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Burkmak
What it is
Burkmak is a free, MIT-licensed, self-hosted application for saving links, reading articles, highlighting passages, syncing with Kobo, and exporting notes to Obsidian. Its reader extracts articles into a clean view with highlights and notes, while tags, read states, favorites, and search organize each user’s library. Links can be captured through the web app, Android share sheet, or desktop browser bookmarklet. Kobo support provides an OPDS catalog with EPUB and KEPUB downloads and native store-protocol synchronization that writes reading state back. An Obsidian plugin sends article notes, highlights, and metadata to a vault through Burkmak’s export API. Docker Compose deployment includes backend and web containers, a data volume, and amd64 and arm64 images. That volume stores the SQLite database, cached articles, images, and EPUBs. Product requirements specify no third-party analytics and server-side content remaining on the self-hosted instance. Native Kobo synchronization requires HTTPS, and the physical-device pass is pending. The listed self-hosted plan costs nothing for a single instance and a small number of accounts.
For and against
For
- Clean article reader with highlights and notes
- Searchable libraries with tags and read states
- Kobo OPDS and reading-state synchronization
- Obsidian export through a dedicated plugin
- No third-party analytics listed
Against
- Designed for a single self-hosted instance
- Native Kobo sync requires HTTPS
- Physical-device pass remains pending
- Small number of accounts in listed plan
The verdict
Burkmak combines read-it-later storage, Kobo access, and Obsidian export in a self-hosted package. Its single-instance design and Kobo requirements matter for larger or device-focused deployments.
Who it suits
It suits self-hosters, Kobo readers, and note-takers who want article highlights in Obsidian. Android capture and Docker deployment support users comfortable managing their own instance.
Plans and prices
Self-hosted
single instance · small number of accounts
Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com
On the record
- Architecture limit
- The product requirements specify a single self-hosted instance and list horizontal scaling and multi-instance high availability as non-goals.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Browser extension
- Nogithub.com · read 22 Sep 2026
- Capture
- Links can be saved from the web app, Android share sheet, or desktop browser bookmarklet; an iOS share extension is listed as a follow-up.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Data storage
- The deployment stores its SQLite database, cached articles, images, and EPUBs in the burkmak-data volume.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- The maker provides a Docker Compose deployment with backend and web containers, a data volume, and published amd64 and arm64 images.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Full-text search
- Yesgithub.com · read 22 Sep 2026
- Highlight export
- Yesgithub.com · read 22 Sep 2026
- Highlighting
- Yesgithub.com · read 22 Sep 2026
- Intended users
- The product requirements describe self-hosters, Kobo readers, and note-takers who want highlights in Obsidian as target users.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Kobo integration
- Kobo support includes an OPDS catalog with EPUB/KEPUB downloads and native store-protocol sync with reading-state write-back.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Kobo limitation
- Native Kobo sync requires HTTPS, and the physical-device pass is still pending.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Library
- Users can organize saved links with tags, read states, favorites, and searchable per-user libraries.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- License
- The repository identifies the project as MIT licensed.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Mobile apps
- Yesgithub.com · read 22 Sep 2026
- Obsidian integration
- An Obsidian plugin syncs article notes, highlights, and metadata into a vault through Burkmak’s export API.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- The product requirements state there are no third-party analytics and that content fetched server-side stays on the self-hosted instance.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Burkmak is a self-hosted, multi-user read-it-later app for saving links, reading articles, highlighting text, syncing with Kobo, and exporting notes to Obsidian.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
- Reader
- The app extracts articles into a clean reader view and supports highlights and notes.github.com · read 9 Oct 2026
