explainx / blog
TREK v3.1.2 is an AGPL-3.0 self-hosted travel planner — NestJS, React, SQLite, WebSocket sync, PWA, Passkeys, expense splitting, and AI. 6.8k GitHub stars. Run in 30 seconds with Docker.
Jul 9, 2026
Hendrik's Chatto is now AGPL: one binary, NATS + LiveKit under the hood, Discord-style multi-server client, encrypted-at-rest chat, E2E video only. 791 HN points — here's whether it beats Mattermost, Zulip, or Matrix for your team.
Jul 8, 2026
Zackriya-Solutions/meetily is a MIT-licensed Tauri app for local meeting transcription and AI summaries — no cloud required for STT. v0.4.0 ships Parakeet/Whisper GPU acceleration, Import & Enhance beta, and optional Claude or Ollama for notes.
Jun 27, 2026
Fable 5 restored July 1 — GPT-5.6 around the corner. Open-weight alternatives still matter for sovereignty, cost, and no vendor lock-in.
Your trips. Your plan. Your server.
That is the tagline on TREK — a self-hosted, real-time collaborative travel planner that has climbed to 6.8k GitHub stars and 614 forks while most travel apps still require surrendering itineraries, photos, and location history to a SaaS vendor.
Latest release: v3.1.2 (June 2026), two days after v3.1.1 bug fixes. TREK ships maps, budgets, packing lists, a journey journal, expense splitting, an Atlas of visited countries, AI assistance, SSO, and a installable PWA — all on your hardware, backed by SQLite, synced over WebSockets.
| Detail | TREK |
|---|---|
| Repo | github.com/mauriceboe/TREK |
| Latest version | v3.1.2 (June 2026) |
| License | AGPL-3.0 |
| Stars / forks | ~6.8k / ~614 |
| Demo | demo.liketrek.com |
| Backend | NestJS 11, Node.js, SQLite, ws |
| Frontend | React, Vite, TypeScript, Tailwind, Zustand |
| Auth | JWT, OAuth 2.1, OIDC, Passkeys, TOTP MFA |
| Maps | Leaflet + Mapbox GL (3D dashboard) |
| Weather | Open-Meteo (no API key) |
| Deploy | Docker, Compose, Helm/K8s, Unraid, PWA |
TREK is not a static itinerary PDF generator. It is a live collaborative workspace for trip planning — closer to Wanderlog or TripIt in feature scope, but running on infrastructure you control.
| Module | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Trip overview with 3D map visualization |
| Trip planner | Day plans, routes, POIs |
| Journey journal | Trip logging and narrative |
| Costs | Budget tracking with expense splitting |
| Packing lists | Shared checklists per trip |
| Atlas | Map of visited countries (geoBoundaries data) |
| Vacay planner | Seasonal / vacation planning workflows |
| Admin panel | Users, backups, auto-backup schedules |
Real-time sync means multiple travelers can edit the same trip simultaneously — changes propagate over WebSocket (/ws) without manual refresh. That architecture choice matters for group trips where one person adds a restaurant while another adjusts the route.
TREK includes AI features in the product surface (per the README hero). The repository ships MCP.md — Model Context Protocol documentation for integrating external AI tools with TREK's data layer. If you are building agent workflows that need structured trip context (dates, POIs, budgets), MCP is the integration path rather than scraping the UI.
For broader MCP patterns, see our MCP complete guide.
The fastest path is Docker:
ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32) docker run -d -p 3000:3000 \
-e ENCRYPTION_KEY=$ENCRYPTION_KEY \
-v ./data:/app/data -v ./uploads:/app/uploads mauriceboe/trek
Open http://localhost:3000.
On first boot, TREK seeds an admin account. Either set environment variables:
-e [email protected] -e ADMIN_PASSWORD='your-secure-password'
Or read the generated credentials from the container log:
docker logs trek
Mount only ./data and ./uploads. Never mount a volume at /app — doing so hides the application code baked into the image and the container fails with Cannot find module 'tsconfig-paths/register'. If you previously used a full /app mount, switch to the two-directory pattern; your existing data in data/ and uploads/ is preserved.
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
./data/travel.db | SQLite database |
./data/logs/trek.log | Auto-rotated logs |
./uploads/ | User uploads |
Full compose examples with secure defaults are in the TREK docs. Production pattern: TLS-terminating reverse proxy in front, WebSocket upgrade support on /ws.
helm repo add trek https://mauriceboe.github.io/TREK
helm repo update
helm install trek trek/trek
See charts/README.md for values — including PVC annotation support added in recent releases.
TREK ships an unraid-template.xml and ca_profile.xml for Unraid Community Apps submission — relevant if your homelab already runs Immich or other self-hosted media stacks.
TREK requires WebSocket upgrade support on /ws for real-time sync. Nginx and Caddy examples are in the repository docs. Without WebSocket passthrough, collaboration appears to work locally but sync breaks behind the proxy.
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
Or for plain Docker:
docker pull mauriceboe/trek
docker rm -f trek
docker run -d --name trek -p 3000:3000 \
-v ./data:/app/data -v ./uploads:/app/uploads \
--restart unless-stopped mauriceboe/trek
Check existing mount paths first: docker inspect trek --format '{{json .Mounts}}'.
TREK works as a Progressive Web App:
The app launches fullscreen with its own icon — useful on trip days when you want quick access to the day plan without browser chrome.
TREK encrypts sensitive data with ENCRYPTION_KEY. To rotate keys (e.g. upgrading from a version that derived encryption from JWT_SECRET):
docker exec -it trek node --import tsx scripts/migrate-encryption.ts
The script creates a timestamped DB backup before changes and prompts for old and new keys (input is not echoed).
Authentication stack:
Backups are configurable in the Admin Panel — manual create/restore plus scheduled auto-backups with retention policies.
| Dimension | TREK (self-hosted) | Wanderlog / TripIt (SaaS) |
|---|---|---|
| Data location | Your server / homelab | Vendor cloud |
| Real-time collab | WebSocket on your infra | Vendor-managed |
| Cost | Server + maintenance | Subscription |
| Customization | Full source (AGPL) | None |
| Offline / PWA | Installable PWA | Native apps only |
| AI integration | MCP documented | Vendor-locked |
TREK fits the same self-hosting philosophy as files.md local-first notes and Immich for photos: your data, your rules, with AGPL ensuring network-service modifications stay open if you offer TREK commercially to others.
The Atlas module visualizes visited countries and sub-national regions. Boundaries come from geoBoundaries (Runfola et al., 2020), licensed CC BY 4.0. Full third-party attributions are in NOTICE.md.
Weather data uses Open-Meteo — no API key required, which keeps homelab setup friction low.
Good fit:
Less ideal:
| Post | Connection |
|---|---|
| Immich self-hosted photos | Another AGPL homelab stack (NestJS family) |
| files.md local-first notes | Self-hosted personal data pattern |
| MCP guide | TREK's MCP.md integration path |
| Notion + Cursor agents | Collaborative task boards — different domain, same real-time workflow idea |
TREK v3.1.2 is the most complete open-source answer to "why does my trip planner need to live in someone else's cloud?" — real-time collaboration, 3D maps, budgets with expense splitting, packing lists, journal, Atlas, PWA install, Passkeys, and documented MCP hooks, deployable in one Docker command.
6.8k stars suggest the audience was waiting for this. If you are already self-hosting photos and notes, adding trips is a natural next tab.
Last updated: June 26, 2026. Version and stats from github.com/mauriceboe/TREK and release v3.1.2.