tinyweb/README.md

# TinyWeb

A personal, decentralized search engine built on the [Reticulum](https://reticulum.network/) mesh network. Curate your own index of web pages, search it locally, and share collections with friends over an encrypted mesh. No algorithms, no ads, no tracking.

## Features

- **Personal search index** — Save pages you find valuable, search them with full-text search (SQLite FTS5)
- **Tagging** — Organize saved pages with comma-separated tags
- **Bookmarklet** — One-click indexing from any browser tab
- **Subscriptions** — Subscribe to friends' TinyWeb instances over Reticulum and search their indexes alongside yours
- **Custom templates** — Full HTML/CSS/JS template editor to personalize your instance
- **Import/export** — JSON-based backup and restore
- **Mesh-native** — Works over Reticulum without the internet; encrypted and decentralized by default

## Performance & Scale

### Search Speed

| Pages indexed | Search speed | Notes |
|--------------|-------------|-------|
| 1,000 | ~50ms | Fast local FTS5 |
| 10,000 | ~50-100ms | Full-text search |
| 100,000 | ~100-200ms | Combined BM25 + semantic |
| 500,000 | ~200-400ms | With semantic enabled |
| 1,000,000 | ~300-500ms | Hybrid search |

*Times are estimates for combined BM25 + semantic search. Actual performance varies by hardware, storage type (SSD/HDD), and search complexity.*

### Concurrent Connections

- Database pool: 16 simultaneous connections
- Suitable for single-user + a few subscriptions

### Export

- Paginated at 10,000 pages per request
- Use `?batch=N` to export in chunks: `/export?batch=0`, `/export?batch=1`, etc.

## Download (pre-built binaries)

Download the latest release for your platform from the [Releases](https://git.derickphan.com/lichenblankie/tinyweb/releases) page:

| Platform | File |
|----------|------|
| Windows | `TinyWeb-windows-x64.exe` |
| macOS | `TinyWeb-macos-arm64` |
| Linux | `TinyWeb-linux-x64` |

Run the downloaded file — no installation required.

## Docker

Pull and run TinyWeb from the container registry:

```bash
docker run -p 8080:8080 registry.derickphan.com/tinyweb:latest
```

Or with a specific version:

```bash
docker run -p 8080:8080 registry.derickphan.com/tinyweb:v0.1.0
```

### Docker Compose

```yaml
services:
  tinyweb:
    image: registry.derickphan.com/tinyweb:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - tinyweb-data:/data

volumes:
  tinyweb-data:
```

Run with `docker compose up -d`.

### Storage Estimates

Average web page content is ~15KB per page:

| Pages | Database | Embeddings* | Total |
|-------|----------|------------|-------|
| 10,000 | 150MB | 80MB | ~250MB |
| 100,000 | 1.5GB | 800MB | ~2.5GB |
| 500,000 | 7.5GB | 4GB | ~12GB |
| 1,000,000 | 15GB | 8GB | ~25GB |

*Embeddings require semantic search to be enabled. With compression enabled (Settings > Search > AI), embeddings use ~50% less storage.

Enable optional compression in Settings > Search > AI to reduce embedding storage by ~50%.

## Data storage

### Local (Python/binary)

Your data is stored in `~/.tinyweb/`:

| File | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `index.db` | SQLite database with your indexed pages |
| `tinyweb_identity` | Your Reticulum identity (keep safe!) |
| `models/` | Downloaded AI models for semantic search |
| `index.hnsw` | Semantic search index |

This allows your data to persist between upgrades and stay separate from the application.

### Docker

Data is stored in the `/data` volume inside the container. Use a volume mount to persist data:

```bash
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v tinyweb-data:/data registry.derickphan.com/tinyweb:latest
```

Or with docker-compose (see above) — data persists in the named volume.

### Command line options

```bash
./TinyWeb --version          # Show version
./TinyWeb -p 9000            # Use port 9000 instead of default 8080
./TinyWeb --bind 0.0.0.0     # Expose the web UI to your LAN (see warning below)
```

By default, the web UI binds to `127.0.0.1` and is only reachable from the machine running TinyWeb. **The UI has no authentication** — anyone who can reach the port can read, add, and delete entries, and change settings. Only pass `--bind 0.0.0.0` if you fully trust your network, or put TinyWeb behind an authenticating reverse proxy.

## Getting started

```bash
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py
```

This starts the Reticulum server and an HTTP gateway on `http://127.0.0.1:8080`. Open it in your browser. The UI is localhost-only by default; see `--bind` under *Command line options* if you want to reach it from another machine.

Your destination hash is printed on startup — share it with friends so they can subscribe to your index.

## Remote gateway

To browse a remote TinyWeb instance without running your own index:

```bash
python gateway.py <destination_hash>
```

This connects over Reticulum and serves the remote instance at `http://localhost:8080`.

## How it works

1. **Save pages** — Use the `/add` form or the bookmarklet (found on `/style`) to index any URL
2. **Search** — Full-text search across your saved pages, linked pages from trusted sites, and synced subscriptions
3. **Subscribe** — Add a friend's destination hash on `/subscriptions` to sync their shared index
4. **Customize** — Edit your site name, HTML template, and sharing settings on `/style`

## Project structure

```
app.py          — Entry point: boots Reticulum, starts HTTP gateway
gateway.py      — HTTP-to-RNS bridge (local or remote dispatch)
handlers.py     — Route dispatcher and all request handlers
db.py           — SQLite database, FTS5, URL fetching, SSRF protection
templates.py    — HTML template rendering and escaping
rns_client.py   — Reticulum client for fetching remote site lists
themes/         — Saved HTML templates (e.g. kodama.html)
```

## Security

**The web UI has no authentication.** It is bound to `127.0.0.1` by default, so only processes on the local machine can reach it. If you pass `--bind 0.0.0.0` (or run inside a container with a published port), anyone who can reach that address can fully control your instance — reading private entries, changing settings, and modifying the HTML template (which runs in your browser). Put TinyWeb behind a reverse proxy with auth before exposing it beyond localhost.

Other hardening measures:

- **CSRF protection** — All POST forms use per-session tokens via double-submit cookies
- **SSRF prevention** — URL fetching validates hostnames against private IP ranges, with redirect re-validation
- **FTS5 injection prevention** — Search queries are sanitized before passing to SQLite MATCH
- **Content Security Policy** — CSP headers on all HTML responses restrict script/style/frame sources
- **XSS escaping** — All user-supplied content is HTML-escaped before rendering
- **Bookmark authentication** — The bookmarklet endpoint requires a secret token
- **Identity file protection** — The Reticulum identity key is restricted to owner-only permissions (0600)

## Maintenance

### Database Vacuum

Over time, deleted pages leave empty space in the database. Run the vacuum tool periodically to reclaim space:

1. Go to `/style` in your browser
2. Click "vacuum database" at the bottom of the page

### Optional Compression

To reduce storage for semantic search embeddings (~50% savings):

1. Go to `/style` > Search > AI
2. Enable "compress embeddings"
3. Re-index your existing pages for the compression to apply to existing embeddings

## Dependencies

- [requests](https://docs.python-requests.org/) — HTTP fetching
- [beautifulsoup4](https://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/) — HTML parsing and link extraction
- [rns](https://reticulum.network/) — Reticulum mesh networking

## Philosophy

TinyWeb is built for the slow web — intentionality over speed, human curation over algorithmic feeds, privacy over surveillance, and community over corporations. Every page in your index was saved because you found it valuable, not because an algorithm told you to click.