briefkist
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briefkist
Get startedSource on GitHub
free to self-host · AGPL-3.0
on your server · private · archival

Turn the paper mail piling up at home into a private, searchable family archive.

Photograph a letter with your phone. Your own server reads it, understands it, and files it — sender, date, summary, keywords — with AI that runs entirely on hardware you control.

Get a hosted serverSelf-host free
AGPL-3.0 · hosted from €12/mo · full export anytime
The Briefkist archive on a phone: a searchable list of filed letters with sender, date, category and summary
the archive · light & darkon your server

How it works

Three steps between the doormat and a filed, findable document.

step 1

Photograph the letter

One photo per page, straight from the app. Multi-page letters are kept together.

step 2

Your server reads it

OCR and AI on your own hardware extract the sender, date, summary and keywords — then file it.

step 3

Find anything

Search by words or meaning. "The letter about the chimney inspection" works.

the data path — all of it
Your phonecaptures pages
Your serverOCR + local AI
Your archivesearchable, yours
The cloudnever involved
Your phonecaptures pages
Your serverOCR + local AI
Your archivesearchable, yours
The cloudnever involved

no cloud services · no telemetry · no third party, ever

Tax letters. Insurance policies. The municipality. Hospital appointments.

The mail that runs a household — filed under fourteen quiet categories, titled in the letter's own language, dated unambiguously.

governmentmedicalinsurancebankutilitytelecomlegalemploymenteducationhousingcommercialmembershippersonalother

an archive, not a finance tool — no amounts, no due dates, no bills to chase

What we protect against — and what we don't

Privacy tools should say both. The short version is here; the full threat model is on the security page.

protected against
Cloud providers reading, indexing or training on your documents — there is no cloud in the path.
A network observer on the way to your server — every request is token-authenticated, and traffic runs over TLS (hosted) or stays on your own network or encrypted overlay (self-host).
On hosted: anyone with the server's disks, including us — stored data is ciphertext under a key only you hold.
Losing the paper — the scan, summary and searchable text outlive the original.
not protected against
Malware on your own phone or computer — it sees what you see.
Someone who has your passphrase — it is the key; treat it like one.
Physical access to your own unlocked server at home — that machine is yours to secure.
A lost passphrase — we cannot reset it, and that is the point. Losing it loses the archive.

Two ways to run it. The same product.

Nothing is paywalled. The choice is only who runs the server.

self-host

Free forever

Run the server on a Mac mini or any Linux box at home. The full product, the full privacy promise: nothing ever leaves hardware you own. AGPL-3.0, no paywalled features, no account with us at all.

the full product · nothing held backRead the install guide
hosted

€15/mo — or €12/mo billed annually

We run a single-tenant server for you in the EU. Everything stored is encrypted with a key derived from a passphrase only you hold — we keep only ciphertext. VAT included, cancel any time, full export always.

single-tenant · EU · your key, not oursGet a hosted server
AGPL-3.0 · source on GitHubEU-only infrastructureno third party in the data pathyour subscription funds the open source