What is Buku used for?

buku is a command-line bookmark manager with a private, portable database, instant search and browser import, plus an optional local web front end. It is a good fit for managing bookmarks from the terminal; and keeping a private, portable bookmark database.

Yes. Buku is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at jarun/buku and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Buku is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is Buku an alternative to?

Buku is an open-source alternative to Raindrop.io and Pinboard. Other open-source alternatives to Raindrop.io include Linkding, Shiori and Karakeep.

Is Buku actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Buku was on 15 September 2026, and the latest release is v5.1, published on 7 December 2025. The project has 7.2k stars on GitHub.

Buku: open-source alternative to Raindrop.io, Pinboard

About Buku

buku is a bookmark manager and what its author calls a personal textual mini-web. It was written because the author could not find a flexible command-line tool with a private, portable and merge-able database and smooth GUI integration, and it works entirely from the terminal.

It can import bookmarks from browsers, fetch a page's title, tags and description from its URL, and let you add or update bookmarks in your favorite editor. Search supports multiple modes, including regex and a deep scan mode that is handy for URLs. It can check for broken links on the Wayback Machine and open cached pages. For people who prefer a graphical interface, bukuserver provides a browsable front end served from a local web host.

buku is written in Python and licensed under GPL-3.0, and it is also usable as a library, with related projects including a browser plug-in. The README states that it has no tracking, hidden history, usage analytics or homing, and the man page includes examples.

Key features

Command-line bookmark storage
Auto-fetched title, tags and description
Import from Firefox, Chrome, Brave and Edge
Instant search with regex and deep scan
Wayback Machine lookup for broken links
bukuserver local web front end

Good fit for

→Managing bookmarks from the terminal
→Keeping a private, portable bookmark database

Built with: Python
Tags: bookmarks; bookmark-manager; cli; terminal; privacy; search; python; command-line

Buku: questions and answers

What is Buku used for?: buku is a command-line bookmark manager with a private, portable database, instant search and browser import, plus an optional local web front end. It is a good fit for managing bookmarks from the terminal; and keeping a private, portable bookmark database.
Is Buku open source?: Yes. Buku is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at jarun/buku and is written mainly in Python.
Is Buku free?: Yes. Buku is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is Buku an alternative to?: Buku is an open-source alternative to Raindrop.io and Pinboard. Other open-source alternatives to Raindrop.io include Linkding, Shiori and Karakeep.
Is Buku actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Buku was on 15 September 2026, and the latest release is v5.1, published on 7 December 2025. The project has 7.2k stars on GitHub.