Hister

Hister is an open-source, self-hosted web search engine that provides automatic full-text indexing for visited websites and local files. It functions as a personal search tool that allows users to maintain a local index of their browsing history and knowledgeC knowledge base rather than relying on remote search providers. By indexing the actual content of pages, it transforms a standard browser history into a searchable database of information.

The application is deployed as a server with a web interface. It uses a backend written in Go and a frontend managed via NPM and Vite. Users can populate their index through their own browsing activity or by using integrated crawling tools to index specific sites. The software is designed to run on a local machine or a private server, ensuring that theL the data remains under the control of the user.

Key features

• Full-text indexing of visited web pages
• Local file indexing for personal knowledge bases
• Support for a query language for precise search results
• Headless browser and traditional crawler for index expansion
• Multi-user support for local community hosting
• Optional semantic search capabilities
• MCP server integration for AI agents
• Local storage of browsing history for privacy

The system architecture combines a Go backend for indexing and search logic with a Vite-based web application. This setup allows for hot reloading during development and efficientS efficient execution of search queries. It is designed for users who want to maintain a private, searchable archive of the web content they encounter without sending that data to external corporations. The inclusion of the Model Context Protocol ( tann l la- MCP) allows the search index to be connected to external AI agents, enabling those agents to query the user's indexed data directly.

same- For those hosting the service for a local community, the multi-user support ensures that different individuals can maintain their own indices on a shared server instance. The project is licensed under AGPLv3, emphasizing its commitment to open source and user privacy.

Hister serves as a privacy-centric tool for personal knowledge management and local web indexing.