Hister

Web history on steroids

Hister is a web history management tool that provides blazing fast, content-based search for visited websites. Unlike traditional browser history that only searches URLs and titles, Hister indexes the full content of web pages you visit, enabling deep and meaningful search across your browsing history.

Features

• Privacy-focused: Keep your browsing history indexed locally - don't use remote search engines if it isn't necessary
• Full-text indexing: Search through the actual content of web pages you've visited
• Advanced search capabilities: Utilize a powerful query language for precise results
• Efficient retrieval: Use keyword aliases to quickly find content
• Flexible content management: Configure blacklist and priority rules for better control

Command line actions

• Index: download and index any URL
• Import: import and index existing Firefox/Chrome browser history

Setup & run

Install the extension

Available for Chrome and Firefox

Download pre-built binary

Grab a pre-built binary from the latest release. (Don't forget to chmod +x)

Execute ./hister to see all available commands.

Build for yourself

• Clone the repository
• Build with go build
• Run ./hister help to list the available commands
• Execute ./hister listen to start the web application

Configuration

Settings can be configured in ~/.config/hister/config.yml config file - don't forget to restart webapp after updating.

Execute ./hister create-config config.yml to generate a configuration file with the default configuration values.

Nix

Quick usage

Run directly from the repository:

nix run github:asciimoo/hister

Add to your current shell session:

nix shell github:asciimoo/hister

Install permanently to your user profile:

nix profile install github:asciimoo/hister

NixOS

Add the following to your flake.nix:

{
  inputs.hister.url = "github:asciimoo/hister";

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, hister, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.yourHostname = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        hister.nixosModules.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then enable the service:

services.hister = {
  enable = true;
  port = 4433;
  dataDir = "/var/lib/hister";
  configPath = /path/to/config.yml; # optional, use existing YAML file
  config = {  # optional, or use Nix attrset (automatically converted to YAML)
    app = {
      directory = "~/.config/hister/";
      search_url = "https://google.com/search?q={query}";
    };
    server = {
      address = "127.0.0.1:4433";
    };
  };
};

Note: Only one of configPath or config can be set at a time.

Add to system packages

If you don't want to use the system module, you can add the package directly to environment.systemPackages in your configuration.nix:

NixOS & Darwin (macOS):

{ inputs, ... }: {
  environment.systemPackages = [ inputs.hister.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];
}

Add to user packages (Home-Manager)

If you don't want to use the Home-Manager module, you can add the package directly to home.packages in your home.nix:

{ inputs, ... }: {
  home.packages = [ inputs.hister.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];
}

Home-Manager

Add the following to your flake.nix:

{
  inputs.hister.url = "github:asciimoo/hister";

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, home-manager, hister, ... }: {
    homeConfigurations."yourUsername" = home-manager.lib.homeManagerConfiguration {
      modules = [
        ./home.nix
        hister.homeModules.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then enable the service:

services.hister = {
  enable = true;
  port = 4433;
  dataDir = "/home/yourUsername/.local/share/hister";
  configPath = /path/to/config.yml; # optional, use existing YAML file
  config = {  # optional, or use Nix attrset (automatically converted to YAML)
    app = {
      directory = "~/.config/hister/";
      search_url = "https://google.com/search?q={query}";
    };
    server = {
      address = "127.0.0.1:4433";
    };
  };
};

Note: Only one of configPath or config can be set at a time.

Darwin (macOS)

Add the following to your flake.nix:

{
  inputs.hister.url = "github:asciimoo/hister";

  outputs = { self, darwin, hister, ... }: {
    darwinConfigurations."yourHostname" = darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        hister.darwinModules.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then enable the service:

services.hister = {
  enable = true;
  port = 4433;
  dataDir = "/Users/yourUsername/Library/Application Support/hister";
  configPath = /path/to/config.yml; # optional
  config = {  # optional, or use Nix attrset (automatically converted to YAML)
    app = {
      directory = "~/.config/hister/";
      search_url = "https://google.com/search?q={query}";
    };
    server = {
      address = "127.0.0.1:4433";
    };
  };
};

Bugs

Bugs or suggestions? Visit the issue tracker.

License

AGPLv3