scrawl

A blazingly fast, self-hosted text sharing app built with Go and SQLite. Drop in formatted text with emojis, indentation, and structure — get a shareable link instantly.

Single binary. No accounts. No bloat. No external dependencies.

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Why scrawl?

• You need to share a snippet, meeting notes, or a quick config — not spin up a full pastebin
• You want it fast: sub-millisecond responses, gzip-compressed, embedded assets
• You want it simple: one binary, one SQLite file, zero config
• You want it private: self-hosted, no tracking, no accounts

Features

Feature	Details
Instant sharing	Create an entry, get a permanent link
Formatting preserved	Emojis, indentation, tabs, whitespace — all intact
Full CRUD	Create, view, edit, delete entries
Password protection	Optionally lock entries with a password (bcrypt hashed)
Expiring entries	Optional TTL: 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, 30 days — default: never
Download as .txt	Download any entry as a plain text file
Word/char count	Live word and character count in the editor
Sidebar	Recent entries always visible, filterable search, lock icon for protected entries
Copy buttons	Copy shareable link or entry text to clipboard
Keyboard shortcuts	Ctrl+Enter save, Tab indent, Esc close modal
Gzip compression	All responses compressed on the fly
Security headers	CSP, X-Frame-Options, input sanitization
Single binary	Go executable with embedded assets — nothing else needed
Mobile responsive	Optimized layout for phones and tablets
Dark theme	Clean, modern UI that's easy on the eyes

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Quick Start

Docker Hub (recommended)

docker run -p 8080:8080 -v scrawl-data:/data dasunnimantha/scrawl

Open http://localhost:8080.

Docker Compose

services:
  scrawl:
    image: dasunnimantha/scrawl
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - scrawl-data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  scrawl-data:

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/dasunNimantha/scrawl.git
cd scrawl
go build -o scrawl .
./scrawl

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	8080	HTTP server port
DB_PATH	scrawl.db	SQLite database file path

PORT=3000 DB_PATH=/data/scrawl.db ./scrawl

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Go (stdlib net/http, html/template, embed)
Database	SQLite via mattn/go-sqlite3 (WAL mode)
Frontend	Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS + HTMX (embedded locally)
Dependencies	2 (go-sqlite3, x/crypto for bcrypt)

Build

Requires Go 1.22+ and a C compiler (for SQLite CGo bindings).

# development
go run .

# production binary (stripped)
CGO_ENABLED=1 go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o scrawl .

# run tests
go test -v ./...

Security

scrawl is designed for small trusted teams (5-10 users), not public internet exposure. That said, it ships with sensible defaults:

• SQL injection — all queries use parameterized statements
• XSS — Go's html/template auto-escapes all user content in HTML and JS contexts
• Security headers — Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options: DENY, X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy
• Input sanitization — control characters stripped, title length capped at 200 chars
• Password hashing — bcrypt with default cost for entry protection
• Body size limit — 128KB max on POST/PUT bodies
• ID validation — only valid hex IDs accepted in URL paths
• Dependabot — automated dependency updates for Go modules and GitHub Actions

Project Structure

scrawl/
├── main.go              # server, routes, middleware, security
├── handlers.go          # HTTP handlers, DB queries, validation
├── handlers_test.go     # integration tests (49 tests)
├── go.mod
├── templates/
│   └── index.html       # all templates (single file)
└── static/
    ├── style.css
    └── htmx.min.js

API

Method	Path	Description
GET	/	Home page with editor
POST	/api/entries	Create entry (optional password and ttl fields)
GET	/e/{id}	View entry (shareable link)
POST	/e/{id}/unlock	Unlock a password-protected entry
PUT	/api/entries/{id}	Update entry
DELETE	/api/entries/{id}	Delete entry
GET	/e/{id}/download	Download entry as .txt
GET	/api/entries	List entries (HTMX)
GET	/api/entries/{id}/edit	Edit form (HTMX)

License

MIT