What is Memex used for?

Memex by WorldBrain is a browser extension for curating, annotating and discussing web content, with full-text search over what you have saved. It is a good fit for web research with notes and highlights, and team curation of useful articles.

Is Memex open source?

Yes. Memex is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at WorldBrain/Memex and is written mainly in TypeScript.

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

Can I self-host Memex?

Yes. Memex can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Memex an alternative to?

Memex is an open-source alternative to Raindrop.io, Pinboard, Readwise and mymind. Other open-source alternatives to Raindrop.io include Karakeep, Linkwarden and Wallabag.

Is Memex actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Memex was on 2 December 2025, and the latest release is 2.2.0, published on 6 July 2020. The project has 4.7k stars on GitHub.

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

About Memex

Memex is a browser extension from WorldBrain for curating, annotating and discussing valuable content and ideas on the web, whether you work as an individual, a team or a community. It is available as an extension for Chrome and Firefox and focuses on research and note-taking from the pages you read.

The repository topics emphasize annotations and full-text search, so saved pages and your highlights and notes can be found again later. The product's homepage also states that Memex exposes its dashboard actions through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), with a discovery manifest and a gateway that returns matching actions on demand, so AI tools can work with it.

The code is written in TypeScript and is public on GitHub, but the repository metadata does not give a license, so check the project terms before reuse. The extension runs inside your browser, and sharing and discussion features depend on the vendor's own services.

Key features

Annotate and highlight web pages
Full-text search of saved content
Curate collections for sharing
Browser extension for Chrome and Firefox
MCP access to dashboard actions

Good fit for

→Web research with notes and highlights
→Team curation of useful articles

Built with: TypeScript; JavaScript
Tags: browser-extension; annotation; web-research; full-text-search; note-taking; mcp; typescript

Memex: questions and answers

What is Memex used for?: Memex by WorldBrain is a browser extension for curating, annotating and discussing web content, with full-text search over what you have saved. It is a good fit for web research with notes and highlights, and team curation of useful articles.
Is Memex open source?: Yes. Memex is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at WorldBrain/Memex and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Memex free?: Yes. Memex is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Memex?: Yes. Memex can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Memex an alternative to?: Memex is an open-source alternative to Raindrop.io, Pinboard, Readwise and mymind. Other open-source alternatives to Raindrop.io include Karakeep, Linkwarden and Wallabag.
Is Memex actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Memex was on 2 December 2025, and the latest release is 2.2.0, published on 6 July 2020. The project has 4.7k stars on GitHub.