Zen
Zen is a self-hosted, single-binary notes app that stores markdown notes in SQLite with tag-based organization, BM25 full-text search, and an optional MCP server for AI agent integration with note operations.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Community/specialized tool. Apply standard security practices for category. Review documentation for specific security requirements.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You want a dead-simple, privacy-first self-hosted notes app with markdown support and full-text search, deployable as a single binary without external database dependencies.
Avoid When
You need multi-user collaboration, rich block-based editing, or integrations with third-party productivity tools.
Use Cases
- • Self-hosting a lightweight personal notes app without cloud dependencies or subscriptions
- • Markdown-based note-taking with tag organization and full-text search for private knowledge management
- • Enabling AI agents to read, create, and search personal notes via MCP integration
- • Running a minimal-resource notes server on a home server or VPS
Not For
- • Teams needing collaborative or multi-user note-taking with real-time sync
- • Users who need rich media embeds, databases, or spreadsheet views (Notion-style)
- • Deployments requiring commercial support or uptime SLAs
Interface
Authentication
Authentication details not documented in README. Likely relies on network-level access control for self-hosted deployments. Not suitable for public internet exposure without additional auth layer.
Pricing
AGPL-3.0 licensed. Free to self-host. AGPL requires source disclosure for modifications used in network services.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ No documented authentication — agents should ensure network-level access control before exposing MCP server
- ⚠ MCP server is described as experimental; API stability not guaranteed
- ⚠ AGPL license requires source disclosure if modified version is used as network service
- ⚠ Semantic search requires separate 'Zen Intelligence' companion service — not included in base install
Alternatives
Full Evaluation Report
Detailed scoring breakdown, competitive positioning, security analysis, and improvement recommendations for Zen.
Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.