What is ackify?

Ackify is a self-hosted document acknowledgment platform that proves recipients have read important documents using Ed25519 cryptographic signatures. Each reading event generates an immutable, independently verifiable audit certificate suitable for compliance audits and legal disputes. The platform supports flexible authentication via OAuth2 (Google, GitHub, GitLab, or custom providers) or passwordless MagicLink email authentication. Key capabilities include one signature per user per document enforced at the database level, expected signers tracking with automated email reminders, document integrity verification via SHA-256/512 and MD5 checksums, optional document storage on local filesystem or S3-compatible object storage, and public embeddable widgets via iframe and oEmbed for Notion, Outline, and Confluence. The admin dashboard (Vue.js 3 with dark mode) provides document metadata management, signer tracking, and reminder controls. It runs as a Go backend with PostgreSQL 16, deployed via Docker Compose. The project is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and offers a freemium SaaS version with additional features like zero-knowledge mode and SSO on paid plans.

Should you self-host ackify?

ackify scores 50/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #28 of 46 in Document Management. It has 209 GitHub stars.

It shipped 10 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v1.3.12, came out on 22 July 2026. New versions land roughly every 7 days.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is AGPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Go.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Docuseal (74/100, 18 901 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See ackify vs Docuseal side by side.

Features

Document checksum verification
Ed25519 cryptographic signatures
Embeddable widgets (iframe + oEmbed)
Expected signers tracking with email reminders
Flexible authentication (OAuth2 + MagicLink)
Health check endpoint
Immutable audit trail
Multilingual support (5 languages)
One signature per user per document
Optional document storage (local or S3)
Rate Limiting
REST API

How to configure ackify

ACKIFY_ADMIN_EMAILSComma-separated list of admin email addresses
Comma-separated list of admin email addresses
ACKIFY_AUTH_MAGICLINK_ENABLEDfalseEnable MagicLink passwordless authentication (requires SMTP)
Enable MagicLink passwordless authentication (requires SMTP)
values: true, false
ACKIFY_AUTH_OAUTH_ENABLEDautoForce enable/disable OAuth (default: auto-detected from credentials)
Force enable/disable OAuth (default: auto-detected from credentials)
values: true, false
ACKIFY_BASE_URLPublic URL of your instance (used for OAuth callbacks)
Public URL of your instance (used for OAuth callbacks)
ACKIFY_ED25519_PRIVATE_KEYEd25519 private key for signing (base64 encoded)
Ed25519 private key for signing (base64 encoded)
ACKIFY_LISTEN_ADDR:8080HTTP listening address
HTTP listening address
ACKIFY_LOG_LEVELinfoLog level: debug, info, warn, error
Log level: debug, info, warn, error
values: debug, info, warn, error
ACKIFY_MAIL_FROMnoreply@ackify.localFrom email address
From email address
ACKIFY_MAIL_FROM_NAMEAckifyFrom name for emails
From name for emails
ACKIFY_MAIL_HOSTmailhogSMTP server host for email reminders and MagicLink
SMTP server host for email reminders and MagicLink
ACKIFY_MAIL_PASSWORDSMTP password
SMTP password
ACKIFY_MAIL_PORT1025SMTP server port
SMTP server port
ACKIFY_MAIL_USERNAMESMTP username
SMTP username
ACKIFY_OAUTH_ALLOWED_DOMAINRestrict access to a specific email domain
Restrict access to a specific email domain
ACKIFY_OAUTH_CLIENT_IDOAuth2 client ID
OAuth2 client ID
ACKIFY_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRETOAuth2 client secret
OAuth2 client secret
ACKIFY_OAUTH_COOKIE_SECRETSecret to encrypt session cookies (generate with: openssl rand -base64 32)
Secret to encrypt session cookies (generate with: openssl rand -base64 32)
ACKIFY_OAUTH_PROVIDERgoogleOAuth2 provider (google, github, gitlab, or empty for custom)
OAuth2 provider (google, github, gitlab, or empty for custom)
values: google, github, gitlab, custom
ACKIFY_ONLY_ADMIN_CAN_CREATEfalseRestrict document creation to admins only
Restrict document creation to admins only
values: true, false
ACKIFY_ORGANISATIONYour organization name (displayed in the interface)
Your organization name (displayed in the interface)
ACKIFY_STORAGE_LOCAL_PATH/data/documentsLocal filesystem path for document storage
Local filesystem path for document storage
ACKIFY_STORAGE_MAX_SIZE_MB50Maximum document size in MB
Maximum document size in MB
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_ACCESS_KEYS3 access key
S3 access key
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_BUCKETS3 bucket name
S3 bucket name
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_ENDPOINTS3-compatible storage endpoint
S3-compatible storage endpoint
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_REGIONS3 region
S3 region
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_SECRET_KEYS3 secret key
S3 secret key
ACKIFY_STORAGE_S3_USE_SSLtrueUse SSL for S3 connection
Use SSL for S3 connection
values: true, false
ACKIFY_STORAGE_TYPEDocument storage type (local or s3)
Document storage type (local or s3)
values: local, s3
ACKIFY_TELEMETRYfalseEnable telemetry collection
Enable telemetry collection
values: true, false
POSTGRES_DBackifyPostgreSQL database name
PostgreSQL database name
POSTGRES_PASSWORDPostgreSQL password
PostgreSQL password
POSTGRES_USERackifyrPostgreSQL username
PostgreSQL username