A private, multi-model, 100% local, full-featured alternative to Notebook LM

Socratic empowers you to:

• Control your data - Keep your research private and secure
• Choose your AI models - Support for 16+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio, and more
• Organize multi-modal content - PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, and more
• Generate professional podcasts - Advanced multi-speaker podcast generation
• Search intelligently - Full-text and vector search across all your content
• Chat with context - AI conversations powered by your research
• Multi-language UI - English, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Japanese, and Russian support

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Built With

Quick Start (2 Minutes)

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed
• That's it! (API keys configured later in the UI)

Step 1: Get docker-compose.yml

Use the docker-compose.yml included in this repository. If you need to create one manually, copy this into a new file called docker-compose.yml:

services:
  surrealdb:
    image: surrealdb/surrealdb:v2
    command: start --log info --user root --pass root rocksdb:/mydata/mydatabase.db
    user: root
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - ./surreal_data:/mydata
    restart: always

  socratic:
    image: socratic:latest
    ports:
      - "8502:8502"
      - "5055:5055"
    environment:
      - SOCRATIC_ENCRYPTION_KEY=change-me-to-a-secret-string
      - SURREAL_URL=ws://surrealdb:8000/rpc
      - SURREAL_USER=root
      - SURREAL_PASSWORD=root
      - SURREAL_NAMESPACE=socratic
      - SURREAL_DATABASE=socratic
    volumes:
      - ./notebook_data:/app/data
    depends_on:
      - surrealdb
    restart: always

Step 2: Set Your Encryption Key

Edit docker-compose.yml and change this line:

- SOCRATIC_ENCRYPTION_KEY=change-me-to-a-secret-string

to any secret value (e.g., my-super-secret-key-123)

Step 3: Start Services

docker compose up -d

Wait 15-20 seconds, then open: http://localhost:8502

Step 4: Configure AI Provider

1. Go to Settings -> API Keys
2. Click Add Credential
3. Choose your provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.)
4. Paste your API key and click Save
5. Click Test Connection -> Discover Models -> Register Models

Done! You're ready to create your first notebook.

Need an API key? Get one from: OpenAI · Anthropic · Google · Groq (free tier)

Want free local AI? See examples/docker-compose-ollama.yml for Ollama setup

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Provider Support Matrix

Provider	LLM Support	Embedding Support	Speech-to-Text	Text-to-Speech
OpenAI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Anthropic	Yes	No	No	No
Groq	Yes	No	Yes	No
Google (GenAI)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Vertex AI	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Ollama	Yes	Yes	No	No
Perplexity	Yes	No	No	No
ElevenLabs	No	No	Yes	Yes
Azure OpenAI	Yes	Yes	No	No
Mistral	Yes	Yes	No	No
DeepSeek	Yes	No	No	No
Voyage	No	Yes	No	No
xAI	Yes	No	No	No
OpenRouter	Yes	No	No	No
OpenAI Compatible*	Yes	No	No	No

*Supports LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint

Key Features

Core Capabilities

• Privacy-First: Your data stays under your control - no cloud dependencies
• Multi-Notebook Organization: Manage multiple research projects seamlessly
• Universal Content Support: PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, Office docs, and more
• Multi-Model AI Support: 16+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, Google, LM Studio, and more
• Professional Podcast Generation: Advanced multi-speaker podcasts with Episode Profiles
• Intelligent Search: Full-text and vector search across all your content
• Context-Aware Chat: AI conversations powered by your research materials
• AI-Assisted Notes: Generate insights or write notes manually

Advanced Features

• Reasoning Model Support: Full support for thinking models like DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3
• Content Transformations: Powerful customizable actions to summarize and extract insights
• Comprehensive REST API: Full programmatic access for custom integrations
• Optional Password Protection: Secure public deployments with authentication
• Fine-Grained Context Control: Choose exactly what to share with AI models
• Citations: Get answers with proper source citations

License

MIT licensed. See the LICENSE file for details.