Background

In the pursuit of efficient data and knowledge sharing, many companies and teams face the challenge of choosing the right tools. We tried various knowledge base tools, but feedback from our engineers indicated they still had many limitations. After extensive evaluation and searching, we ultimately found Outline to be an excellent knowledge base solution for team collaboration, effectively boosting work efficiency and information management.

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What is Outline?

Outline is a clean and powerful knowledge base management tool with an interface and user experience similar to Notion. It supports Markdown editing, full-text search, and various third-party login methods, making it ideal for companies or teams building a shared knowledge base. Outline is open-source, feature-complete, and designed for teams, significantly improving knowledge management and collaboration efficiency.

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Setup Guide (Docker Compose Example)

Below is an example configuration for quickly setting up Outline using Docker Compose:

version: '3'

services:
  outline:
    image: outlinewiki/outline:latest
    ports:
      - "27777:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/outline
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
      - SECRET_KEY=你的隨機字串
      - UTILS_SECRET=你的隨機字串
      - URL=http://localhost:27777
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - FORCE_HTTPS=false
      - PORT=3000
      - AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=minio
      - AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=minio123
      - AWS_REGION=us-east-1
      - AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_URL=http://localhost:9000
      - AWS_S3_UPLOAD_BUCKET_NAME=uploads
      - AWS_S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true
      - AWS_S3_ACL=private
      - AWS_S3_UPLOAD_MAX_SIZE=26214400
      - PGSSLMODE=disable
      - OIDC_CLIENT_ID=你的OIDC客戶端ID
      - OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=你的OIDC客戶端密鑰
      - OIDC_AUTH_URI=https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize
      - OIDC_TOKEN_URI=https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token
      - OIDC_SCOPES=read:user user:email
      - OIDC_USERINFO_URI=https://api.github.com/user
      - OIDC_USERNAME_CLAIM=name
      - OIDC_DISPLAY_NAME=GitHub
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis
      - minio

  postgres:
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=postgres
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
      - POSTGRES_DB=outline
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  redis:
    image: redis:6
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data

  minio:
    image: minio/minio
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
      - "9001:9001"
    environment:
      - MINIO_ROOT_USER=minio
      - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=minio123
    volumes:
      - minio_data:/data
    command: server /data --console-address ":9001"

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:
  minio_data:

Command to start the services:

docker-compose up -d

P.S. If you can't upload, create a bucket named "uploads".

http://localhost:9001/

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🚪 Login Methods

Outline does not support username/password login, only various third-party account logins. Here are the main options and things to note:

• Google Login Requires a Google Workspace (business) account; personal Gmail accounts are not supported.

• GitHub Login Supports personal GitHub accounts: GitHub Application Authorization Settings

• Microsoft Login Supports Azure AD (business) accounts and personal Microsoft accounts. Reference

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Fixing the Issue of MinIO Images Not Displaying Correctly

3. If article images fail to upload, log in to the MinIO Web UI and manually create a bucket named "uploads"

4. Profile pictures not displaying

# 1. 進入 Minio 容器
docker exec -it outline-wiki-minio-1 sh

# 2. 設定 mc 別名
mc alias set myminio http://localhost:9000 account password


# 3. 設定 uploads bucket 為匿名可讀
mc anonymous set download myminio/uploads

# 4. 檢查設定是否成功
mc anonymous get myminio/uploads

# 5. 離開容器
exit

💾 Data Backup Essentials

Outline data consists of two main parts:

1. PostgreSQL database: Stores page content, user information, and version history
2. MinIO storage: Stores all images and files uploaded by users, acting as a local Amazon S3 equivalent.

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Access

http://localhost:27777/

Minor Bug

After logging out, you need to close the browser tab to be able to log in again.

✅ Backup

Step 1: Back up the PostgreSQL Database

docker exec -t $(docker ps -qf name=postgres) pg_dump -U postgres outline > outline_backup.sql

Note:

• The exported file will be in SQL format and saved in the current directory.
• If your container name is not postgres, use docker ps to find it and replace accordingly.

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Step 2: Back up MinIO Data

docker run --rm -v minio_data:/volume -v $(pwd):/backup alpine tar czf /backup/minio_backup.tar.gz -C /volume .

Note:

• This will compress all files in the MinIO volume into .tar.gz.
• minio_data is the name of the MinIO volume. Adjust it according to your actual setup.

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♻️ Restore Process

Restore the PostgreSQL Database

cat outline_backup.sql | docker exec -i $(docker ps -qf name=postgres) psql -U postgres -d outline

Restore MinIO Data

docker run --rm -v minio_data:/volume -v $(pwd):/backup alpine sh -c "cd /volume && tar xzf /backup/minio_backup.tar.gz"