image: zadam/trilium:latest
    container_name: trilium
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/home/node/trilium-data

Start the container in the background:

docker compose up -d

Trilium is now reachable at http://SERVER_IP:8080.

Enabling HTTPS (recommended)

By default Trilium serves its web UI over unencrypted port 8080 (HTTP). Exchanging passwords and notes is safer over TLS. The simplest way is via a reverse proxy.

Reverse proxy (Nginx / Caddy / Traefik)

Run the proxy on 443 TCP port while Trilium keeps listening on 8080 only on localhost.

1. Create a virtual host for YOUR_DOMAIN and add proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;

2. Issue a Let’s Encrypt certificate with Certbot:

   sudo certbot --nginx -d YOUR_DOMAIN
   

3. Certbot automatically writes the ssl_certificate directives and sets up auto-renewal.

Autostart with systemd

To have Trilium start on boot, create a systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/trilium.service

Paste the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Trilium Notes (via Docker Compose)
Requires=docker.service
After=docker.service

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/home/YOUR_USER/trilium
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker compose up -d
ExecStop=/usr/bin/docker compose down
Restart=always
TimeoutStartSec=0
RemainAfterExit=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable trilium
sudo systemctl start trilium

Verifying the deployment

1. Open http://SERVER_IP:8080 in your browser.

2. In the setup window choose the option that fits your needs.

3. Confirm that the Trilium web interface loads.

4. Tail the logs:

docker compose logs -f

Common issues

Issue	Cause	Solution
Port 8080 is already in use	Another service is listening	Change the port in docker-compose.yml.
Data is not saved	Volume not mounted	Check volumes: and file permissions.
Does not start after reboot	systemd service not configured	Run systemctl enable trilium.