Skip to main content
suchi (Sanskrit सूची, “an index, a catalog, a list”) is a document management system: one Go binary, SQLite by default, content-addressed storage, plugin seams at every layer, wire-compatible with existing mobile clients so no bespoke app is needed.
suchi is under active development. Not for production use yet. The API and schema are still moving. Track releases on GitHub — a v1.0 tag is the stability signal.

What it is

  • One binary. No Postgres, no Redis, no Celery, no external services for the MVP. Idle RAM budget: ~100 MB.
  • Content-addressed storage. Dedup for free; rename never touches bytes; backups are blobs/ + a SQLite snapshot. See backup and restore for the safe patterns.
  • Plugin at every layer. Ingest, OCR, storage, search, auth, classification, export — every seam is an interface.
  • Lossless bundle import. suchi import paperless brings tags, correspondents, custom fields verbatim from a compatible export bundle. Existing DMS mobile clients drive suchi’s wire surface directly.
  • Johnny.Decimal as the default taxonomy. Ships a starter tree on first boot; flat mode is available for migrators.
  • Local-first by default, every egress opt-in. No telemetry, ever. See privacy.

Where to go next

Getting started

Five-minute quickstart — docker compose or bare binary.

Importing a bundle

suchi import paperless — verbatim metadata, dedup, —verify.

Configuration

Every env var + purpose. PUBLIC_URL is the only required one.

Supported file types

What ingests, what binary it needs, slim vs full image matrix.

HTTP API

Endpoints today + planned mobile-client compat surface.

Architecture

Data flow, design principles, SQLite discipline, CAS.

Privacy & encryption

What leaves the box (nothing). The encryption ladder. What suchi never logs.

Backup & restore

What to back up, when it’s safe to copy, and how to bring an instance back from bytes.

Alternatives

Honest side-by-side vs Paperless-ngx, Papra, docspell.

Automations

Trigger→conditions→actions rules on document events.

Approvals

Human-in-the-loop review chains + timeouts.

Permissions

Groups + object ACLs. Household sharing without admin roles.

MCP

Model Context Protocol tools: search_documents, get_document, list_inbox, resolve_approval_task, create_share_link.

Status by phase