# BookStack

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Open-source wiki software

This article is about the wiki software. For the library architecture, see [library stack](/source/Library_stack).

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "BookStack" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

BookStack Screenshot A page of BookStack Original author Dan Brown Developer Dan Brown Release 12 July 2015; 10 years ago (2015-07-12) Stable release 26.05.1[1] / 2026-06-09; 16 days ago Written in PHP, TypeScript Operating system Cross-platform Platform Cross-platform Available in 43[2] languages Type Wiki software License MIT License Website www.bookstackapp.com Repository github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack

**BookStack** is [wiki software](/source/Wiki_software) initially released in 2015. Based on [Laravel](/source/Laravel), a [PHP](/source/PHP) framework, BookStack is released under the [MIT License](/source/MIT_License). It uses the ideas of books to organise pages and store information.[3] BookStack is [multilingual](/source/Multilingualism) and available in over thirty languages.[2]

## History

BookStack's first commit was published on 12 July 2015 by Dan Brown, an [English](/source/UK) web developer.[4] Originally named ‘Oxbow’, the project was renamed to BookStack after only 11 days. The initial proper layout was inspired by [DokuWiki](/source/DokuWiki), and in October of the same year, the current layout of BookStack was settled.[5] The overall design was significantly optimised with the release of v0.26 on 6 May 2019, especially on the mobile experience.[6]

After over five years of development by Brown and the community members, it ended the beta stage with the release of v21.04 on 9 April 2021.[7] BookStack has become the most popular wiki software written in PHP on [GitHub](/source/GitHub), as of June 2021.[8]

## Features

BookStack is compatible with mobile devices

### Installation and configuration

[PHP](/source/PHP), [MySQL](/source/MySQL) or [MariaDB](/source/MariaDB), [Git](/source/Git) (for updates), and [Composer](/source/Composer_(software)) are required for the installation of BookStack.[9] It also can be installed via a [Docker](/source/Docker_(software)) container.[10] The name, logo and registration options can be changed, and whether the whole system is publicly viewable or not can be also changed.[11]

### Content levels

BookStack, as the name suggests, is based on the ideas of a normal stack of books. The categorisation of BookStack is limited to four levels— shelves, books, chapters, and pages. Books and pages are required for storing contents, while chapters are optional for better organisation of pages. Shelves can contain multiple books, and a single book could be placed on multiple shelves.[3]

### Organisation

On a BookStack website, chapters and pages can be sorted within a book. A chapter can be moved to another book, and a page can be moved to either another book or another chapter.[12] Page revisions and image management are available, as well as a full role and permission system that allows to lock down contents and actions.[11]

### Editing and searching

BookStack provides [WYSIWYG](/source/WYSIWYG) and [Markdown](/source/Markdown) editors, and the Markdown editor also provides a live preview. Books, chapters and pages are fully searchable, and it is available to link directly to any paragraph.[11]

### Integrated authentication

The email/password login social providers such as GitHub, [Google](/source/Google), [Slack](/source/Slack_(software)), [AzureAD](/source/Azure_AD_Connect) and more can be used. [Okta](/source/Okta_(identity_management)) and [LDAP](/source/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol) options are available for enterprise environments.[11]

### Extensibility

BookStack does not have a traditional "Plugin" system, but it does offer a few methods of extension. BookStack's customization settings provide an input to add custom HTML content to the head of the page, which can then utilize "Editor Events" to customize the page editors. A [REST](/source/Representational_state_transfer) API is built-in, covering [CRUD](/source/Create%2C_read%2C_update_and_delete) actions for the core content types within BookStack. A "Visual Theme System" can be used to customize views, translation text and icons within the platform. A "Logical Theme System" allows back-end PHP-based logical customization without needing to alter core application files.[13]

## See also

- [Free and open-source software portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Free_and_open-source_software)

- [Comparison of wiki software](/source/Comparison_of_wiki_software)

- [List of wiki software](/source/List_of_wiki_software)

- [Personal wiki](/source/Personal_wiki)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-wikidata-20c5814e73b2fc0157db97dd5fb90589687ae9a1-v20_1-0)** ["Release 26.05.1"](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/releases/tag/v26.05.1). 9 June 2026. Retrieved 10 June 2026.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-lang_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-lang_2-1) ["BookStack/resources/lang/"](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/tree/master/resources/lang). *GitHub*. BookStack. Retrieved 1 December 2022.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-content_overview_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-content_overview_3-1) ["Content Overview"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/user/content-overview/). BookStack. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Brown, Dan (28 July 2020). ["Five Years of BookStack"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/5-years-of-bookstack/). BookStack. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Brown, Dan (11 July 2016). ["A Year of BookStack"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/1-year-of-bookstack/). BookStack. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Brown, Dan (6 May 2019). ["Beta Release v0.26.0"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/beta-release-v0-26-0/). BookStack. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Brown, Dan (9 April 2021). ["BookStack Release v21.04"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/bookstack-release-v21-04/). BookStack. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["wiki"](https://github.com/topics/wiki). GitHub. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Installation · BookStack"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/installation/). *BookStack*. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Installation"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/installation/). BookStack. January 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-features_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-features_11-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-features_11-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-features_11-3) ["Features"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/#features). BookStack. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Organising Content"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/user/organising-content/). BookStack. January 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Hacking BookStack"](https://www.bookstackapp.com/docs/admin/hacking-bookstack/). BookStack. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [BookStack](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:BookStack).

- [BookStack homepage](https://www.bookstackapp.com)

v t e Wiki software .NET FlexWiki SharePoint Java Confluence Jive Obsidian Traction TeamPage XWiki JavaScript TiddlyWiki Wiki.js Perl Foswiki ikiwiki TWiki UseModWiki WikiBase PHP BlueSpice BookStack DokuWiki MediaWiki PhpWiki Phriction PmWiki PukiWiki Tiki Python Allura Bloodhound Kallithea MoinMoin Trac Zim Ruby Gollum Redmine Other languages CLiki Common Lisp Federated Wiki CoffeeScript Haskell Comparison List Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [BookStack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookStack) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookStack?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.