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Home/Categories/AI & Machine Learning/Khoj
icon of Khoj

Khoj

Open source alternative to Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Glean

Khoj is an open source personal AI assistant that searches your notes, documents, and the web for research-grade answers. Self-hosted, AGPL-3.0 licensed, with no data sent to external servers.

34.7K starsPythonAGPL-3.0Active recently
Visit websiteGitHub repo
image of Khoj
Contents
  1. 01Who Khoj is for
  2. 02The problem it solves
  3. 03How it solves it
  4. 04Strengths and trade-offs
  5. 05Khoj vs alternatives
  6. 06Tech stack
  7. 07FAQ
  8. 08Similar open-source tools
TL;DR

Khoj is a self-hostable AI second brain for chatting with your documents, web sources, local files, and custom agents. It replaces generic ChatGPT-style knowledge workflows for people who need private, persistent AI over their own notes and documents.AGPL-3.0 · Python · 34.7K stars · Active recently

who it's for

Who Khoj is for#

Researchers querying private notes

Use Khoj to ask questions across PDFs, markdown, web research, and Notion exports while keeping the deployment under your control.

Skip if:

Skip if your documents are few enough to paste into a normal AI chat.

Power users automating AI briefs

Use custom agents and scheduled notifications to turn recurring research into personal newsletters or alerts.

Skip if:

Skip if you need enterprise-wide knowledge governance and admin analytics first.

the problem

The problem it solves#

Generic AI chat loses context unless users repeatedly upload files, paste notes, or rebuild prompts. Teams and individuals also need control over which local or online models read private PDFs, markdown, Notion exports, images, and research material.

how Khoj solves it

How it solves it#

Chat with docs and web

Khoj can answer from the internet and user documents, including PDFs, markdown, org-mode, Word, Notion files, and images.

Local or online LLM support

The README lists local and hosted model families, including Llama, Qwen, Gemma, Mistral, GPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek.

Custom agents and automation

Users can create agents with custom knowledge, persona, chat model, and tools, then schedule newsletters and smart notifications.

strengths · trade-offs

Strengths and trade-offs#

Strengths

  • Private deployment pathKhoj is AGPL-3.0 licensed and self-hostable, giving users a way to run personal AI over private knowledge without defaulting to a vendor cloud.
  • Works across personal toolsBrowser, Obsidian, Emacs, desktop, phone, and WhatsApp access make Khoj useful as a daily assistant rather than only a web app.

Trade-offs

  • -Model quality depends on your setupSelf-hosting Khoj still requires selecting models, configuring integrations, and managing compute. Cloud AI tools may feel simpler for casual use.
versus alternatives

Khoj vs alternatives#

Khoj vs ChatGPT

Khoj is better when the assistant needs persistent access to your own notes, files, agents, and local or self-hosted models. ChatGPT is still easier for general-purpose hosted chat, broad model access, and users who do not want to run infrastructure.

tech stack · detected from GitHub

What it's built on#

Languages
JavaScriptPythonTypeScript
Frameworks
Next.jsReact
Tooling
esbuild
frequently asked

FAQ#

Can Khoj be self-hosted?

Yes. The README describes Khoj as open source and self-hostable, with setup docs for running it privately.

What files can Khoj answer from?

The README lists image, PDF, markdown, org-mode, Word, Notion files, and web sources.

Does Khoj require OpenAI?

No. Khoj can work with local and online LLMs, including several open model families and hosted providers.

also worth a look

Similar open-source tools#

AnythingLLM

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Leon

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OpenYak

OpenYak

Local AI agent that enhances productivity with your own LLM

781PythonMIT
Screenpipe

Screenpipe

Record your screen and audio 24/7 for local AI automation

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Atomic Bot

Atomic Bot

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Jan

Jan

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Repository

Stars
34.7K
Forks
2.2K
License
AGPL-3.0
Latest
2.0.0-beta.28
Last commit
67 days ago
Last verified
May 29, 2026
Repo
khoj-ai/khoj ↗

Additional details

Language
Python
Open issues
100
Contributors
71
First release
2021

Categories

AI & Machine LearningBusiness & ProductivityLLMOps & AI Tooling

Tags

AI AgentsAI Search ToolsKnowledge BasePersonal AssistantSelf HostedLLMRAG