For BookStack

BookStack on Edge,
docs your team will update

Self-host the open-source documentation platform on a small VM with S3-compatible image storage and a global CDN. Confluence features, BookStack price.

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# Provision a BookStack VM

$ edge compute create \

--image ubuntu-24-04 --plan small \

--script ./bootstrap-bookstack.sh

# .env — Edge Storage for images

STORAGE_TYPE=s3

STORAGE_S3_KEY=...

STORAGE_S3_SECRET=...

STORAGE_S3_BUCKET=bookstack

STORAGE_S3_ENDPOINT=https://storage.edge.run

# Front it with the CDN

$ edge cdn create docs.example.com ...

Why teams self-host BookStack

Confluence-class features, fixed monthly bill, your data on your infrastructure.

Books, chapters, pages

A simple three-level hierarchy that maps to how teams actually organise documentation. WYSIWYG or Markdown, your call.

S3 image uploads

Configure BookStack's `IMAGE_STORAGE` to point at Edge Storage. Embedded images and attachments live in a durable, CDN-fronted bucket.

SAML, OIDC, LDAP

Plug into Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace, Okta, Keycloak — all out of the box. No paid SSO tier to upgrade to.

Full-text search included

Built-in search across all your books and pages. Fast enough for any team-sized knowledge base.

Per-page permissions

Granular roles and per-shelf / per-book / per-page permissions when you need them. Confluence-grade access control, free.

Confluence is per-seat. BookStack isn't.

Confluence is ~$5/user/month and climbs fast. BookStack on Edge is one small VM, regardless of team size.

Reference architecture

How BookStack maps to Edge

Standard LEMP + BookStack on a small VM, image bucket and CDN out front. One small VM serves everyone.

Compute

BookStack (PHP) + Nginx + MySQL/MariaDB on a VM

Storage

S3-compatible bucket for embedded images and attachments

CDN

Caches anonymous-readable docs and all static assets

DNS

Anycast DNS for `docs.example.com`

# SSO with OIDC (Microsoft Entra example)

AUTH_METHOD=oidc

OIDC_NAME=Microsoft

OIDC_ISSUER=https://login.microsoftonline.com/.../v2.0

OIDC_CLIENT_ID=...

OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=...

OIDC_USER_TO_GROUPS=true

Common questions

How does this compare to Confluence?

Cheaper (flat fee, not per-seat), simpler (a wiki, not a Jira-bolt-on), and you keep root. Trade-off: fewer integrations than Confluence — but the integrations you need (SSO, image storage, search) are all built in.

How do I do SSO?

BookStack supports SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect natively. Wire it up in `.env` to your identity provider — Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace, Okta, Authelia, Keycloak.

How do I back it up?

Nightly `mysqldump` to Edge Storage + your image bucket already lives there. A handful of cron lines is the entire backup strategy.

Can I run multiple BookStack instances?

Yes — one per team, project or product, all on the same VM with separate databases and CDN deployments. Cheap multi-tenancy without the platform plumbing.

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